By Daniella Flores | Vice President
Last time you heard from us in May we were preparing to send our US team members to the field in pursuit of three main goals: to increase management capacity, to re-assess financials, and to re-engineer tank construction and design. Since then, two of our leaders have spent a month and a half at our partner university in India to accomplish these tasks. Through community meetings and partnership building, potential candidates are being recruited to manage operations in the field. Reviewing records and receipts, comprehensive cash flow statements and third-party auditing are in progress. Finally, engineering research is being carried out to test vegi-fiber technology in our tank designs, a more cost-effective and local alternative to our current methods.
Our efforts to find leadership in the field have relied on networking with established local organizations. Conversations with the Screwpine Society and M S Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), both local NGO's working in the Kuttanad, have resulted in qualified applicants looking to join our team. These discussions have also helped us envision a management model. With this in mind, R4H is beginning to take shape as an organization, growing from the project phase to larger-scale implementation. Establishing a dedicated field team will also ensure that the work being done to revise financials and maintain transparency is continued in the absence of our US members.This is one of our highest priorities as we endeavor to maintain a high level of accountability with donations and new funds.
Research continues on tank design, this time beginning phase two of testing on the field. If successful, usage of this new material could pioneer an environmentally-minded solution to reducing construction costs.
Interactions with beneficiaries suggest that they remain satisfied with the R4H program. Field visits also reveal a high demand for rainwater harvesting, not just from R4H but from organizations similar to our own. We hope to tap into this need in the future, after internal organization has been established and expansion begins.
Water quality testing has also been conducted on all existing tanks, reaffirming that our water is the healthier alternative to all other tested sources.
As our team members near the end of their summer visit, we expect contingency in all actions that have been taken. R4H forges forward on the path to growth, and we foresee the new connections that have been made this summer will help strengthen community involvement, demand, and impact.
To read more about our summer experiences, please visit our Blog (linked below)!
Links:
By Daniella Flores | Student Vice President
By Zach Ballard | Brown Team Advisor
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