2009: Network Expansion and Water and Sanitation Project Progress

Projects '09 MEMBERSHIP UPDATE
2009 saw our network membership expand to 59 groups in 21 countries. This added tremendous experience and knowledge to the network. Our strength is the experience, creativity and passion for progress of our members.

We welcomed the following new members in 2009 and are grateful for what they already have contributed:

Agua Para la Vida (APLV) • Nicaragua
Daemen College • United States
Earth Voyage • United States
Global Water • United States
Lifewater International • United States
Pacific Environment • United States
Pacific Institute • United States
Pure Water for the World • United States, Haiti and Honduras
Team Blue • United States
ESTAMOS Mozambique
African Indigenous Women's Organization Kenya
Dept. of Environment and Water Management, A.N. College • India
Ekoventure • India
Humana People to People India • India
Melghat Mitra • India
Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and Allied Trusts • India

PROJECT UPDATES

Working with our expanding network, we have reached over 650 communities now. Here are some highlights that illustrate the wide variety of challenges that make up the global safe drinking water crisis, as well as the wide scope of creative solutions our members have to attack it:

2010 Funded Project Summaries

COUNTRY	PARTNER	PEOPLE BENEFITTING
Philippines	East Meets West Foundation	810 (water)
Barangay Indatauan Artesian Well Development for Community Water Service A Single Drop helped create a community-based water organization (Water PODS) to design, install and maintain self-sustaining community water system for Indatuan, Northern Kabuntalan in the ARMM Provinces. This project is focused on technology implementation chosen by the community to manage and maintain a fee-based water service project to ensure community ownership and self-reliance. [Project Report]
Guatemala	Agua Para la Salud	270 (water)
Kalampatzom Water Distribution System The Kalampatzom water system first stage was completed in 2008, which consisted of a 3140 meter conduction line connecting a spring box to a 5 cubic meter distribution tank. The project will serve about 54 families presently and an anticipated 80 to 100 families. The village of Kalampatzom has 54 families. About 12 of these are presently living on the village site that was abandoned during the civil war. The balances of the villagers have plans to return to the site when the water system is complete. Most of these villagers are now living in a nearby village Janlay. [Project Report]
Nicaragua	Aqua Para La Vida	296 (water)
Integral drinking water project in Quirragua & San Isidro of Nicaragua A gravity water project delivering 70 liters/day per inhabitant and a latrine to individual houses, education for maintenance, long term hygiene and sanitation, the preservation and reforestation of the watershed. The presence of this abundant spring, which is unusually easy to protect from pollution and drying up, suggests a gravity system as the obvious first choice. These systems are the specialty of APLV, which has designed, and help build 60 of them- all presently functioning. The basic components are a spring catching and protecting construction, a buried conduction line to a holding tank evening out the supply over the day, and a distribution network leading to individual water taps all by gravity. [Project Report -1- \| -2-]
Nicaragua	El Porvenir	327 (sanitation)
Latrines in Quisaurita, Camoapa and Cooperativa Ismael Castillo 68 double pit latrines were built for 75 families who also received health and hygiene education and training in long term maintenance of projects. El Porvenir managed to build seveal more latrines than was budgeted, using their internal funds and some support from the municipality. [Project Report -1- \| -2-]
India	Ekoventure	3000 (water)
Providing Safe drinking water to Rural Government Primary Schools, Water to Villages, & Sanitation Providing and installing rope pumps in 10 villages and schools for providing water in two districts in Tamil Nadu. Siphon water filter were successfully installed in schools, aanganvadis (preschools) to eliminate pathogens in the water drunk by children at school. This resulted in reduced health issues and less absentee days. Constructed 20 model ECOSAN toilets in a village of 165 families to introduce the concept to make the entire village have sanitation. [Project Report -1- \| -2- \| -3- \| -4- \| -5- \| -6-]
India	Gram Vikas	443 (water & sanitation)
Community-led, gravity flow water supply and sanitation system in Adivasi Colony This project brought water to four unelectrified rural communities in Orissa through construction of a new water supply system. Gram Vikas staff taught hygiene and sanitation education to self-help groups of women. The availability of a bath room and running water has dramatically improved hygiene. In addition, children are learning in schools about the importance of safe drinking water, sanitation and hand washing. [Project Report -1- \| -2- \| -3- \| -4-]
India	Humana	325 (water)
Installation of Rope Pump for safe drinking water and improved health This project provided drinking water to the community members and school children by installing rope pump well in ten locations. The communities also received training on safe drinking water as well as maintaining the pumps.The project reduces health risks related to use of contaminated water from rivers or lakes, saves time for women, and increases attendance of children in the schools. [Project Report -1- \| -2- \| -3- \| -4- \| -5-]
India	Projectwell	1,400 (water)
Arsenic Safe Drinking Water: N 24 Parganas - Gaighata Set4 A (15) This is a self-supporting community-based mitigation program that provided arsenic-free water using modified dug wells along with public education on water related health effects. The primary objectives of Project Well is to provide safe water through modern, modified design dug wells, as well as establish and encourage community-based groups, "CBGs," to manage these arsenic-free water sources, so that they are sustainable. Projectwell also regularly educates the community on arsenic and other health issues. [Project Reports ]
Kenya	Lifewater International	1,900 (water)
ACI Center for WASH Training Water supply and Sanitation was created for two schools in Nakuru, Kenya. Water tanks were installed at each school, providing safe water supply for students during the school day. This eliminates the need for children to gather and then bring water with them. The project also included constructing an appropriate number of latrines for students and teachers at each school. Hand-wash stations were also constructed at each school, sited appropriately near latrine blocks to facilitate good hygiene behaviors. The project-supported student WASH clubs and will be responsible for conveying to their schoolmates the importance of hand washing at critical times and its relevance to community and personal health. [Project Report]
Madagascar	Protos	14,772 (water)
Locally Integrated Water Management in the Andromba Plain Madagascar This project aimed at satisfying basic water and sanitation needs of the rural population living on the Andromba plain within an integrated water management perspective whilst building capacity of local groups to ensure sustainable management of the water. [Project Report]
Honduras	Pure Water for the World	135 (water & sanitation)
Household Water Treatment, Sanitation and Hygiene Project in El Paraíso, Honduras This project provided clean water, sanitation, and proper hygiene education to 25 families in Zapotal No. 1 in the remote region of Trojes, Honduras. Sand filters and latrines were built, and hygiene and sanitation workshops provided training to water committees. [Project Report]
Haiti	Pure Water for the World	3,511 (water & sanitation)
Clean Water Project in Ile Lambi and Corail, Haiti This integrated program of hygiene, clean water filters, water testing, monitoring and support, provided water filters and hygiene education to 55 homes and 5 schools in the Corail commune. Teachers were trained to teach students proper hygiene and sanitation. The point of use systems included Bio Sand Filters, Ceramic Filters, hand washing stations, waste management, and other items. [Project Report -1- \| -2-]
Tanzania	PADI	900 (water)
Borehole construction to Londoni and Mbulani Secondary School Construction of 2 boreholes for 2 secondary schools created access to clean and safe water for over 900 students. This saves the students from walking 1 km to fetch water and minimizes water born diseases. These water hand pumps are complete water schemes suitable for serving small communities with portable water supplies. [Project Reports: Mbulani] \| Londoni]
India	Watershed Organization Trust	2,946
Integrated Drinking Water Project Kanchner Tanda This program provided water to 4 villages (Kachner Tanda No. 1, Mohadi, Lakh Tanda (hamlet) & Satala) in the Aurangabad district of Maharashtra. These villages are drought prone and face water scarcity. WOTR deepened the existing well and used the Gram Panchayat well to supply water for drinking water. A new water tank and distribution system was built, including a pipeline for carrying water from well to water tank and an electric motor to pump water from the well to the tank. [Project Report -1- \| -2- \| -3- \| -4- \| -5-]

