VOLUNTEERS FOR AFRICA
ORGANIZATION
1 Million Water Filters for Kids Project
July 2011
Summary
The 1 million water filter for Kids in Africa project is a 6 year project with an aim of providing safe and clean water to children below the age of 10 and their families. The project is in three phases of 2 years respectively, with phase 1 targeting provision of point-of-consumption filters to 100,000 children, in addition to establishment of a water filter assembly plant, and a clay filter manufacturing plant. Phase two will see the scale up of manufacturer and distribution of the water filters that have been locally made in Kenya.
Over 1 million families will benefit from the project, and overall about 5 million people will consume water that is safe from sediments, disease causing micro-organisms.
The project targets a number of slum areas in Kenya primarily and in East Africa in the long term. There will also be an initiative to make this a carbon offset project, revenue of which will be ploughed back to the manufacture of additional water filters for free distribution.
The overall objective of the project is to lid of communities’ deaths of children caused by water borne ailments. Deaths caused by use of contaminated water in households are the highest in Sub Saharan Africa.
Budget summary:
Total budget:
Phase 1- USD 98,000
Phase 2- USD 300,000
Phase 3- USD 750,000
Background and Introduction
Nearly 1 billion people suffer needlessly without access to safe water. In 2008, UNICEF declared that more than 45% of people around the world lack access to a safe water source. Over one million households in Kenya are without potable water. Currently, of the deaths that occur in rural villages in Kenya, 60% are caused by illnesses related to unsafe water and lack of sanitation. Sadly, according to the Ministry of Health in Kenya, the vast majority of deaths are children under the age of five.
- More than 1 in 6 people in the world don't have access to safe drinking water.
- 1 out of every 4 deaths under the age of 5 worldwide is due to a water-related disease.
- Nearly 80% of illnesses in developing countries are linked to poor water and sanitation conditions.
- 84% of the population without access to an improved source of drinking water live in rural areas.
- 4 billion cases of diarrhoea occur annually, of which 88% is attributable to unsafe water, and inadequate sanitation and hygiene.
- 443 million school days are lost each year due to water-related illness.
- 1.8 million people, mostly children under 5, die each year from diarrhoeal diseases.
- In developing countries, 90% of all deaths attributable to diarrhoeal diseases are of children under 5 years old.
- Diarrhoea affects up to 90% of HIV patients.
- Diarrhoea is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality among HIV-infected children.
- 35% of all deaths of children under the age of five years worldwide are caused by childhood underweight; an estimated 50% of this underweight or malnutrition is associated with repeated diarrhoea or intestinal nematode infections as a result of unsafe water, inadequate sanitation or insufficient hygiene.
Ending poverty begins with clean water. This is a saying that has been tested and proven true by Volunteers for Africa as the staff worked in rural set-ups of the continent. Poor health, hunger and lack of education are symptoms of the true problem….lack of clean water. Together they lead to a cycle of poverty.
Relieving hunger in Africa has to begin with access to clean water. It may seem simple, but we forget that without access to a reliable source of water, food is hard to grow and even more difficult to preserve and prepare. It takes huge amounts of water to grow food.
Water is fundamental to relieving hunger in the developing world. Sometimes, areas that experience a lack of water suffer because of poor water management. But more often it is a relatively simple economic issue that can be addressed. A small investment in a clean, safe source of water can have a huge impact. We are working on water projects that not only provide clean drinking water but also make crop production possible.
This project seeks to provide over 1 million families with safe water hence reduce by atleast 50% deaths of young children.
Improving Health in Africa Begins With Water
Did you know that half of the world's hospital beds are filled with people suffering from a water related disease? In developing countries, about 80% of illnesses are linked to poor water and sanitation conditions. 1 out of every 4 deaths under the age of 5 worldwide is due to a water-related disease. Clean and safe water is essential to healthy living.
Below are just a few examples of water's impact on the most significant health issues in the developing world.
HIV/AIDS
HIV ravages the body. A weakened immune system can't handle even a common virus. Imagine trying to live with this disease if the water you drink was so filthy that even the healthiest of people become violently ill after drinking it.
You cannot treat HIV/AIDS or even manage its symptoms without access to clean water.
Infant Mortality
Babies need clean, safe and healthy water. Living in the developed world, even with sophisticated water treatment, many mothers still choose to boil tap water before feeding her child. Good moms want to be doubly sure it is safe.
