Wider access to essential services

Access to safe drinking water and quality basic infrastructure is a key factor of well-being, public health, and human dignity. By improving hygiene, reducing exposure to waterborne diseases, and alleviating the daily burdens faced by populations, these services play a key role in reducing inequalities and strengthening social cohesion. In this context, LuxDev is committed to promoting the supply of and access to drinking water and sanitation in Cabo Verde, Rwanda and Laos.

In Cabo Verde, the Water and sanitation programme implements capacity-building activities and makes structural investments to improve the efficiency and sustainability of public drinking water and sanitation operators. Through the PromoSan concept – a portmanteau word of the Portuguese terms promoção (promotion) and saneamento (sanitation) –, the programme aims to increase both the number and quality of toilets in the country’s primary schools, while bringing school kitchens up to sanitary standards. Since 2022, it has enabled the renovation of sanitation facilities in 152 schools – including 52 in 2025 – and 145 school canteens, benefiting some 36,000 children, or 50% of primary school pupils in Cabo Verde. These investments, which have enabled to triple the daily volume of available drinking water, are systematically accompanied by information, education, and communication campaigns, promoting the sustainable adoption of good hygiene practices within schools and beyond.

In Rwanda, the Contribution to the basket funding for Pro-Poor Development project supports the development of quality public infrastructure in 16 disadvantaged districts with the aim of reducing territorial disparities and improving access to essential services for rural communities. In 2025, it enabled the rehabilitation of the Bushoka-Nyanga water supply system, restoring continuous access to drinking water for around 4,500 people who had previously faced deteriorating water quality, waterborne diseases, and frequent shortages. 

As a result, households were able to halve the time spent collecting water and devote themselves to other economic and educational activities. The intervention also benefited the Karuganda technical school and the local health centre, ensuring the continuity of educational and healthcare services. Finally, the renovation works were accompanied by the strengthening of community-based management and maintenance mechanisms for the network, guaranteeing the sustainability of the infrastructure and the proper functioning of the system for future generations.

In eight of the poorest villages in Bolikhamxay province in Laos, the Infrastructure Development Fund – implemented as part of the local development programme – enabled the construction and equipment of several essential facilities.

Among the projects completed between 2023 and 2025 are two primary schools and three day nurseries offering suitable care and teaching conditions, as well as three water supply systems. These contribute to enhancing public health and hygiene while also promoting gender equality by alleviating the burden of water collection, which often falls on women and girls. Further projects are planned, with the fund set to support the implementation of 29 infrastructure projects and major renovation works by the end of the programme. Co-financed by the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and Switzerland, the programme aims to improve the well-being of the Laotian population, particularly in the poorest villages and districts of the provinces of Bokeo, Vientiane, Bolikhamxay and Khammouane, in order to reduce persistent inequalities between rural and urban areas.