Wellness through water ? Empowering people globally
Over 1.1 billion people around the world do not have access to water, clean or dirty. Each day 4,400 people die from water borne illnesses, 90% of them children. Although huge amounts of money have been spent over the past decade to tackle this major factor of extreme poverty, the problem remains. The effective technologies exist. What is needed is an answer to the question, ?How can we get these technologies in the hands of over a billion people in extreme poverty?? Acting as a catalyst, the Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology (CAWST, a not-for-profit organization based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada) provides the professional services ? education, training and technical consulting in water and sanitation ? needed to stimulate independent, community-driven action on water and sanitation issues. CAWST?s primary beneficiaries are the organizations ? largely non-profit, non-governmental and government agencies ? that access CAWST?s services to acquire the skills and knowledge so they can champion a community water and sanitation program. The ultimate beneficiary is the poor and the very poor who do not have access to safe water. By developing the capacity of local organizations, CAWST helps to build a foundation that can meet the community?s continuous needs for water and sanitation. CAWST has set curriculum that it delivers, and develops new curriculum and services to meet clients? needs. The programs educate organizations about sources and causes of contamination, how communities can collaborate, household water treatment (HWT) technologies available and project managements skills needed to execute the program at a local level. This knowledge-centred approach has already resulted in more than 500,000 people with affordable drinking water and has empowered organizations in 36 countries to develop community-based water and sanitation programs.
About You
Location
Project Street Address
Project City
Project Province/State
Project Postal/Zip Code
Project Country
Your idea
Focus of activity
Healthcare Delivery
Start Year
2001
Positioning in the mosaic of solutions
Main barrier addressed
High cost of providing quality health products and services
Main principle addressed
Introduce novel use of technologies
Name Your Project
Wellness through water ? Empowering people globally
Describe Your Idea
Over 1.1 billion people around the world do not have access to water, clean or dirty. Each day 4,400 people die from water borne illnesses, 90% of them children. Although huge amounts of money have been spent over the past decade to tackle this major factor of extreme poverty, the problem remains. The effective technologies exist. What is needed is an answer to the question, ?How can we get these technologies in the hands of over a billion people in extreme poverty?? Acting as a catalyst, the Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology (CAWST, a not-for-profit organization based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada) provides the professional services ? education, training and technical consulting in water and sanitation ? needed to stimulate independent, community-driven action on water and sanitation issues. CAWST?s primary beneficiaries are the organizations ? largely non-profit, non-governmental and government agencies ? that access CAWST?s services to acquire the skills and knowledge so they can champion a community water and sanitation program. The ultimate beneficiary is the poor and the very poor who do not have access to safe water. By developing the capacity of local organizations, CAWST helps to build a foundation that can meet the community?s continuous needs for water and sanitation. CAWST has set curriculum that it delivers, and develops new curriculum and services to meet clients? needs. The programs educate organizations about sources and causes of contamination, how communities can collaborate, household water treatment (HWT) technologies available and project managements skills needed to execute the program at a local level. This knowledge-centred approach has already resulted in more than 500,000 people with affordable drinking water and has empowered organizations in 36 countries to develop community-based water and sanitation programs.
Innovation
Description of health product/service offering:
Over 1.1 billion people around the world do not have access to water, clean or dirty. Each day 4,400 people die from water borne illnesses, 90% of them children. Although huge amounts of money have been spent over the past decade to tackle this major factor of extreme poverty, the problem remains. The effective technologies exist. What is needed is an answer to the question, ?How can we get these technologies in the hands of over a billion people in extreme poverty?? Acting as a catalyst, the Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology (CAWST, a not-for-profit organization based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada) provides the professional services ? education, training and technical consulting in water and sanitation ? needed to stimulate independent, community-driven action on water and sanitation issues. CAWST?s primary beneficiaries are the organizations ? largely non-profit, non-governmental and government agencies ? that access CAWST?s services to acquire the skills and knowledge so they can champion a community water and sanitation program. The ultimate beneficiary is the poor and the very poor who do not have access to safe water. By developing the capacity of local organizations, CAWST helps to build a foundation that can meet the community?s continuous needs for water and sanitation. CAWST has set curriculum that it delivers, and develops new curriculum and services to meet clients? needs. The programs educate organizations about sources and causes of contamination, how communities can collaborate, household water treatment (HWT) technologies available and project managements skills needed to execute the program at a local level. This knowledge-centred approach has already resulted in more than 500,000 people with affordable drinking water and has empowered organizations in 36 countries to develop community-based water and sanitation programs.
