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Africa Water Bank- The Africa Water Bank is a registered not for profit social enterprise established in 2008. It is open to partnership with any community or group that does not have access to clean drinking water.

How it works- It is a development organization, not just a charity, so there is an expectation that the communities it partners with will play an important part in the development of the water-point project. It usually provides some funding but the community must have a strong water-point committee and be committed to owning, managing and maintaining the water-point once it is complete.

Rainwater Harvesting- The AWB’s first preference is usually to install an innovative rainwater harvesting system it has designed and developed. It comprises a fully fenced low level artificial roof, high capacity storage tank and sand and charcoal box filtration. The system is low cost (less than half the cost of an average drilled and equipped borehole), able to be 100% maintained locally, does not break down and can be easily managed and maintained by women. The system will provide clean drinking water for a community of 400 people all year round with just 250mm of rainfall. Construction can be undertaken using skills, technology, know how, labor and materials that are typically available in most African rural communities. Once a system is constructed it can be easily added to and extended.

Community Involvement and Ownership- The recipient community must develop its own management and maintenance plan, fence the water-point, build animal troughs, have a tree planting program, agree to the charging of a small fee for the water, dig holes for pit latrines in agreed sites and have a development plan for the future development of the water point. They also have to raise 15% of the total costs and provide clean sand and gravel and blocks for any cement work that is necessary. The AfricaWaterBank also insists on the community being involved in the construction of the water- point. This creates a strong sense of community ownership compared to other aid installments that are put into place for free. Since the community has had to make a sacrifice towards the water- point construction they will feel obligated to keep it running effectively. The AfricaWaterBank will only work with communities that are prepared to do and in fact do these things. The AfricaWaterBank also believes good water management is equally important to the provision of clean water and therefore promotion of awareness about the need to care for existing water resources is its other objective. It actively promotes good water resource management practices.

Completed work- The AfricaWaterBank has assisted in the development of more than 350 new water-points since 2008 and repaired nearly as many dysfunctional ones. The AWB is headquartered in Vancouver and works in Mali, Niger, South Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia and Kenya. It has just completed a major project in South Sudan (100 boreholes) and is now mobilizing to commence a similar one in Pokot County in Kenya.

Assistance for Rural Communities- Copies of AWB community agreements are available on request. Once a community indicates it is prepared to fulfill its commitments as per the agreement, a representative of the Africa Water Bank will visit the community to assess where they are up to and if necessary provide assistance or information to get them started. The AWB only then matches the community with an appropriate donor. The AWB stresses that it does not undertake any construction until the partner community has fulfilled all of its obligations. This usually takes about 12 months.

 