Twelve new boreholes brought clean water to communities that walked 5km each day.
Water scarcity is one of the most persistent humanitarian challenges across Nigeria's northeast. In several communities in Borno State, residents — predominantly women and girls — spent up to three hours each day walking to distant water sources, often rivers or unprotected wells that posed significant health risks. This cycle of effort drained time from school, work, and rest.
In 2024, CBI's WASH programme completed the rehabilitation of 12 boreholes across six local government areas in Borno State, reaching an estimated 8,000 individuals with reliable, clean water access. The project included solar-powered pumping systems to ensure functionality even during power outages, and the construction of elevated storage tanks to serve larger households.
Beyond the infrastructure, CBI established Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) committees in each community — trained volunteer groups responsible for the ongoing maintenance, fee collection, and minor repairs of the systems. "We own this borehole," said Aisha, chair of the WASH committee in Jere LGA. "We know how to fix it, and we will keep it running."
Hygiene promotion sessions reached over 3,600 community members, covering handwashing, safe water storage, menstrual hygiene management, and household sanitation. In communities where our teams conducted before-and-after assessments, rates of reported diarrhoeal illness among children under five dropped by 38% within six months of the intervention.
This project was implemented with support from our humanitarian partners and demonstrates the power of combining hard infrastructure with community capacity — a model CBI is scaling across seven states in 2025.