Deep Springs International

Strategy

To support DSI’s Mission and Vision, we have developed a 3 stage process (see the blue diagram below) around the Gadyen Dlo safe water treatment system focused on:

• (I) Integrated entrepreneurial education to identify and empower Haitian business leaders;
• (II) Expansion of the Gadyen Dlo system to additional beneficiaries through (A) positive deviants, (B) partnering with NGOs, and (C) support from relief aid;
• (III) Transitioning communities and safe water programs from aid dependency to independent safe water programs utilizing the Gadyen Dlo business model adapted by local Haitian entrepreneurs to market conditions; and
• (IV) Supporting self-sustained Gadyen Dlo operations through continued education and training.

Read more DSI’ Programs here.

Expansion Targets

The opportunities for saving lives through save water are huge.  As of August 2010, DSI’s unique Gadyen Dlo system is providing safe water to over 150,000 Haitians.  We have a clear strategy to reach at least 80% of rural Haitian who need safe water (that is, an additional 4,000,000 Haitians) who can have safe water for life through DSI’s Gadyen Dlo while creating sustainable Haitian jobs.  If you want to learn more about our plan and its trajectory (which is provided graphically below with IIA, IIB, and IIC representing additional households added by year per Expansion Programs), please contact us:

An Integrated Solution to Unemployment and Unsafe Water

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), over 1.1 billion people lack access to safe water.[1] This poses a major health problem for developing countries. More than 2 million people die every year due to diarrheal diseases, 88% of which are attributed to unsafe drinking water, inadequate sanitation, and poor hygiene.[2],[3] It has been estimated that 6,000 children under five years of age die each dayfrom waterborne diseases.[4] Underemployment is another pressing issue in impoverished countries. While many very poor people work, they don’t earn wages sufficient to escape poverty. The United Nations and development experts recognize that productive employment is essential to fighting poverty.[5]

A 2010 WHO-UNICEF report reported that 97% of Haitians in rural areas do not have a household water connection (21% in urban areas), meaning that they must leave home to get water .  Even water taken from a safe source is likely to become contaminated between collection and use due to transport and storage practices such as storage in open containers.   In many areas of rural Haiti, household treatment is the only viable method for ensuring water is safe to drink in the user’s cup.   The benefits of household chlorination systems include: 1) reduction of bacteria and viruses; 2) residual protection against contamination; 3) ease of use; 4) scalability; and 5) low cost.

The resources necessary for addressing the problems of underemployment and unsafe drinking water are available. Schools give students the knowledge and skills to become productive members of society. Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) coach entrepreneurs and facilitate the formation of new businesses in developing countries. Multiple water treatment technologies, known as point-of-use treatment systems, have been designed specifically for treating water at the household level in developing countries. Sand filters, ceramic filters, and chemical disinfectants represent a few of the products which families can use to make their water safe to drink. These systems cost between $3 and $60 per family per year and have been shown to reduce the incidence of waterborne diseases in developing countries. In fact, some non-government organizations (NGOs) are specifically devoted to the production and distribution of these technologies.

What is lacking in the current environment is the alignment of these resources. Existing schools and vocational training institutes provide little or no focus on training for jobs in the water treatment industry. NGOs which provide water treatment technologies rarely focus on providing jobs. Most NGOs provide products at subsidized cost, which limits the sustainability of their work and their potential for growth due to the fact that they depend on the current and changing priorities of funding sources. The NGOs that do provide job opportunities for local people normally do not invest time, money, or resources in the dissemination of business knowledge, the coaching of entrepreneurs, or the provision of start-up capital. At Deep Springs International, we believe that partnerships between schools, NGOs, and MFIs can accomplish what their individual efforts cannot. By working together, they can equip people living in low-income nations with the training, coaching, and financing they need to create their own water treatment businesses. This is the premise behind our work.

REFERENCES

[1] World Health Organization. Water, sanitation, and hygiene links to health: Facts and figures updated November 2004 [cited August 14, 2006]. Available fromhttp://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/publications/facts2004/en/index.html.

[2] Kosek M, Bern C, Guerrant RL. The global burden of diarrhoeal disease, as estimated from studies published between 1992 and 2000. Bull World Health Organ.v2003;81:197-204.

[3] United Nations/World Water Assessment Programme. UN World Water Development Report: water for people, water for life, Paris, New York, and Oxford: UNESCO and Berghahn Books, 2003.

[4] “Child Survival Fact Sheet: Water and Sanitation.” UNICEF. 2006. http://www.unicef.org/media/media_21423.html

[5] “The Centrality of Employment to Poverty Eradication” Report of the Secretary-General, United Nations, UN Security Council. August 30, 2005. (A/60/314).http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N05/476/33/PDF/N0547633.pdf?OpenElement

DSI’s Gadyen Dlo Recommended by UNICEF and DINEPA

A UNICEF evaluation in March 2010 showed the DSI intervention in Leogane to be technologically sound, simple to use, appropriately targeted, and adequately adopted in the home.   Of water samples from 182 households in the catchment area, 79% had positive chlorine residual at the time of an unannounced visit.  Among those who used chlorine, 81% showed improvement in E. coli contamination compared to untreated water samples from the same home.

UNICEF and DINEPA (Haiti’s Ministry of Water and Sanitation) state that chlorination is the preferred and most effective household water treatment option for quake-affected areas.  They suggest new actors should adopt one of three recommended chlorination options, one of which is Gadyen Dlo, the locally produced chlorine product promoted by DSI.  UNICEF also recommends follow-up household visits, which is the cornerstone of the DSI model.  WHO has referred to the Gadyen Dlo pilot project in northwest Haiti as the most successful among community-based household chlorination programs worldwide in self-sustaining health promotion.

According to Daniele Lantagne of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), who is an environmental engineer  and diarrheal diseases expert, “The DSI model is the only household water treatment program in the world that focuses on providing water treatment to the poorest of the poor with a full cost-recovery, sustainable business plan….  DSI’s model is the only one where, after a small initial investment by donors, each new user added to the program actually increases sustainability.”

The following is a short video introduction to DSI’s work.  When this video was shot in 2008, DSI was operating in two locations and providing safe water to approximately 10,000 Haitians.  As of August 2010, DSI’s unique Gadyen Dlo system is providing safe water to over 150,000 Haitians.  You can help DSI reach the remaining 950,000 Haitians who can have safe water for life through DSI’s Gadyen Dlo while creating sustainable Haitian jobs.