bold idea
Develop safe, effective water systems in villages across the Philippines through the combination of low-cost water purification technology and local community ownership.
organization overview
A Single Drop for Safe Water and Single Drop Consultancy Services is two organizations working together for a single vision ” Empowered communities taking responsibility to improve their quality of life and managing their resources and capacities”. Within the Philippines there are still large segments of the population with limited or no access to safe water or sanitation facilities. The program of ASDSW; develops within communities, demand for proper WaSH services as well as an awareness of its responsibilities; developing within government at all levels, mechanisms for transparent and accountable WaSH governance and; to meet this demand for WaSH services, the technical and management capacity of both the community and government built to ensure equitable access to WaSH services can be provided. ASDSW/SDCS uses the same models to guide its delivery of Humanitarian Response services in natural/complex emergencies and the follow up early recovery work. It is also in active partnership with government, UN and INGO’s to improve the delivery of emergency WaSH services, ensuring those with the greatest needs receive help in an effective and dignified manner. To compliment the community/government and emergency work ASDSW/SDCS is also working within the education system to enhance existing government child healthcare programs that concentrate on behavior change of students while building local capacity to support or build facilities. As well as government education systems, non-government programs such as Muslim daycares are also covered. To change the paradigm, ASDSW uses SDCS to supply expertise to implement successful programs on the ground. It collaborates with other stakeholders within the sector to further enhance its programs and increase scale of impact and is now starting to use the models, gather and analyze data so as to advocate with government and non-government agencies to change from the traditional water/sanitation implementation model to a more sustainable long term service delivery model.
Personal Bio
Gemma Bulos, a Filipina-American musician, teacher and multi-award winning social entrepreneur deeply believes in a connection between peace and safe water access. Currently she is the Director of the Global Women’s Water Initiative, a training program teaching women in Sub-Saharan Africa to be water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) technicians, educators and social entrepreneurs. Much of her work in this area was spurred by her reaction to the tragedy of September 11th. While introducing new alternative water treatment technologies and studying water stewardship in the Philippines, she met Kevin Lee, a former U.S. Peace Corps volunteer. Based on the concept that it takes a single drop of water to start a wave, they joined together in order to realize the power of community participation in building healthy communities. To date GWWI and ASDSW communities have been able to provide their own clean water and/or sanitation solutions, affecting the lives of over 210,000 people.
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