Mrs X is the chairperson for a newly formed WSH Committee in Xipamanine - a poor urban community in Maputu, Mozambique. She is a motivated leader who has managed to mobilise community involvement in a project supported by CARE/WSUP to construct community sanitation blocks that will be managed by the committee. But she is also a pragmatist. She witnessed many government and civil society agencies making promises about improving services and infrastructure over the years. With little evidence of follow-through, she is now hesitating to speculate on what benefits might arise from the sanitation block once it is completed, saying that she will "wait and see before evaluating.... there have been lots of promises over a long period of time."

Photo: Paul Crawford