The idea of FairWater Foundation started already in 1997 in Mozambique when Paul van Beers was the Country representative of SaWa, a Dutch NGO that implemented rehabilitation of small pipes water systems in countries that were in a post-war situation. In such countries, due to the war, most water systems were broken down, so a logic first step to get back into development was to rehabilitate them.
But more and more, it became clear that not only in a post-war situation like in Mozambique water systems needed rehabilitation. For instance, also most of the handpumps in the rural communities were broken down, in fact, all over Africa. When he realized the magnitude and importance of that issue, he was interested in the issue of Operation & Maintenance (O&M) of water systems; what makes water systems work or why do they fail, what are the key success factors to look for and what to avoid. In other words, what happens in the post-donor phase, when the communities have to maintain the donor pump, all by themselves.
(1) So already in 1998 he was involved in solving the problem of broken handpumps.
Until that time, he has been mainly working in the implementing phase of water projects. That is indeed the nice part of the work to visit communities and donors during the implementation phase of a water project; you only deal with happy people with good expectations. But at that time, he was not really aware of what will happen with the handpump after a few years time. In these days, NGOs were not concerned about sustainability. Now we know, that one after the other, handpumps fail and are rusting away, leaving the people frustrated and not happy.
Although thousands of handpumps are now rusting away, to his opinion, that is not the key problem. Controversely, the key problem today is that the issue of sustainability is still out of the focus of many NGOs. In other, more simple words, they don't really care about it. Many NGOs justify their existence by doing good but don't like to look back, too busy with their next "do-good" project. Understandable, everybody wants a job and do good, but it's does not deliver what was promised, so it's not right in the end.
When you start to be involved in providing safe water to a community, you also have the moral obligation to make sure that you did everything to enable the people to maintain what you gave them so generously. Otherwise it doesn't make sense and is in fact counter productive and becomes a sick joke.
It's also a fascinating and complex subject, due to all these stakeholders own interest and hidden agenda's. Paul continued to study these handpump O&M issues, visited many handpump factories around the world and did studies amoungst others for the World Bank. He reported about his findings in many conferences and reports, but there was still very little interest from the donors and NGOs for this issue; amazingly enough, they didn't really want to hear about this.
He concluded that the standard handpumps commonly used were far too fragile and needed too many spare parts. Clearly, the communities needed a more solid and simple handpump. However, there was no incentive at all within the sector to develop such a better handpump for several "business reasons". Quality and durability was therefore not an option, also due to the higher price. Besides, many countries had already decided that a better handpump was not necessary and imposed to standardise on one or or more types of pumps, although they already knew that these types were too fragile and not sustainable. Hidden agenda's, commercial interest and disrespect for the need of communities were clearly behind these decisions.
However, in the communities these fragile traditional pumps continue to break down one after the other and families were desperate in need for a better and more durable handpump. But the time was not yet right; NGOs were still very happy with feeling good with their profitable business as usual. Understandable, because in fact, nobody controlled what they did anyway and the "charity" market to do good with new and fragile cheap pumps was booming and flourishing. Billions of US$ were raised for water projects each year, so there was not really a problem for them.
In the meantime, men were walking on the moon, planes became extreamly reliable with jet engines, the fax was invented, computers did miracles, colour TV was in most households, mobile phones conquered the world, .... But in the poor communities, schools and health centers in Africa, people suffered more and more and many thousands of kids died in silence because of broken handpumps.... These disasters were never on the news; it could spoil the reputation of some of the large NGOs that were so proudly promoting their water projects to "help" the people with water aid that has no results. How come the world didn't know or did't care about this dark problem in the far away bush of Africa?
When he became managing director of the Rural Water Development Project (RWD) in Kisii, he had finally the possibility to put his ideas to develop a better handpump into action. The RWD project had a competent staff and together with them and the local private sector, the first model of the BluePump was developed. More field test with NGOs in the field (Oxfam, Samatarian Purse, ASAP, ADRA in several African countries followed and the rest is history. The BluePump is there to stay and cannot be denied it anymore, to many communities know now about it and start to put pressure on governments and donors to use this better technology.
Although, initially, when the BluePump came on the market, he thought (or hoped) that NGOs would welcome such a simple and reliable handpump, but unfortunately, this did not happen. Again, most water aid NGOs still prefer to focus on business as usual with fundraising as major profitable activity and still no sign of interest in sustainable technology. This was a disapointment, but also a good lesson how things really work in the world: People prefer "Business as Usual" and resist to change.
However, there were a few exceptions that need to be mentioned with respect. Oxfam Kenya showed interest, NGOs as Global Resources Alliances (GRA Tanzania), IRD in Swaziland, ADRA Niger, Samatarian Purse Mozambique, Christian Service Commitee (CSC) Malawi, ASAP Burkina, etc. were positive and courageous enough to try the BluePumps already in the early stages and are now all happy users. Over 500 BluePumps are now in operation amoungst these NGOs!
