The Project for Strengthening Operation and Maintenance of Rural Water Supply Systems in Rwanda (RWASOM project)

Period: June 2018 – December 2019

Client: Water and Sanitation Corporation Ltd. (WASAC), Rwanda

Funded by: Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)

Role: GIS Expert, Kokusai Kogyo Co., Ltd.

Overview

The RWASOM project aimed to strengthen the capacity for operation and maintenance of rural water supply systems in Rwanda. Reliable information on where water supply facilities are located and in what condition they are is essential for their operation and maintenance, but it was not available nationwide. I joined the project as a GIS expert to establish a GIS database and data sharing platform for rural water supply management.

Activities

• Training: Conducted training workshops on data collection and data sharing with FOSS4G applications (QGIS, QField) for Rwandan colleagues.
• Nationwide mapping: Collaborated with Rwandan colleagues to complete the mapping of all rural water supply systems in the country using QField and Garmin GPS.
• GIS database: Designed and created a PostGIS database for rural water supply management.
• Data sharing platform: Developed a data sharing platform using Lizmap/QGIS Server so that the data can be accessed by stakeholders.
• Sustainability: Used only open-source software so that WASAC can keep operating the system without license costs. The data was later published as vector tiles at rural.water-gis.com.

Related talks

• FOSS4G 2019: Case study of data collection & data sharing for rural water supply management in Rwanda
• FOSS4G 2021: An implementation of FOSS4G - QGIS, QField and Vector Tiles for rural water supply management in Rwanda
• FOSS4G 2022: Rural water supply mapping by using FOSS4G application in Rwanda

Skills

PostGIS, Lizmap/QGIS Server, QGIS Desktop, QField, Garmin GPS, geospatial data collection, training