Discussion about entry
Water For Life Program: Using Biosand filters to save lives
This is discussion about Water For Life Program: Using Biosand filters to save lives.
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Scale
How are you planning to scale the training institute? Do you have a written curriculum that could be easily transferred to other regions?
The training institute
The training institute provides a variety of courses including a 2 month diploma course in community-based health and development, a 1 month course for medical and public health students as well as short and custom tailored course to meet the needs of various non-governmental agencies and government departments.
We also conduct mobile training throughout the year, mostly in India and neighboring countries.
We would like to expand this training institute as the demand is high. However, this depends on financial constraints and staffing.
In addition, CRHP helped establish a similar training institute in South America.
General Comments
It looks like the endings of many sections have been cut off - you might need to consolidate your responses to fit in the allotted space.
I would be more specific in your one-sentence answers - "health and development" and "innovative strategies" are very broad, and though that may be a long-term impact way down the road, something more concrete and tangible might make for a better one-line explanation of the project, methods and expected impact.
There are still a few fields that have been left uncompleted. Even a brief answer would be better than none at all.
Is your operating budget in US Dollars? Please specify.
After reading this I am still a little confused about that physical make-up of the sand filters. It might help to explain exactly how they work and what they're made of and look like in case readers are unfamiliar with this specific technology.
Cynthia Berning
The Elliott School of International Affairs
The George Washington University
Cynthia, thank you for your
Cynthia, thank you for your comments. The entry fields have been revised. Please see the above comments for more information.
As for the actual sand filters, they are an adaptation of a technology developed in Canada in the early 90s. The concept is pretty simple and you can learn more about it at:
http://www.jalfilter.org/FAQ/faq.html
and CRHP's website: http://www.jamkhed.org/AppropriateTechnology.shtml (scroll to the bottom).
Hi Shobha, I too am
Hi Shobha,
It seems that the innovation in your work lies in the community delivery model and not in the bio-sand technology. This potentially could have a huge impact. Could you more clearly describe your business model? How does the distribution work? Who pays for the bio-sand filters and where are they distributed? How well is your model working? What has been the impact so far? It is clear that you have a lot of experience in the field. For the purposes of this competition, it would be best if you could focus on the new and innovative components of your work. Thanks!
Dana Frasz
Changemakers
Thanks for your questions,
Thanks for your questions, Dana. The entry fields for this competition were transferred automatically from a previous Ashoka competition so that's why it didn't quite match up. I've only just returned from the Schwabb Foundation meeting in Davos so I'll be glad to answer questions.
The biosand filter project was initiated by one of our Mabelle Arole Fellows who continues to be involved in the design and implementation upon his return to the U.S. We have also partnered with other individuals in this field for technical assistance. More information about the filter can be obtained at http://www.jalfilter.org/schematic/sche.html.
As of now, this project has been slow to initiate beyond a small pilot study due to lack of funding. However, should the required startup resources be met, it would be implemented in a manner similar to many of our other diverse community-based (and often community-managed) programs. CRHP acts to facilitate the process by providing the training and skills for our partner communities to take over the implementation and expansion. Our efforts are also focused on identifying the population that could benefit the most and ensuring equitable distribution of this technology. Although the household cost per filter is reasonable; undoubtedly we will need to subsidize this amount for the neediest families in each village. The presence of self-help groups and other community-based organizations will be vital to implementation. These local partnerships have been working for decades to provide support to the socioeconomically weaker sections of their own communities and will continue to build on that with this project as well.
One of the reasons this has worked so well is that CRHP provides value-based and holistic training. The self-help groups evolved from women's development groups, which were organized by the project as a means to fight malnutrition, poverty and disease. The people eventually realized the enormous impact of their combining and focusing resources on mutually beneficial goals. They now willingly accept such projects and work quite effectively to oversee the implementation with extremely low incidents of corruption.
thank you
Hi Shobha Arole,
I absolutely love the website!!!
The message there is so simple and yet so profound.
My "concern" is the sand filtration becoming contaminated...how is it you propose to address this important issue?
There are multiple "entrants" into this competition whose ideas and technologies offer possible solutions that may be of interest...I encourage you to read through and see if other ideas may be of use.
Best wishes...
