SOLUTIONS
Replicable, sustainable, and scalable.
Water Security
Issue: Lack of a reliable water source.
In developing countries, there is often no water in the home or at school. Forty percent (40%) of global healthcare facilities have no water service. Water sources have become unreliable due to unpredictable rain patterns brought on by deforestation, over-drilling of wells, and climate change. These climate impacts disproportionately impact developing countries. Water sources are no longer sufficient, and those that exist are frequently shared between people and animals.
Solution: Rainwater Harvesting with Rainwater Catchment Tanks
Our Water Security Program is designed to make villages more resilient by creating secure and sustainable local water capacity. We train communities to build their own water storage using custom-designed and government-approved Rainwater Catchment Tanks. Each Tank holds over 6,600 gallons (25,000 Liters) of water, is built by villagers with locally made, curved bricks, and can provide year-round water for people and agriculture, refilling multiple times per year.
Outputs
Rainwater Catchment Tanks (RCTs):
Friendly Water helps villages build community Rainwater Catchment Tanks with a capacity of 25,000 Liters each. The technology is easy to scale.
Outcomes
- Villagers now have a reliable water supply.
- Women and girls no longer have to spend hours a day searching for water from ever-increasing distances over often dangerous roads.
- Girls are able to stay current in their education.
- New employment opportunities are created for local workers.
- There is no need to drill and maintain expensive wells.
- Other communities can see the benefits of our Water Security training and production programming.
Impacts
- Girls, who can now stay in school, don’t fall behind their peers. Graduation rates improve and teen pregnancies decline.
- Weather patterns no longer determine village life.
- Villages are more resilient and secure.
- Community pride grows.
- Unpredictability is replaced with certainty, and stress is reduced.
- Fragile watersheds are protected and restored.
- Wages created through RCT construction expand opportunities for villagers, and empower communities.
- Women can expand the scope of their lives beyond a daily search for water to start businesses or expand their small farms.
Good Hygiene
Issue: 3 Billion people lack basic handwashing facilities.
Lack of soap products, and counterfeit or highly-diluted soap failing to prevent disease transmission. Contamination by pathogenic microbes due to lack of quality, affordable soap.
Solution: Kenyan Bureau of Standards (KEBS) certified, high-quality, multipurpose soap production and sales.
Teaching villagers the mass production, distribution and sale of certified, high-quality multipurpose liquid soap to reduce disease transmission, increase positive health outcomes and provide opportunities for positive economic impacts.
Outputs
Multi-purpose soap:
In an environment plagued by counterfeit or highly-diluted soap, our KEBS certified liquid soap, designed by a chemical engineer on our team, offers a high quality and affordable product to the community.
Outcomes
- Disease transmission is greatly reduced.
- Soap making and sales create jobs and local wages.
- Schools are able to remain open, creating a safe environment for learning.
Impacts
- Village resilience is affirmed and strengthened.
- Villagers take pride in their “hometown” industry.
- Improved educational outcomes.
- Fewer illnesses in the community.
- Money spent on antibiotics and clinic visits can be repurposed for non-emergency needs.
- Economic opportunities are created.
- People unable to find employment elsewhere due to infirmity or developmental issues find a welcoming environment in which to prosper and find purpose.
Better Building
Issue: Deforestation and watershed destruction.
Every year, sub-Saharan Africa loses hundreds of thousands of acres of critical forest in order to produce fired bricks. These forests protect watersheds and are vital to hydrological restoration and preservation.
Solution: Interlocking Stabilized Soil Blocks (ISSBs)
Friendly Water trains communities in the production and use of Interlocking Stabilized Soil Blocks (ISSBs) for construction projects. These sustainable and eco-friendly blocks replace the traditional fired brick while creating good paying jobs. Producing ISSBs does no harm to our environment. Rainwater Catchment Tanks or Housing made from ISSB are easy and simple to construct.
Outputs
Interlocking Stabilized Soil Blocks (ISSBs)
Used in construction of Rainwater Catchment Tanks (RCTs), homes, schools and more, the Interlocking Stabilized Soil Block (ISSB) is a revolution in the production of inexpensive, durable and environmentally friendly building materials.
Outcomes
- Construction materials are replicable and easy to produce. Each pressed block is identical to the block before and the block after, allowing for stronger, studier, and reproducible construction practices.
- Reduced deforestation – Since these blocks are not “fired” like traditional bricks, the need for wood fuel is significantly reduced.
- Reduced production of pulmonary irritants and antagonists in the village air.
Impacts
- Quality housing is easier to afford and obtain.
- Pride in the village is increased.
- Teaching villagers the design of ISSBs creates increased knowledge within the community.
- Rainwater Catchment Tanks are built with ISSBs, providing for Water Security.
- Improved quality of life for the entire community.
- Creates the opportunity for a sustainable economic enterprise.
