Implementer Info

By A Single Drop Posted on Fri 30 Jul 2010, almost 16 years ago

Sorry, I had one last question. Can I learn more about the implementers? What is ACIs role? Are you a trainer, funder, and or implementer?

Implementer Info

By Aqua Clara International Posted on Mon 02 Aug 2010, almost 16 years ago

Thanks for your questions and comments Gemma. ACI is an implementer that focuses on training local people in the communities in which we work. Our WASH education and outreach strategy is and will continue to be run by our local oversight staff and Community Health Workers (CHW). The CHWs currently meet with all existing and new filter users on a monthly basis, providing further training on filter maintenance, filter use, safe water storage and related hygiene. The CHWs also oversee 4 school communities and attend events, barassas (Chief's meetings) etc to raise awareness about the ACI program in their area. We hope that this outreach can be further developed with the addition of the WASH training center which we are calling our H2Ope center.

Launching a new filter producing social business can be fairly time intensive as there is a lot of material to cover. Besides the filter construction training itself, there is also significant training on tracking and reporting etc. The skill levels of the people we work with vary quite considerably, but we have endeavored to make the training accessible and often work alongside a translator. ACI provides the initial supply of raw materials for the first 50 filters, the income from which provides the money to purchase the materials for the next 50 and so on. The selling price for the filters is set at 1,070 Kenyan Shillings (currently $13) which includes 250 Kenyan shillings (~$3) as the installation and maintenance fee for the filter constructing business. The remaining 820 Kenyan Shillings are paid back to ACI to purchase the next order of raw materials. We have found this rolling loan system to be very effective.

All of our projects in the Kisii region are income generating. ACI have conducted household surveys and focus groups in the area and the feedback has indicated that the filter is affordable. The majority of the filter purchasers are around the $2/day or slightly below income level. Firewood and charcoal are both scarce and expensive in this area and people have reported substantial cost savings since using the ACI filter.

With regards to vetting the groups that we work with, we have a number of procedures. When ACI expands the program into a new community, the local chiefs, leaders and community nominate a community member to be their designated filter producer. ACI then holds a meeting with the nominated filter producer and a representative from the local school where ACI's expectations are clearly defined. It is then optional for the nominated filter constructer to sign an MOU with ACI. The filter constructing businesses are based out of schools as this provides secure storage for the raw materials. The school representatives provide some oversight of the filter constructer and also report to the ACI regional coordinator on a monthly basis.

Hope this answers your questions!
Claire

Water testing

By Blue Planet Network Posted on Thu 12 Aug 2010, almost 16 years ago

Hi,

In your budget you have 3,100 for setting up a testing laboratory and additional for testing kit consumables. Can you give a bit more detail about this lab:
- more budget details (equipment v facility v operating headcount)?
- Is it mobile?
- What is the operating plan: how and how frequently with samples be taken?

Would a filter plan such as in A Single Drop 's Uganda application be an acceptable alternative?

Thanks,
Rajesh

Water testing

By Aqua Clara International Posted on Tue 17 Aug 2010, almost 16 years ago

Hi Rajesh,

The lab that we will use is the Oxfam DelAgua Portable Testing Kit. This is a mobile water testing lab that will be used primarily for ACI's work in the Rigoma Market/Keroka area, but will also be used for monitoring some of our nearby projects. The testing kit is appropriate for the type of project that we are running as it does not require electricity and is specifically designed for field use. The kit will be set up in one of the rooms in the Hope Center which is secure and centrally located. The tests will be run by one of our Kenyan staff or a Kenyan graduate student.

As you will see from the proposal and budget, ACI will also use a portable Hach turbidometer. ACI follows CAWST's biosand filter testing guidelines and assesses the biosand filters according to the 8 normal operating conditions. Turbidity is one of these key indicators. This is a cost effective way of testing the biosand filters that also provides meaningful results. According to the CAWST guidelines for a large biosand project (greater than 100 filters), it is appropriate to test 5-10% of the filters using a random sampling procedure - ACI will follow this recommendation. Revisiting every filter such as the approach taken by A Single Drop would be very costly for a program such as ours which will have significantly more filters. Our approach is to use an effective monitoring and sampling procedure that will give us a good overall picture of how well the filters are being constructed, used and maintained and then to adjust and improve the program according to the results. The sample size will grow as the program expands. At present we are on our way to exceed 1,000 filters in the Kisii region by the end of the year.

ACI's approach in this project will be to conduct household surveys, focus groups and water testing on a tri-annual basis. ACI will continue to use the LQAS random sampling procedure. The surveys will be conducted by the ACI Community Health Workers who will also collect the water tests. Turbidity tests (input and output samples) will be carried out on all filters surveyed. Full bacteriological tests (input, output and stored water) will be carried out on a smaller subset of the sample. In keeping with the recommendation of testing 5-10% of the filters, this will work out to 50-100 tests per monitoring round depending on the number of filters at that given time. This will also include a double and a blank test to ensure quality control on each testing day.

