Gender Equality Kenya Project #16402

Help Kenyan and Ugandan Women Provide Clean Water

by Global Women's Water Initiative

Project Report | Oct 15, 2014
SafeWater and More Women Trained Ripple Thru Kenya

By Gemma Bulos | Director

GWWI Ripple Effect

Bringing clean water to Kenyans has been more than just an improvement in health in the community!

Since April, GWWI has been training women to build the Biosand Filters (BSFs) all over Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. These past few months, our partners in Kenya have trained an additional 30 women to build BSFs in villages and peri-urban communities in Kakamega, Kitale and Naivasha, Kenya. Some of these women are marginalized - sex workers, abused, HIV positive or prisoners.

In addition, students and teachers in the schools where the BSFs were installed were also trained. The women and students not only learned to build the technologies, but also a new vocational skill that could be the potential for alternative livelihood. In addition, they also learned the importance of clean water, proper hygiene and sanitation as it relates to health.

As of Oct 2014, some significant highlights of the ongoing implementation include:

36 BSFs have been built and are being installed so far.
500 students hav access to safe water daily.
over 100 patients can be treated with clean water per day at a local village health dispensary. This is significant because when they are treating the patients, the water at the dispensary was not always pristine.
The other couple dozen BSFs that have been built are yet to be installed in schools.
In each area, the women's teams received great community support. The community contributed either materials (sand, gravel), free labor and/or lunch for the trainees.
The number of BSFs will be doubled by the Spring of 2015 because our training program requires that the women pay their knowledge and scholarship forward by raising their own money to match the amount of filters that were funded

As you can see, this program is not just about clean water. It is a women's empowerment program that not only helps them to provide an in-demand basic need to their communities, but it also builds them as leaders and experts, and entrepreneurs. See our infograph below that shows how our training program works.

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Jul 7, 2014
Training installation at co-ed prison in Uganda

By Gemma Bulos | Executive Director

Women with the Deputy Warden outside of the prison

Hello wonderful water champions!

Since our last report, GWWI has been busy! From March-May, we were in East Africa to conduct the Biosand Filter training with our 10 teams of women so they could then take your donations and bring clean water to their communities.

Just a review, GWWI trains women to build multiple water and sanitation technologies in 2.5 year program to help empower them as water solutionaires in their communites. GWWI transforms women from water bearers - having to carry water, do all the water chores, and care take for their families - into water providers and entrepreneurs - building sustainable water solutions and making money!

In March we conducted our 3rd training where the women learned to build the Biosand filters, a technology that can clean water and be made out of local materials. The first and second trainings which were conducted in 2012 and 2013, they learned to build toilets and water harvesting systems with storage tanks. As of May 2014, the women can now address the various issues their communities suffer from - water access, sanitation and now water quality.

When the women learned to build the Biosand filter, we also taught them to integrate other tools that would help them not only provide clean water solutions, but to track their progress and impact. As part of the training, the women learned

how to make chlorine out of salt and water (another cheaper option to clean water for those who can't afford to buy the filter outright);
how to test water to prove the efficiency of their technologies
how to cost their products so they can make a profit while still keep it affordable;
how to market their products;
how to collect baseline data so they can have a record of their impact;
as well as how to use their data to influence local policy and engage with their local governments

After learning to build the filters, the women must learn to install the filters effectively as well as how to work with the user to teach them the proper use and maintenance of their new filter and what other hygiene practices they can employ to reduce the risk of water related disease.

The first biosand filters the women built were installed in a local prison in Uganda. The women installed 2 filters in the men's prison and 1 in the women's based on the prison population. Because of this, the warden has invited a few of our trainees to return to the prison to teach the female prisoners to make soap so they can have a vocation when they are relaeased. The ripple effect continues...

At this point, your funds will be disbursed to the women so they can build these filters in schools in their villages to ensure that students have access to safe water.

We'll keep you abreast! Thank you again for your incredible support!

With gratitude

Gemma Bulos
Executive Director, GWWI

Stella makes her first Biosand Filter

The women extract their first filter from the mold

The women check BSF for quality control

Making chlorine from water, salt and car battery

Water testing to prove water treatment efficiency

Links:

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Apr 1, 2014
Time to Celebrate!

By Gemma Bulos | Director

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