FairWater: "What You See, is What You Get ..."
FairWater rehabilitates abandoned handpumps in Africa with the reliable BluePump.
"Still no water: Every 20 seconds a child dies"
Although millions dollars were spend in funding water projects, most people in Africa still don't have access to safe water! Based on UNICEF data it is estimated that in 2010 already over 150.000 handpumps (> 40% of 350.000 donated handpump) in Africa are abandoned due to maintenance problems.
However, 40% is an average figure; in zones with deeper groundwater the failure rate is 80% to 90%, wheras those zones have often harsh conditions and people try to survive at less than 1 US$ a day. Obviously, especially those groups can't afford handpump breakdowns, moreover, in such dry zones with deep groundwater, the alternative waterpoints are far away and often polluted.
Same location one year later, rehabilitated by FairWater, sponsored by JoinThePipe.org
FairWater rehabilitates handpumps, with a focus on deep groundwater zones, with the FairWater BluePump. This new Dutch handpump was especially developed for community watersupply in deep groundwater zones and is easy to maintain for a fraction of the cost compared with the traditional handpumps that water projects have been using so far.
The FairWater approach is also more demand driven; the communities request to replace their old handpumps and agree to make a maintenance contract with a local FairWater partner for back-up service.
The FairWater approach is simple, cost-effective and transparant; no expensive local offices, etc. etc. We just make things happen.
Innovative Social Oriented Business (SOB) Approach
FairWater key-staff has been working in the last 25 years all over rural Africa in a wide variety of settings and has developed with its partners a simple but innovative local business approach, more cost-effective and durable that suits the communities as well as the donors.
If you support our projects, you help us to combine "people empowerment" with promoting local business in a transparent and sustainable way. Our unique "selling point" is therefore:
"What You See is What You Get".
What do you see?
On our project website www.watsan.org you can select a broken down handpump in the section our ongoing projects with pictures and GPS coordinates. You select the community that you want to help and check with Google Earth the exact location. This is actually also interesting, because you can see the area from above and get to know the region and Africa as well.
Note:In a few month time we will have a new website ready including Google Maps with all locations of our projects for more easy access to this information.
What do you get?
You get the proof that we have actually done what you had in mind with your donation. The deal with our local partner and the community is that they will make a picture from the handpump that you sponsored. You can also have your Company logo or your name or a message on the cap of the pump if you want.
Of course when you would like to visit your own project, you are more than welcome with our local partners and to see for youself how your contribution has indeed helped a community to have a durable water supply.
How do we do this?
FairWater works in close collaboration with a selection of competent and reliable local partners in the private sector (like our partner in Central African Republic www.sadeerafrica.com ) as well as with partner NGOs in Africa, e.g. in Tanzania where we team up with the UNDP Millennium Village project and with Global Resources Alliance in Tanzania, click here for a video
BluePump on a rehabilitated borehole in Mozambique sponsored by UNICEF
What does the community get?
The community will receive a new, low-cost maintenance handpump, the durable BluePump with a back-up support from our local partners.This is a new type of handpump that has been especially developed by FairWater for community water supply using handpumps in deep boreholes.
An additional advantage is that the BluePump can also be used in the urgent problematic zones with deep boreholes, up to 100m deep. The long handle can be equipped with a counterweight to make pumping in deep boreholes possible, see picture left in Mozambique that shows a BluePump on a rehabilitated borehole, pumping from 70m deep.
Why is the FairWater SOB Approach more durable?
First of all, because FairWater is using a more durable handpump to begin with. The FairWater BluePump is simple, strong and reliable. While other handpumps often break down regularly, awaiting spare parts and expensive repairs many times per year, the BluePump just keeps working due to a simple maintenance free pumping system that will last >10 years before a simple small overhaul that any mechanic can do.
People in the bush appreciate reliability, it is a key prerequisite for sustainability. Why? simply because breakdowns are costly and may take many month before the correct spares are found with someone to put them in. It's a simple ABC, especially poor people cannot afford breakdowns!
Secondly, the FairWater approach is also based on creating win-win situations, for the communities who need water every day at the lowest possible cost, as well as for the local private sector, who welcomes a small but steady additional income out of handpump maintenance.
More NGOs join the FairWater approach
Fortunately, more organizations (e.g. Oxfam, UNDP, Unicef, IDR, Global Resources Alliance, ADRA, Sametarian Purse, ASAP, etc. ) are opening up and consider sustainability more serious and start using the FairWater BluePump. Especially in zones with deep groundwater levels, most experts agree that the BluePump is probably the best option for community water supply with a handpump.
By the end of 2010 there will be already over 400 BluePumps in Africa. See for instance the good and serious work that Global Resource Alliance is doing in Tanzania with the BluePump, click here for their info.
Join FairWater
If you like our new approach to make Africa more durable, contact us to find out how we can team up together. FairWater helps NGOs to start with the BluePump to become more cost-effective, see www.watsan.org for more info on our projects.
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