Deep Springs International’s strategy is to partner with existing organizations in a community to promote the development of water treatment businesses.
Here is our process:
Step 1. Choose site and partners.
The first step is to choose a specific location and partner organizations. The selection process begins by choosing a broad geographical region, and then narrowing the focus with increasingly intensive research. DSI will not consider working in a location unless there is a need for safe water and there are educational institutions and MFIs that would be suitable partners. The final choice of location and partners is made by the Board of DSI after detailed on-site investigation.
Step 2. Tailor services to the site.
After choosing a site and partners, DSI will work in conjunction with community leaders to tailor its services to fit local conditions and to capitalize on the distinctive strengths of its partners. This includes:
- Defining how DSI will work with specific public health NGOs and MFIs in this locality,
- Tailoring the water treatment and business curricula to reflect local conditions,
- Determining which water treatment products are most likely to succeed,
- Writing sample business plans for students who plan to start water treatment businesses, using treatment systems that DSI judges to be viable.
Step 3. Equip schools and partners
Next, DSI equips its schools and local partners by providing curricula, scientific analysis, business plans, and financial assistance that will enable them to incubate water treatment businesses.
Step 4. Equip student entrepreneurs
With the help of partner schools, DSI will choose outstanding students who have completed the business and water treatment curricula and wish to start businesses in this field. These students will be paired with local MFIs and given coaching and financial assistance.
Step 5. Evaluate
At each stage, DSI will seek advice from its partners and conduct its own analysis about the effectiveness of its services in educating students and in expanding the availability of safe water to the community. DSI will use this information to improve its curricula and its other services.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), over 1.1 billion people lack access to safe water.[1] This poses a major health problem for developing countries. More than 2 million people die every year due to diarrheal diseases, 88% of which are attributed to unsafe drinking water, inadequate sanitation, and poor hygiene.[2],[3] It has been estimated that 6,000 children under five years of age die each dayfrom waterborne diseases.[4] Underemployment is another pressing issue in impoverished countries. While many very poor people work, they don’t earn wages sufficient to escape poverty. The United Nations and development experts recognize that productive employment is essential to fighting poverty.[5]
The resources necessary for addressing the problems of underemployment and unsafe drinking water are available. Schools give students the knowledge and skills to become productive members of society. Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) coach entrepreneurs and facilitate the formation of new businesses in developing countries. Multiple water treatment technologies, known as point-of-use treatment systems, have been designed specifically for treating water at the household level in developing countries. Sand filters, ceramic filters, and chemical disinfectants represent a few of the products which families can use to make their water safe to drink. These systems cost between $3 and $60 per family per year and have been shown to reduce the incidence of waterborne diseases in developing countries. In fact, some non-government organizations (NGOs) are specifically devoted to the production and distribution of these technologies.
What is lacking in the current environment is the alignment of these resources. Existing schools and vocational training institutes provide little or no focus on training for jobs in the water treatment industry. NGOs which provide water treatment technologies rarely focus on providing jobs. Most NGOs provide products at subsidized cost, which limits the sustainability of their work and their potential for growth due to the fact that they depend on the current and changing priorities of funding sources. The NGOs that do provide job opportunities for local people normally do not invest time, money, or resources in the dissemination of business knowledge, the coaching of entrepreneurs, or the provision of start-up capital. At Deep Springs International, we believe that partnerships between schools, NGOs, and MFIs can accomplish what their individual efforts cannot. By working together, they can equip people living in low-income nations with the training, coaching, and financing they need to create their own water treatment businesses. This is the premise behind our work. Learn more about how we work.
REFERENCES
[1] World Health Organization. Water, sanitation, and hygiene links to health: Facts and figures updated November 2004 [cited August 14, 2006]. Available from http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/publications/facts2004/en/index.html.
[2] Kosek M, Bern C, Guerrant RL. The global burden of diarrhoeal disease, as estimated from studies published between 1992 and 2000. Bull World Health Organ.v2003;81:197-204.
[3] United Nations/World Water Assessment Programme. UN World Water Development Report: water for people, water for life, Paris, New York, and Oxford: UNESCO and Berghahn Books, 2003.
[4] “Child Survival Fact Sheet: Water and Sanitation.” UNICEF. 2006. http://www.unicef.org/media/media_21423.html
[5] “The Centrality of Employment to Poverty Eradication” Report of the Secretary-General, United Nations, UN Security Council. August 30, 2005. (A/60/314).http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N05/476/33/PDF/N0547633.pdf?OpenElement
Near Future
Over the next year, Deep Springs International will be expanding in Jolivert, Haiti and launching a new program in Les Cayes, Haiti. In Jolivert, DSI assumed the management of an organization that creates jobs and supplies water treatment chemicals to over 3,500 rural households (over 10,400 individuals). Within the next year, we will be making changes to insure the long-term viability of this business and adding between 1,000 and 1,500 additional households from three remote villages. In addition, we will be working with Missions of Love to provide microloans to entrepreneurs that sell water treatment products.
Les Cayes
In Les Cayes, DSI has forged partnerships with World Concern, the Haitian Ministry of Education, the Haitian Ministry of Health, and seven partner schools in Les Cayes to provide business and health education and financial services for local entrepreneurs. We will also provide logistical support for a new water treatment business with the capacity to produce water treatment products for 13,000 families.
Our activities in both regions will improve Haitian communities permanently by equipping them with the education, business techniques, and financing to supply their own needs for safe water.
Specific Activities
With the groundwork DSI has established in Haiti and the requisite funding, we have:
1. Trained 37 teachers from seven partner schools to teach business and health;
2. Supported teachers as they train 580 Haitian secondary students in the subsequent academic year;
3. Implemented a micro-lending program with 10 loans currently being utilized.
DSI is prepared to:
4. Establish supply chain for five remote markets in Les Cayes and three remote markets in Jolivert;
5. Establish two business centers in Les Cayes to support and sustain graduates of training programs;
6. Add between 1,000 and 1,500 households from the Jolivert region to the safe water program;
7. Provide training and logistical support for a new water treatment business with the capacity to provide safe water to 3,000 households in Les Cayes.
8. Provide training through Jolivert employees for safe water projects started by NGOs in two other Haitian communities.