Imagine a village where there is no clean water to begin with. Mother often have to choose between boiling water or cooking food. The fuel for the fire is expensive. Young children are particularly susceptible to diarrheal complications. It's a sad fact that many children die before age five with unsafe water and poor hygiene as leading causes.
Did you know that in villages where access to clean water and proper hygiene and sanitation is provided, the infant mortality rate can drop by 50%!
Productivity
If you're sick, you can't work. Many of the reasons that under-developed areas of the world remain that way is that they are caught in a cycle of poverty that is often the result of very poor health and nutrition. Disease filled water is often the unknown cause of many of the "stomach problems" so common in the communities we serve.
Relieving hunger in Africa has to begin with access to clean water. It may seem simple, but we forget that without access to a reliable source of water, food is hard to grow and even more difficult to preserve and prepare. It takes huge amounts of water to grow food.
Water is fundamental to relieving hunger in the developing world. Sometimes, areas that experience a lack of water suffer because of poor water management. But more often it is a relatively simple economic issue that can be addressed. A small investment in a clean, safe source of water can have a huge impact. We are working on water projects that not only provide clean drinking water but also make crop production possible.
Poverty in Africa Begins With a Lack of Clean Water
There are a number of reasons why poverty has become an epidemic in Africa. Poverty can be the result of political instability, ethnic conflicts, climate change and other man-made causes.
But one of the greatest causes of poverty in Africa is also the most overlooked...the lack of access to clean drinking water.
Nearly one billion people do not have access to clean, safe water. For these people, poverty is a fact of life.
Education Begins With Access to Water in Africa.
Every-day, women and young girls carry over 20kg of water from sources over 7km from their homes and villages in Kenya. This leaves little time for education which is critical to changing the long term prospects of developing nations.
Schools cannot run programs if they cannot provide water to students, faculty and their families.
Because so many adults are sick from unclean water, children are often left to manage homes, provide food and look after the sick.
With the many additional burdens that a lack of clean water brings, education simply becomes less of a priority. This sets up an unfortunate cycle of poverty as without a proper education, there is little chance of improving one's situation later in life.
On-going interventions
Volunteers For Africa together with partners are presently running community water and reforestation programmes in Kenya and Uganda. Our other interventions have included prevention of malaria infections through distribution of insecticide treated mosquito nets. Our interaction with communities has however led us to believe that management of infant deaths would be possible by initiating programmes that address water shortage and water safety.
Participation, beneficiaries and roles
Beneficiaries of the project will include young school going kids, infants and family heads. Three pilot areas have been identified in Nakuru, Nairobi and Nyeri. Pilot one will work with youth to assemble water filters with imported parts. Pilot two will distribute imported water filters, while pilot three will establish a local filter manufacturing plant to make use of local clay products.
The success of this project will widely impact on many families that do not have access to clean water. Overall the success of this programme will be a virtue to millions of people that have been affected by a lack of safe drinking water.
EXPECTED RESULTS
Estimated impact on target groups
Indicators to measure short and long term impact of project, including wider environmental impact as well as social impact (i.e. gender, poverty)
Indicators for Project Impact:
Ten years from the start up of the project, diarrhoea related deaths will have reduced by 50% in the project area.
Through support of various sustainable development activities, the socio-economic conditions of the people will be improved, and
Through awareness creation and training, gender considerations will be an important factor, and more women will be involved in the management of the project.
How the project will improve the situation of the target groups
By supporting dialogue, and promoting the participation of all key stakeholders, including the women and youth, health related problems in community shall be addressed.
By providing safe water health and economic standards of beneficiaries shall be considerably improved.
Publications and other outputs
Dissemination of results
Dissemination of the results will be achieved through the following means:
A newsletter and/or posters will be developed for dissemination of lessons learnt within the project area, and beyond,
Possibilities of establishing a website will be explored as a means of disseminating the projects results in and outside Kenya.
Production oftechnical publications which are distributed locally, regionally and internationally,
Contribution of articles to relevant publications,
How appropriate visibility and credit will be given
All donors to this project will be highly acknowledged in project publications and other publicity materials.
Multiplier effects
The replicability of the project will be achieved in the following ways:
The project will pilot community based solutions to safe water systems
The lessons learned and experience gained will be published and disseminated and can be expected to contribute to, and inform, the debate on community based safe water treatment systems and contribute to the body of knowledge on this topic,
The experiences gained will also be used to inform and influence national sectoral policies thereby contributing to water policy development in Kenya (and beyond), and
The project will support the documenting and sharing of lessons and experience from the project.
