"At charity: water, we
know that building a water project is the easy part. Keeping clean water
flowing over time, however, is a complex business that requires money, training
and innovative thinking. It's something we've always been committed to.
In some cases, up to 30%
of the cost of a charity: water project goes into training and educating the
community about how to take care of the well after we're gone. At first, our
field partners start with
ownership. We believe if the community feels a strong sense of ownership,
they'll see their well as a critical asset to everyone and take good care of it
collectively. Another important piece is the formation of a Water Committee. A
6-8 person team is selected from the village (often it's at least half women) and
trained to make minor repairs. Often, our partners will leave spare parts for
the village in case the well breaks -- because sooner or later, something
always breaks. If the Water Committee is in place and active, that will keep
water flowing most of the time. But sometimes a problem arises that's too big
for even the best Water Committee members to tackle, and if solutions are not
in place, communities could wait months for repairs while they go back to
drinking dirty water.
Last year in India, we
tried an entirely new approach: investing in entrepreneurs from the ground up,
helping them grow their small businesses to repair broken wells. This video
demonstrates a story of one mechanic who's taken full advantage of our help."
See the complete and
original blog post on charity:water's website:
http://www.charitywater.org/mailings/2012_india_mechanics/
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