SYSTEM EXPANSION

2009 was a step change year for our system capabilities. Based on feedback from our members, we have enhanced our network in a number of ways that have set it up for rapid growth.

Open Funder Access. We opened up our network to all funders, not just Blue Planet Run, in 2009, so that all interested groups could support the strong, peer-reviewed projects on the network. Funders can use the network as an efficient marketplace through which to proactively identify and manage high potential, peer-approved projects that align with their strategy, while reducing internal program staff time and expense. Funders also can use the network as one more channel through which to identify and fund worthy projects while gaining access to project learning from many other groups. The true benefit is that increased funding can flow cost-effectively to worthy projects, speeding us to our collective goal of eliminating the safe drinking water crisis.
Total Project Management. Collecting and managing project updates from the field can be a challenge for the most capable NGO. Further effort also must be spent on consolidating that information and providing it to their many financial supporters. This takes precious time and resource that could be better spent in the field. In response to member request, we opened up our network in 2009 so that members could put all of their projects on the network, not just those funded by Blue Planet Run or other members. Our members can have their field offices update project status periodically onto our network. Headquarters can then consolidate the information and send consistent, robust progress reports to their financial supporters. This saves time and money for the member, while greatly adding to the amount of water and sanitation project data and learning available for all interested parties to access. We are working with two members on rolling out this program. Already, it has increased the total dollar amount of projects under management on our network from $1.4 million to over $9 million. We take this responsibility seriously and see this as a high growth opportunity in 2010 and beyond.
Systems Improvements: We have built many new features and enhanced network performance to help our community. By revamping our network map, we have greatly improved performance. We also have highlighted all peer-approved applications requiring funding to improve a project's opportunities for funding. We have improved the Help function, as well as summary information, to make it easier for our members to get the information they require quickly.
Corporate Support: We recently received a grant from Cisco to expand our monitoring and reporting capabilities. We will work with our members to build out our abilities to capture the wide-ranging positive impacts of safe drinking water on a community, e.g. education, health, women’s community position, overall economic development. We are grateful for Cisco’s support and we are eager to demonstrate its value in 2010.

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