(2) He understood that governments and NGOs would never initiate improvement themselves.
(3) Therefore the most realistic option was to start himself a new type of organization.
(4) So he started with his wife Sureyya, the "FairWater Foundation" with the "BlueZone approach".
FairWater has a new and fresh approach and is not always following the "usual" steps to create the necessary impact for the people in Africa. We are independent from Government subsidies and other policy makers. Instead, we prefer to work together with the green private sector and a small group of dedicated people all over the world, that are willing to go the extra mile, and have a pure & genuine interest in making things better in a long lasting, sustainable way.
No short term gains, no penny wise, pound foolish actions. Just plain logic, simply doing the right stuff that matters for the people in Africa that need water every day.
We absolutely do not agree with Governments or some NGOs, to wast time with more and more studies without practical actions. This only shows that they do not understand what goes on in the communities in Africa. But we are also confident that they will finally change and join our sustainable approach. There is simply no other way to a better future. The technology is now available, together with the right management concept for scaling up, so no time to waste!
Our approach is simple and effective: we solve problems by creating local jobs, NOT with charity donations. Therefore we focus on involvement of the local private sector, cost recovery options through up scaling, and improvement of logistics, supply chains and integrated business. We do this in an evidence based manner, everybody can see and follow what we do within our water projects. We have 2 major lines of intervention:
(1) The BlueZone Concept: This is a management model to create safe & sustainable rural water supply in a service region for a fair price. The success of the model is based on the combination of using a very reliable (but simple) handpump (the BluePump) in an area with regional support from the private sector for maintenance. At the same time, the service provider is also involved in other water related services in "his" BlueZone, like for instance installation of new BluePumps, solar systems, irrigation systems, water filters systems, etc. As long as he keeps his customers satisfied, also with maintenance support, all these activities will add up to a profitable sustainable business in water services that makes everybody happy.
(2) Low-cost water filters for households, schools and rural hospitals are part of the model, to secure safe water for the users. FairWater promotes therefore simple & practical solutions such as the Kisii bucket filter for households and the improved BioSand filter, such as the Tiva filter. The introduction and after sale service of these filters is also part of the BlueZone Concept.
Who is:
Süreyya Gök is the Co-Founder and Director of FairWater. Apart from her professional career as the senior Financial Specialist of the European Branch of an international company in Amsterdam, she has a passion for social work.
Since 2006 she is also a municipal councillor for the Social Democratic Party (PvdA), first in the city Almere and presently in Amsterdam in The Netherlands, with a special focus on how to contribute to better conditions for children and elderly people.
Sureyya has been also active in the Multi Ethnical Network for Women (MEV) to empower women with ethnical background.
Sureyya pairs a Turkish cultural background with an international orientation in a Dutch setting and she utilizes her keen observational skills and passion for people to write short stories in English, Dutch and Turkish about social issues and lifestyle experiences.
Paul van Beers, initiator of FairWater, is the program manager of the FairWater Trust Fund Projects, he holds a M.Sc. in Environmental Hydrology & Hydrogeology and has a vast international background and professional contacts based on 30 years of research and project management in Rural & Peri-Urban Water Supply, Hydrology and Environmental projects in Burkina Faso, Mauretania, Mozambique, Kenya, Angola, Benin, Chad, Niger, Mali, Senegal, Gambia, Ghana, Cameroon, South Africa, Namibia, Ethiopia, Malawi, Swaziland, Zambia, Tanzania, Brazil and Oman.
After completing his studies in Geographical Hydrology, Remote Sensing and Geophysics, he started his professional career in Portugal (Hydro-geological studies in coastal aquifers 1980 - 1984). In 1985 he moved to Africa, Burkina Faso & Mauretania, mainly working in Rural Water Supply, and part-time bush pilot and flying instructor. To keep in touch with the new developments in The Netherlands, he returned in 1994 to work as project manager in environmental projects. In 1996 he signed up as Country Director Mozambique for the Dutch NGO SaWa, worked at the Mozambican Water Department and was involved in many studies, such as "Capacity & Willingness to pay" in rural and urban areas for the WorldBank. To see and learn more of the water projects in other African countries, he worked from 1998 to 2001 as individual consultant all over Africa for NGOs and the WorldBank. Focus of these studies was how to arrive at sustainable rural water supply, involving all aspects and stakeholders. A new phase started when he was asked to lead the RWD program, one of the largest rural water projects in Kisii, western Kenya. His last long term assignment was in Angola, as WatSan Advisor to the Government up to 2006. Since 2007 he has been fully committed to develop the BlueZone concept with the reliable BluePump and to start with the FairWater Foundation in order to improve the sustainability of handpump water projects in Africa.
He is a member of the Dutch NEDWORC ''Consultants for Development Foundation'' and also a founding board member of Global Rainwater Harvesting Collective and has worked for Universities, Consultancy firms, The World Bank and National and International NGOs.
FairWater is a registered foundation (NL-34316771) based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.