The U.S. Embassy in Burkina Faso has given Initiative: Eau a grant of $10,000. The money goes to H2Odata.city.fada, a project that aims to keep water infrastructure in the city of Fada N’gourma working. It does so by training local maintenance groups and making them responsible for monitoring and upkeep.
The reasoning is simple. When local crews can spot and fix problems, drinking water service becomes safer and more reliable. The organization projects that the project will cut the number of water source breakdowns in the city by 66%. It also expects an 83% drop in how long a broken source stays out of service.
Fewer and shorter outages mean more people can get safe water, so fewer of them fall back on unimproved sources. That matters because water-borne diseases cause disability and death, and they also drain economic productivity.
Initiative: Eau does not build new infrastructure. Instead, it works with the pumps and systems already in place and passes on sound monitoring and maintenance practice to the local groups best placed to use it. As a result, existing systems can run at full capacity under local leadership, which is exactly what the group’s mission calls for.
Chief Executive Officer Donald Brooks said the grant would have a permanent effect on access to safe drinking water in Fada N’gourma. He thanked the American people for the support. According to Brooks, the grant covers 33% of the project’s cost.
Initiative: Eau and its partners plan to start the work in September 2018. The project is expected to last about six months.
The group is an American 501(c)3 nonprofit and non-governmental organization. Its mission is to make drinking water services safer and better in developing areas, and it currently runs programs in Burkina Faso, Niger and Nigeria. Its long-term vision is safe drinking water for everyone.
Data ties its programs together. Each one relies on data to guide strategy, since better information helps aim limited money and staff where they do the most good.
Initiative: Eau holds consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. It also belongs to four global NGO networks: the Global Water Partnership, Sanitation and Water for All, the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council, and the Global Network of Civil Society Organizations for Disaster Reduction.
