Sarjo Jallow (Gambia)

(Chair of the Women's Committee, Jarra Madina

 | Community Leader)

"I could no longer bear to see the women suffering. I had to do something and find a solution to the challenges women faced."

That is how Sarjo Jallow explains the beginning of everything that followed.

In Jarra Madina, a farming community in The Gambia's Lower River Region, women and girls set out before dawn and walked as far as five kilometres to fetch water from open wells their forefathers had dug more than a century ago. The water was muddy and untreated, and it carried a persistent cycle of waterborne disease. Pregnant women made the same journey with heavy containers balanced on their heads, risking injury with every step.

Sarjo remembers exactly what it cost. "Before, we used to beg each other for water to drink," she recalls. "Pregnant women carried heavy containers on their heads and risked injury. It was painful to watch." The burden fell almost entirely on one group: as the mothers of the village aged and the men worked the farms, it was the women who suffered most from the lack of water. "The burden was too much on the women," she says.

So she organised them. As Chair of the Women's Committee, Sarjo brought the women of Jarra Madina together to unite and act — and she has been clear about what her role demands: "My responsibility is to strengthen the women's group, and to make it functional and to have an impact on the community." She became a leading advocate for clean, climate-resilient water access, championing solar-powered water systems and school sanitation facilities. Today she serves as Chairperson of Jarra Madina's Water and Sanitation Committee — the woman who once walked for water now chairs the body that governs it, ensuring those who carried the burden also hold the authority.

Today, clean water flows directly into Jarra Madina. Under the Climate Smart Rural WASH Development Project (CSRWASHDEP) — formulated in 2019 and co-financed by the African Development Bank with $10 million and the Global Environment Facility with $9 million — solar-powered pump stations draw water from protected sources, filter it, and distribute it to taps in homes, schools, health centres and livestock troughs. The project has reached more than 110,000 people across 144 rural and peri-urban villages, and has extended beyond water into tree planting and sustainable land management. Its success in Jarra Madina, project officials note, depended on the community coming together to work hand in hand to bring it in — the work of leaders like Sarjo.

The change she describes goes far beyond plumbing. "We no longer walk for hours to fetch dirty water," she says. "We have water at our doorstep. Our children are healthy and in school. This project has brought dignity and hope back to our community." School attendance has risen, particularly among girls, as the hours once lost to fetching water have been returned to them.

According to "100 African Women Leading Africa's Water & Sanitation Future" (AfWASA & RWSN, 2026), Sarjo has elevated women's voices in local governance, connecting technical solutions to social realities — strengthening both infrastructure and community cohesion, and proving that committed grassroots champions can turn development projects into life-changing outcomes. Her own conviction is simple: "When women lead in water management, entire communities thrive."

Sarjo Jallow holds no ministerial office and runs no laboratory. She chairs a village women's committee. And in doing so, she changed what daily life means for every woman and girl in Jarra Madina — proof that Africa's water future is being secured, right now, from the bottom up.

Sources: African Development Bank (success stories, November 2025 and June 2026; project video testimony); Global Environment Facility; 100 African Women Leading Africa's Water & Sanitation Future (AfWASA & RWSN, 2026)