Description of innovation:
CAWST is a hybrid organization: engineering consultancy, education institution and non-profit. What also sets CAWST apart from its peers is that CAWST does not provide funding and does not implement projects. The organization exists solely to provide the professional services to develop the capacity of organizations in developing countries to meet their community?s needs for water and sanitation. A competitive analysis of CAWST and this Technology Transfer Model identified CAWST as the only non-profit organization with this approach. CAWST?s unique approach, or Technology Transfer Model, promotes a shared responsibility: CAWST provides the professional services; local organizations implement programs and/or train others and share learning with the global CAWST network; and households are empowered to maintain household technologies and adopt healthy hygiene and sanitation behavior. CAWST, and the model, is also differentiated by: ? A multiplier effect. Our train-the-trainer approach helps the technology reach millions of individuals. ? A non-prescriptive, collaborative approach. CAWST facilitates a process with community organizations to set criteria for the local water program, presents an array of solutions and empowers communities to decide which option is the best. By building the capacity of local institutions to provide continuous services, the community can access these services if and when they are ready. ? Open, wide sharing of knowledge with a non-technical audience. CAWST makes complex health and engineering principles understandable to the poor and freely shares the knowledge through CAWST?s network ? An extensive network, including international and local NGOs, hospitals, government agencies, corporations, universities? ? A professional provider-client relationship with the beneficiaries of CAWST?s services, rather than one based on charity.
Operational model:
CAWST?s Business Model is based on the following Guiding Principles: 1. Lack of knowledge is the root cause of water borne disease. People don?t know what is polluting the water, how diseases are transmitted and how they can solve these issues themselves. They need education to make informed choices and decide what practices they want to adopt; appreciate how precious a resource water is; and manage their own water needs. 2. Providing training programs for all the organizations involved in the delivery of a HWT program is a catalyst for effective, sustainable, replicable and scaleable service delivery to the poor. The impact grows exponentially. 3. Funders have a large influence over program success. A non-prescriptive approach and support for ?software? (education, training) as opposed to ?hardware? results in stronger organizations. As such, CAWST is focused on four main strategies: 1. Educate, Empower & Build Capacity. CAWST believes that community water education is the first step. Knowledge about water and sanitation must become common knowledge. CAWST facilitates this information exchange by translating technical principles into interactive learning, an approach clearly demanded by local communities. 2. Focus on HWT. This enables CAWST and its in-country trainees/clients to: address the most immediate needs at the smallest unit; empower individual homeowners to make decisions; and target services to those most in need. Due to CAWST?s Technology Transfer Model, at June 2005 there were over 500,000 people with improved water. 3. NGO Networking. CAWST is becoming recognized as the hub of a growing global network of NGOs, government agencies, education institutions and funders. CAWST?s clients in 36 countries access this network for information-sharing, best practices and encouragement from other like-minded organizations. 4. Train the Trainer. There are now 19 organizations using CAWST?s curriculum to train others.
Human resources:
CAWST employs 15 people, including six international trainers, two curriculum developers, two research staff and the balance in business services. Given the technical services CAWST provides, CAWST is a licensed engineering consultancy in the province of Alberta, Canada. Key Leadership on this Initiative Camille Dow Baker, MEvds, P.Eng, is co-founder of CAWST as well as is (volunteer) President & CEO. She has more than 25 years of experience as a professional engineer and executive in the oil and gas industry internationally. Ms. Dow Baker has also been President of the Board of Directors for the YWCA of Calgary and is a recipient of the Alberta Centennial Medal, Global Woman of Vision Award and the National GRIOT Award for science and technology. Shauna Curry, P.Eng. is Director, International Services and manages a staff of five, most of whom are also Professional Engineers. Ms. Curry provides leadership in international service development and support at CAWST. Previously as International Advisor for Asia, she helped to develop successful household water treatment programs in Pakistan, India, and Nepal and continues to provide ongoing support to this region.
Key operational partnerships:
Since its creation in 2001, CAWST has established long-term, valuable partnerships with organizations, corporations, foundations, government agencies and education institutions. As a service-provider CAWST establishes client-service provider relationships with training clients in-country. As at June 2005 CAWST had 100 active implementing organizations as part of the network, and these organizations were partnered with 175 other community-based organizations in the implementation of their local initiative. As clients progress, CAWST develops partnership arrangements to formalize the relationship. Often the partnership revolves around the provision of services to deepen the client?s capacity to scale-up an existing community-based program or become a local centre of expertise, or partnerships to develop new curriculum. CAWST has such partnership agreements wit the DHAN Foundation in India and ENPHO in Nepal. CAWST also develops close relationships with funders, including individual philanthropists, governments (e.g. Canadian International Development Agency), international agencies (e.g. UN Habitat), corporations (e.g. EnCana, Falconbridge, Nexen, Exxon) and service clubs and youth organizations (e.g. Rotary, schools). Particularly with corporate relationships, CAWST is funded to develop a social responsibility program that aligns with the organizations business purposes and geography.
