Arghyam Collaborates with PWX in its Small Grants Programme

Bangalore
March 5, 2012

One of Arghyam’s core goals is to reach out to grassroots organisations that improve management and access to domestic water and sanitation in their areas. Arghyam recognises the challenges in partnering with committed groups spread across the country that are working at a small scale. In order to address this it started a Small Grants Programme (SGP). The idea is to partner with larger, more established organisations which take on the task of identifying and working with the small groups in their geographic and sectoral area of work.

Arghyam has chosen the Peer Water Exchange (PWX) as one of the partners of this innovative approach. Arghyam CEO, Sunita Nadhamuni says, “This collaboration allows us to leverage the network of grassroots organizations present on PWX and its efficiency allows us to support small projects with minimal overhead.”

“We expect that some of these groups operating under a peer process will emerge as catalysts for positive change in their area of operation in the WatSan sector over a period of time,” states Rahul Bakare, Director Programmes. He adds: “Being a passionate and technologically advanced organization, PWX has shown keen interest to act as our partner and we’re happy with this collaboration.”

Rajesh Shah explains the goals of PWX: “We want to change the dynamic in the water sector, increasing collaboration, learning, and cooperation – while reducing the overhead and bureaucracy that plague the sector. Funders have a hard time connecting with remote projects and their actual impact years later, and we are addressing their needs. We also want to provide tools so that all parties can manage projects better, communicate, and improve effectiveness. Managing Arghyam's SGP is further validation of our technology, process, and human network. Arghyam's recognition of our reach and efficiencies of PWX, will also allow us to introduce new applications into the field.”

Arghyam is a public charitable foundation working in the water and sanitation sector in India whose vision is “Safe, sustainable water for all”.

Blue Planet Run, a non-profit in California, launched PWX in 2006 at the World Water Forum in Mexico, and since 2008, Peer Water Exchange has been a registered charity in India.

Please visit the websites of Arghyam and PWX for more information.