NextBillion.net - Development Through Enterprise - Unclogging the Water and Sanitation Crisis - Comments

Cast Your Vote in The Global

Anonymous — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 13:47:16 -0500

Cast Your Vote in The Global Competition -- Tapping Local Innovation: Unclogging the Water and Sanitation Crisis Ashoka’s Changemakers and Global Water Challenge invite you to vote for the most innovative approaches to providing access to safe drinking water and sanitation worldwide. We’ve received 265 entries from 54 countries, and 8 finalists were chosen for their pioneering ideas: 1. Naandi Foundation, India 2. WaterParterns, United States 3. City Garbage Recyclers, Kenya 4. Ecotact – Innovating Sanitation, Kenya 5. Swayam Shikshan Prayog, India 6. Himanshu Parikh Consulting Engineers, India 7. The Clean Shop, South Africa 8. Centre for Community Organisation and Development, Malawi Now we need your help: Log onto www.changemakers.net, read through these inventive solutions and select your 3 favorites by May 11. The three winners will each receive $5,000. Your voice is vital. Vote today!

Another incentive to participate

John Oldfield — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 09:51:58 -0500

Ana - I second your comments on the GWC/Ashoka Changemakers competition - thanks for posting. These competitions historically have produced dozens of fundable ideas in many sectors. To further encourage organizations and individuals with good water and sanitation ideas to apply, there is the news that Coke has given the competition a $1m lead grant which I understand in part will be used to fund some of the best projects. Here is a piece from Davos on the announcement: http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/080123/20080123005765.html?.v=1 John

Unclogging the Water and Sanitation Crisis

Ana Escalante — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 16:04:23 -0500

Safe tap water is a luxury that many people in the world do not enjoy. In many developing countries, it is not safe to drink or use the tap water. The Center for Disease Control website of the United States government has health information about every country in the world, and it’s interesting to see how many countries fall under the advice: "Drink only bottled or boiled water, or carbonated (bubbly) drinks in cans or bottles."

Bottled water is expensive, of course, and people living at the BoP often cannot afford it. World Resources Institute’s research in The Next 4 Billion: Market Size and Business Strategy at the Base of the Pyramid showed that low-income customers pay anywhere from eight to sixteen times more for bottled or trucked water than they would for a local, public utility (page 58). If this isn’t a BoP penalty, then I don’t know what is.

Access to clean drinking water is a concern world-wide – but it is not the sole responsibility of government to provide it. The Next 4 Billion report concluded that there is a clear willingness to pay for clean water in the BoP. However, even if there is a willingness to pay, access to such services is not widespread, especially in rural areas. What the world needs are effective and innovative ideas on how to get these services to the people in the BoP, and to deliver them. Ashoka’s Changemakers has partnered with The Global Water Challenge to launch a collaborative competition to discuss and discover new solutions:

"Global Water Challenge is dedicated to finding solutions to the water and sanitation crises. We believe that we have both the resources and the will to live in a world in which everyone can drink clean water, and use a safe toilet. It is our goal to find and encourage ideas and individuals, wherever they may be, so that every school, every clinic, every home, every community, without regard to geography and income, has access to these basic needs."

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