Sustainability
Financial sustainability
The project will initiate a community clay water filter manufacturing system that will seek to make and sell subsidized water filters.
ANNEX 1: Statutes of VFA
Volunteers For Africa is a Non Governmental Organization, registered and working in East Africa alongside communities, with their groupings, organizations and traditional institutions basically in Sustainable Natural Resource Management, Social Development and promotion of the spirit of voluntarism. VFA recognizes the fact that natural resources are important to our development and survival; yet they are under increasing pressure from agricultural expansion (and other development activities) to cater for the growing population. Therefore VFA aims at helping local communities initiate community based projects aimed at assisting them achieve their development objectives. These include projects on, designing of Ecotourism enterprises, protecting natural resources through community action. VFA works mainly with youth and women groupings around the region. Other VFA programmes are in the area of HIV/AIDS, sustainable agriculture and animal husbandry, rural schools and institutions Information Systems, conflict resolution and volunteer initiatives.
In the period VFA has been in operation, programmes around forests and wetlands targeting local communities have been initiated. VFA has supported the development of Ecotourism and management plans around some of the Mpigi Group of Forests in Uganda, development of community tourism around the Lake Victoria in Mwanza and Tarime in Tanzania, development of bee keeping programmes in Baringo and Kitui areas of Kenya, and the conservation of the Mount Kenya Forest in the Meru area of Kenya.
In Uganda, VFA supported Programmes on Bee Keeping, Ecotourism, Tree Planting and Environmental Education have born much fruit. Notable is the institutionalisation of one major group working with forest communities, The Friends of Mpigi Forests Conservation and Development Organization. Through support from VFA, FOMAF initiated an ecotourism site, which could now be visited by tourists. The site is situated near Nabukongole Swamp, and near Mpanga Forest, along the Kampala to Masaka Highway. The site also leads to many other areas along the Western Tourist Circuit, including the Lake Mburo National Park, Mbarara, and the Kabaka’s coronation site at Nabingo.
In Tanzania, and in collaboration with the Sukuma community VFA has established the Serengeti Ecotourism and Cultural Centre, at the edge of the Serengeti National Park, the Serengeti Stop Over. This is a site that seeks to educate the tourists about virtues of the Serengeti, the culture of the Sukuma people and history of Tanzania. The site is fully operational with a guest intake of about 20 in the Banda’s. There is also space for camping. Within the centre is a cultural village displaying the Sukuma people’s culture. The centre is a stone throw from Mwanza, the Kamani Forestry reserve for excursions, Mwalimu Nyerere Museum, Musoma Town, the Sukuma Museum, Olduvai Gorge as well as Lake Victoria. Revenue from this site is shared with the community.
In Kenya, VFA in collaboration with the Bogoria Foundation Youth Group and Friends of Lake Bogoria have developed a programme where youth groups living around this Lake have developed a community-based conservation and environmental education programme. This addresses the need for conservation and protection of Lake Bogoria. Lake Bogoria was designated as Kenya's third Ramsar Site in April 2001 (Ramsar Convention). It is located at 0° 11' - 0° 20' N latitude and 36° 07' E - 36° 15' E longitude, and at an altitude of 963 m above sea level. It is one of a series of alkaline saline lakes in the Eastern (or Gregory) Rift Valley. The lake covers as area of approximately 34 km² and has a catchment area of 1,207 km².
VFA has planned a couple of projects targeting the Sustainable Use of Natural Resources, and inclusion of communities in the management of their natural resources through development of management plans. Notable are the Lembus Natural Forest Integrated Project, pitting Ecotourism, environmental education, tree planting and women and youth income programmes. Its on this project that we are seeking funding for the Ecotourism component.
The Lake Elementeita Integrated Conservation and Livelihood Improvement Project is designed to enhance the development of a community management plan for this lake, that supports many people but under threat from siltation due to land use activities up stream. It also looks at the possibility of benefit sharing between the ranchers occupying most of the land around the lake, who also own the two major hotels near this lake, and upstream small scale farmers, from whose farms streams supporting the lake come from, and who are threatening the flora and fauna in the lake due to too much withdrawal of water for irrigation from the tributaries.
VFA is run through a Board of Directors, made up of women and men of integrity. The organization is run through 3 Programmes, the Natural Resource Programme, the Social Development Programme and the Volunteer Management and Linking Programme. These three are supported by staff in Monitoring and Evaluation. The Organization has a secretariat in Nairobi, Kenya and a satellite country office in Uganda.