Statement of Philosophy

Our Approach - the Rural Outreach Water Supply Program

Why is Global Water Different

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Statement of Philosophy

Global Water is based upon the belief that the lack of access to safe drinking water is the primary cause of hunger, disease and poverty throughout the developing world.

Founded in 1982, Global Water is a volunteer-based, international, non-profit humanitarian organization with 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status in the United States. We’re focused on providing safe water supplies, sanitation and hygiene facilities, and related health programs for rural villagers in developing countries.

To achieve this goal, Global Water’s strategy is to provide permanent solutions to a region’s water needs by implementing sustainable and appropriate systems (to include state-of-the-art technology) to:

• Access, purify, and distribute new sources of safe water for rural villages;

• Build sanitation facilities, such as latrines, to create safe waste disposal while providing dignity to rural villagers;

• Build hygiene-related facilities, such as hand washing stations, for rural schools with a complementary educational component;
Our water projects have an immediate life-changing impact, particularly to women and children, who have the responsibility in rural areas of developing countries to gather water for the family every day of their lives. Successful Global Water projects utilize water and sanitation as a tool to create sustainable socioeconomic development in these poor rural communities.

Simply put - our program is designed to enable the rural poor to help themselves.

Global Water's Approach to Worldwide Water Problems – the Rural Outreach Water Supply Program

Over the past 25 years, Global Water has developed a model that we call the Rural Outreach Water Supply Program (or ROWS Program). This model has worked well for implementing water supply projects in rural villages in many challenging developing country environments and includes the following features:

1.) Global Water investigates and identifies local, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in a developing country that are currently working with rural water supply projects.

Often there are local organizations in developing countries that have water infrastructure expertise and are already working with rural villages in need of a safe water supply. We call these organizations “water-advocacy” NGOs. A suitable water-advocacy NGO will have the following characteristics:

• provide leadership necessary to liaison (and create a relationship with) water project recipients;
• provide organizational expertise to plan a project with Global Water’s help;
• provide on-site skilled supervision throughout the project;
• provide after-project continuity to monitor equipment installed during project construction and provide maintenance, as needed;

2.) Global Water works closely with local water-advocacy NGOs in a developing country to identify suitable water projects in rural villages of their country.

Global Water travels to developing countries we are working in to inspect potential project sites to conduct water quality sampling, as required, and to maintain communication with NGOs we work with.

3.) Global Water helps local water-advocacy NGOs determine what equipment is essential to satisfy the requirements of a particular project.

In particular, Global Water’s Program Manager and technical advisors will help determine if disinfection or other water treatment technologies are necessary to satisfy the requirements of a particular water project. Relatively simple technologies (such as spring catchment and rain catchment water supply systems, slow-sand filtration treatment equipment and ferro-cement storage tanks) will be the first technologies to be considered; however, if conditions allow, state-of-the-art technologies will also be considered when more sophisticated water treatment is warranted.

4.) Global Water provides partial to full funding for the project.

Besides the funding provided by Global Water, a small % of the funding (approximately 10%) necessary for a completed water project should come from the recipients of the water project either up-front or in the form of a stipend paid as the water supply system is used; this funding is often paid in terms of materials, such as gravel, sand and cement. In addition, all unskilled labor must be provided by the recipients of the water project for the entire duration of the project construction period. Community recipients may also contribute to the project by transportation support or other non-cash project assistance.

5.) Provide specialty water-related equipment to local water-advocacy NGOs.

Global Water purchases water treatment equipment not available in a particular developing country and ships it to the local NGOs for installation and use.

6.) Provide technical expertise to local water-advocacy NGOs during a project to help with project management, equipment installation and training.

Global Water communicates with local NGOs to insure problems that arise are corrected quickly and money is managed efficiently. Global Water helps with calculations necessary to size equipment and distribution pipelines and furnishes equipment training materials, such as installation and operation manuals, as required.

7.) Inspect completed projects and maintain continuity with a project site through the local water-advocacy NGO.

Global Water travels to developing countries we are working in to inspect completed project sites and to conduct water quality sampling, as required. We maintain a relationship with a project site by supporting the water project recipients with consulting, training and repair parts that will be installed with the help of the local water-advocacy NGO that installed the equipment.

8.) Global Water may assemble Water and Technical Emergency Response (W.A.T.E.R.) Teams to perform project work in developing countries.

Depending upon a particular project requirement, Global Water may assemble W.A.T.E.R. Teams to help local non-profit organizations with specific project work in a developing country. These teams are especially helpful during emergency crises events, such as natural disasters. These team members are typically trained volunteers that donate their time to perform technical, equipment-oriented humanitarian projects. They come from varied backgrounds, but most have a previous connection to the water supply and water equipment industries. Many are technically-oriented and retired or semi-retired who love to work on humanitarian projects to bring safe, clean water to people in need. They want to make a difference in the world -- and they do!!

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Why is Global Water Different

Experience

We have over 25 years of experience working around the world promoting clean water for rural populations in developing countries. With our inception in 1982, Global Water started as an advocacy group spreading awareness of water issues, however, that focus has transitioned into a project oriented organization. Along with this transition, we have built our foundation with technical specialists in the water industry, enabling us to better understand the complexity of water issues in rural areas of developing countries and thereby manage projects more effectively.

Technology Push Program

Global Water has developed a Technology Push Program, which focuses on developing and providing filtration and disinfection equipment that’s effective and maintainable in a remote, developing world environment. Usually the water treatment technologies implemented are quite simple and fall into the category of “appropriate technology.” However, Global Water also uses low-maintenance “state of the art” water equipment when a problem requires a more sophisticated technology solution. In addition, we provide detailed construction instructional guides on our website that show how to build some of the water, sanitation, and hygiene-related facilities Global Water funds in rural areas of developing countries. These “how-to” instructions are being made available, so anyone can learn how to build worthwhile and needed water, sanitation and hygiene facilities in the developing world. These construction instruments are especially useful for local organizations and Peace Corps Volunteers working in rural communities in developing countries.

Building Relationships with Donors

We are a small volunteer based organization. This enables us to work directly with a donor to organize a project, making the donation experience as intimate and personalized as possible. We provide project specific details and a final report, including photos of the accomplished water and sanitation faculties to show how their contribution impacted rural villages or school children. Through building a lasting relationship with a donor, we foster confidence in our work and credibility through our projects.

Working with Local Groups and Local Materials = Long Term Solutions

We’re working through local groups so they can develop the construction expertise and program management skills to build water-related facilities in their own country. With this approach, we do not send teams of volunteers to work in developing countries like many other organizations do. We provide technical training to the communities we work with so they are able to manage the facilities themselves. Using largely local materials to build water and sanitation facilities improves the local economy and makes maintaining the facilities feasible. Lastly, by working directly with local organizations, we are able to function through volunteers and maximize our efforts and funding for the rural poor in the developing world.