Impact
Financial Sustainability:
- Fees charged to clients?: Yes
- How do you assure affordability?: Many of CAWST clients cannot afford to pay the full cost of the services provided, therefore CAWST fundraises from the private sector to offset this revenue gap. CAWST does encourage clients to pay what they can. In-country clients will often cover the in-country logistics costs including a training venue, catering and administrative support. In terms of the technology options provided in the training programs, CAWST presents an array of options that are acceptable and affordable to the poor. Furthermore, the technologies presented can be manufactured locally, often with minimal up-front investment. Though CAWST does not fund projects, where funds are required for the start-up of a project, CAWST will work with clients to identify funding sources and help make connections.
- Earned incomes as a percentage of operating costs: 8.94%
- Other funding sources: CAWST is a not-for-profit organization. Nowadays, we daily need to raise funds from different foundations and partners so as to ensure that our activities and programs will keep expanding. Our long-term strategy focuses on our self-sustainability but, for the moment, our sources of funding are crucial to our existence and growth, as the chart below shows: Revenue 2005 Individual $605,546 Corporations $254,105 Foundations $69,454 Government Funding $53,000 Schools and Education Institutions $5,216 Rotary $500 Earned Revenue $76,135
- Strategy for long-term sustainability: CAWST ensures its programs, projects and initiatives are financially sustainable. Our organization: o provides education only to the extent needed for effective service delivery o targets full recovery of training costs o assists clients to obtain funds to pay for services o achieves economies of scale through a large network in 36 countries, 100 clients and 175 community-based organizations o mitigates risks by enabling a multiplicity of smaller projects rather than fewer large projects. CAWST has also developed a long-term financing strategy with the support of community and business leaders in Canada that addresses the funding requirements for each of CAWST?s functional areas.
Current and Future Impact:
- Total number of clients: 700
- Clients in the past year: 350
- Percentage of low-income clients: 100%
- Impact: CAWST delivers services to organizations that serve the poor and the very poor, earning less than a dollar per day. Furthermore, CAWST?s training services and knowledge transfer are designed to specifically meet the water and sanitation needs of the poor in developing countries. For example, the technology options presented are effective and affordable and can be made using local materials. It is widely recognized that water and sanitation is the first step toward the sustainable development of a community. When communities have access to safe water and sanitation, health improves as well as economic activities and education. CAWST accomplishes this by addressing the broader issue of water and sanitation in a community ? including the behavior change needed in hygiene and sanitation.
- Overall "market": Our services are clearly required and in demand. The World Health Organization (WHO) highlights that more than 1.1 billion people do not have access to a water source within 1 km of their home. CAWST estimates our target segment at 100 million individuals in developing countries. The size of this target segment is based on the forecast impact of CAWST?s services if CAWST doubles in size annually, which has happened since its creation. Our train-the-trainer approach has the actual potential to reach millions of individuals through a wide network worldwide: every region or country, via our training programs and technical consulting services, can benefit from the use of affordable, efficient technologies through a collaborative, long-term approach.
Scaling up strategy:
Stage of the initiative:
Scale-up stage.
Expansion plan:
CAWST provides the services needed to stimulate several independent, locally-driven initiatives. Following is a typical client progression that flows from initial interest to the client becoming a local centre of expertise. By training look-alike organizations that exist within regions, CAWST and its clients have the potential to reach millions. ? Potential client investigating HWT attends CAWST seminar or Program Implementer workshop ? Client attends Project Management course and proposes Pilot Project ? Client attends Filter Technician workshop ? Client implements Pilot Project with technical support from CAWST ? Client evaluates Pilot Project with Water Testing training ? Client plans and implements Scaled-up Project ? Client commits to intensive training and technical consulting to become local centre of expertise Currently, CAWST has a variety of clients at each stage of the progression and is working with three clients in India, Nepal and El Salvador, who have expressed interest in becoming local centres. Looking forward CAWST?s priority is to progress clients toward scale-up and identify other organizations who want to and can become local centres.
Origin of the initiative:
After 20 years in the oil and gas industry, Camille Dow Baker earned her Graduate Degree in Environmental Design focusing on water and sanitation in developing countries. While at the University of Calgary, Camille met Dr. David Manz, the inventor of a simple HWT technology called the BioSand Filter that has the potential to affect millions of the world?s poor. Dr. Manz and Ms. Dow Baker founded CAWST and, shortly after, developed the curriculum needed to not only teach the technology solutions but also the skills needed for organizations to initiate independent, community-driven water and sanitation programs. CAWST has since delivered training and technical consulting in 36 countries and continues to develop other curriculum to support the organization?s growing network of clients.
This Entry is about (Issues)
Sustainability
Policy change:
Though CAWST does not do advocacy or policy work, the organization would like to see greater awareness of the importance of the ?software? needed by organizations to build their capacity to provide continuous service in water and sanitation. Too often, the focus is on ?hardware? (i.e. technologies) but without starting with the software (i.e. knowledge and skills) organizations do not have the capacity needed to execute programs and communities do not have the knowledge to make informed decisions. Funders also have significant influence over program success, by the nature in which they fund. CAWST would like to see increased funding for organizations, as opposed to projects, which will result in stronger organizations that are able to plan for the future.
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