Brian
Sand Filtration
Hi Brian, this is an important issue and highlights the need to provide education and training for all household users of this filter. Our community-based health and development project is in a unique position to provide such training and support through a well developed infrastructure. Every project village has at least one village health worker who acts as the liaison between her community and our hospital/training center at Jamkhed. There are also community groups such as farmers clubs and womens development organization/self-help groups. Al of these groups and individuals are quite adept at instituting and monitoring various community-based project, such as the Biosand filter project. Our organization, CRHP, acts as a facilitator and source of support for the communities with which we are partnered.
In addition, in order to contaminate those layers of sand (i.e. crushed gravel) which comes in contact with the filtered water, a user would have to disassemble the filter, which is quite heavy, and expose the clean water/sand to the environment. This would never occur as part of normal and proper operation and maintenance. It is certainly possible but very unlikely and indeed has never occurred in field trials. Also, this filter technology has been widely implemented throughout the world, in dozens of countries. It has been endorsed by many organizations including the WHO. What's great about it is its adaptability to various environments and cultures and we have likewise found a modification that works very well for people in rural India.
Uniqueness of Delivery Model
Hi Shoba,
I know that CRHP has made a great contribution but I still believe that your readers need to know more about what distinguishes this filtration system from others and/or what is unique about your model of delivering services to the rural poor.
Is your model one of helping to finance and instruct people in the use of individual household filtration systems or is this a community kiosk system where consumers will come to a central location to purchase filtered water and carry it home? What are the relative costs and how do they compare with other alternatives currently available?
If one were to put any reasonable value on the time of the women who carry and filter water for their families, what is the approximate cost of water (in rupees/kl ) from your system by the time it is reaches the consumer and is ready to drink?
Thanks for all your contributions in this area,
David
It is far more important to keep water safe, available, and affordable for all than to keep the price "Cheap" for all.
Uniqueness of Delivery Model
Thank you for your question, David.
Many qualities of this filter technology eventually led us to explore and promote its use in rural India. Some of the most important aspects include virtually maintenance free operation, indefinite life of the filter, durability, scalability, excellent filtration efficiency and, of course, acceptance by the communities. Although the cost of production is not "cheap" relative to the average household income in our project villages, they are nonetheless affordable. This is especially true when you take into account the potential number of years the filters can be used and the number of people who will benefit from a significantly reduced incidence of illnesses, some life threatening. We have found that people, for the most part, are willing to invest in the health of their families if the technology is shown to work.
In terms of a delivery model, CRHP has never operated as a charity. Rather, we facilitate the process of grassroots empowerment and capacity-building on multiple levels. As with the many other community-based health and development programs which we support, the people would be expected to contribute significantly to the implementation of the Biosand filter project and eventually take on full ownership. We will provide knowledge, training and support to enable this process to go forward as well as the initial investment to jump start this program. It is important to note that our philosophy has always been to provide a preferential option for the poor. We would therefore subsidize the cost of these filters for those families who are incapable of absorbing the cost or arrange for loans to be dispersed through the microcredit program or self-help groups that are found in each village.
In addition, the filters have been shown to produce more than enough potable water to support the needs of even the larger families. Water would still have to be carried into the house as before, then processed through the filter and stored in a proper storage container.
Uniqueness of Delivery Model
During its early years, CRHP has always placed water issues at the top of the agenda, as dictated by the needs of the people of Jamkhed. One of our earliest projects was to install tube wells in hundreds of villages with which we are partnered, with help from Oxfam. This was one of the most effective health interventions that has ever been organized in this part of India. Having quick and easy access to safe drinking water, especially in a drought-prone area, dramatically lowered the infant mortality rate and visibly reduced the incidence of water-borne illness such as polio, cholera, typhoid and a host of diarrhea-causing agents, which are a major contributer to the countless childhood deaths occurring each year throughout the developing world.
Providing clean drinking water at the household level is the next step forward. We are confident that implementation of this program will produce a dramatic impact on the health and living conditions for these people. Our main challenge now is to secure the funding required to fully implement and scale up this endeavor.
This is pretty interesting.
This is pretty interesting. I actually found this article/site because I was looking for something else similar(the straw that lets people drink bad water and it filters it). But this article was also very interesting to me, thank you.
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