Best wishes,
Claire

Response to a Rating & Comment

By Aqua Clara International Posted on Wed 18 Aug 2010, almost 16 years ago

Hi Peer Reviewers,

I would like to respond to a comment that was posted on the 'Ratings and Comments' section of this proposal. Unfortunately, the reviewer did not ask the question on this section as we would have been able to answer it in advance of the review. The comment stated that we did not have enough market research to ensure that the filters would be bought.

This proposal is based on an expansion of our program in the Kisii area. ACI provided the first 22 filters during our training sessions in June 2009. Since then, over 550 filters have been sold for a profit without a subsidy in the area and there are orders for many more. This is sound evidence that there is a demand for the filters and that people are prepared to pay for them. In addition, our program monitoring has shown that people consider the filter to be affordable and provide sufficient water for their household use. We will continue to do market research as the program grows and will make improvements and adjustments to our approach as we gather data.

I look forward to continuing to answer any questions that you may have about the proposal and wish you all well in this funding round,

Best wishes,
Claire

Response to a Rating & Comment

By Aqua Clara International Posted on Tue 24 Aug 2010, almost 16 years ago

Hi all,

One further response to a comment put forward in the 'Rating and Comment' section. According to our budget, the producers are initially supplied with materials for their first 50 sales which includes filters and tapped safe water storage containers. The material costs for the filters are around $10 and the cost of the tapped safe water storage containers is around $3, hence the $6500 requested for the first 500 sales.

The $3 profit for the sale of each filter is paid by the purchasing household and is obviously not requested in this proposal. Along with the material costs of the filter, this brings the selling price to $13. $10 goes back into the resupply fund.

The tapped safe water storage containers are separate from the sale of the filters and it is up to the end user if they choose to purchase this in addition to or separately from an ACI water filter.

Hope this clarifies the issue raised!

Best,
Claire

Creating Demand?

By The Samburu Project Posted on Mon 02 Aug 2010, almost 16 years ago

Hi Claire,
The ACI program sounds like it is well constructed. One question though, do the sellers of the filters make any money on the transaction? I see that 820 Kenyan Shillings from each filter is paid back to ACI for the raw materials for the next one and 250 Kenyan Shillings goes to installation and maintenance. Together those add up to the whole price, so I am wondering how the seller makes any money.
Thanks,
Robert

Creating Demand?

By Aqua Clara International Posted on Tue 03 Aug 2010, almost 16 years ago

Robert,
Thanks for your question. The filter constructer acts as the constructer, the seller and the installer, so he or she makes the 250 Kenyan shillings as profit. Hope that makes sense!
Claire

Creating Demand?

By The Samburu Project Posted on Wed 04 Aug 2010, almost 16 years ago

Thanks Claire,
Two more questions for you:
1. Do the residents in Kisii have to travel far to get to sources of water?
2. How do you find the demand for filters (ie is it high or low)? I know that you have sold a decent amount and that you have determined that the price is affordable, but I am wondering about the people of the region's feelings about the filters. Do they see the need for them and desire to purchase them?
Thanks,
Robert

Creating Demand?

By Aqua Clara International Posted on Wed 04 Aug 2010, almost 16 years ago

Hi Robert,
1. From our household survey data and focus groups, we have found that people travel on average 40mins total to and from their water source. The most common sources are springs and surface water during the dry season, and we have found that a lot of people practice some sort of rain water harvesting during the wet season. This relatively short distance to the water source is one of the reasons that the program has been a good fit in this area as one of the conditions for proper filter function is regular and consistent use.
2. People are very positive about the ACI filters and about the program as a whole. The filter constructors currently have orders for 150 more filters and we predict that this number will continue to increase. People by and large seem to understand that their water needs to be treated to make it safe for drinking. From our focus groups and interviews, we have learned that people like the taste and clarity of the ACI filter water as compared to boiled water. Women in particular like the convenience and simplicity of biosand filtration as a water treatment option and have reported significant savings in time and money as they no longer need to procure firewood. People have reported that they were very keen to buy a filter after they tasted ACI filtered water in their neighbors' homes.
Thanks,
Claire

Creating Demand?

By The Samburu Project Posted on Wed 04 Aug 2010, almost 16 years ago

Claire,
Sounds great. Sounds like your program has been very well designed. One more question: how long does it take for the business owners to produce a filter?
Thanks,
Robert

Creating Demand?

By Aqua Clara International Posted on Thu 05 Aug 2010, almost 16 years ago

Hi Robert,
It generally takes 15-20 minutes to construct the filter body and piping. The time consuming and labor intensive step is the preparation of the filler material (sieving and washing the sand and ballast). Part of the agreement with the purchasing household is that they participate in this step. This has a couple of advantages as their participation helps to keep the filter affordable while also increasing their understanding of how the filter works. To keep costs low, the filler material is either prepared at the purchasing household or at the local school where the tools and materials are stored - if it is prepared at the school it is the responsibility of the purchasing household to transport or carry the material to their home. A filter producer working with a household can produce 1-2 filters per day including installation and instruction time.
Best wishes,
Claire