The defining criteria to achieve “Basic” drinking water service is the time required to go and collect water and bring it back to the household for consumption. The time period is 15 minutes, that is, depart the house and return to the house in 15 minutes. And it includes the time to collect the water. The SmartTap dispenser site is part of the clock time in the round trip. Perhaps, we should ask the women the question, how much time do they want to spend at the SmartTap dispenser?
I have heard of projects failing because of the lack of support by the women. It was found that the intervention changed the dynamic of women's day. For example, the women enjoyed the extended waiting time at the water source. It was time for them to catch up with the latest happenings in their community. Did you hear that Sally has the cheapest price on corn today?
Although mobile phones are popular in Congo, they are used purposefully. There are no all inclusive unlimited talk, text, or data plans in Congo. First, you pay in advance for the service you desire. If you want to talk, you buy a talk time package with a specific number of minutes. If you want to text, you buy a text package with a specific number of texts. And if you want to surf the internet, you buy a data package with a specific number of megabytes (MBs).
Face-to-face conversations with friends and family are a necessary part of women’s daily life. We will have to monitor the queuing of women. Too many women in the queue could be bad for those self employed entrepreneurs. And then, no women in the queue could be bad for those women who want time to socialize but still look busy. I would prefer to keep the queue as short as possible because no one likes to wait when they are in a hurry.
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