SAFE WATER INITIATIVE:
SENAI helps indigenous businesses to bring safe water to rural areas. We want to break the cycle of dependency and empower entire communities to sustain themselves and work their way out of poverty.
Senai uses strategic partners to implement our projects around the globe. Below is our strategic implementing partner for our Safe Water Initiative in Ethiopia:
Our Vision is "safe water for everyone, everywhere." Water is the most basic life resource, yet approximately 1.1 billion people (nearly 20% of the world's population) do not have access to safe water.
Why?
• In Ethiopia alone 54 million people do not have access to safe water. The number of people without access to safe drinking water in sub-Saharan Africa increased by 60 million between 1990 and 2004 purely because of population growth.
• Women and children walk on average, 4 miles a day transporting 45 pounds of “unsafe” water, preventing them from attending school.
• 46% of childhood deaths in Ethiopia are a result of unsafe water. Each year 1.6 million children under the age of five die from the consequences of unsafe water and inadequate hygiene. This is an average of 4,500 deaths per day.
• Only 16% of the population live in urban areas, so rural wells are needed. 1.1 billion people, mostly in sub-Sahara Africa and South Asia, do not have access to safe water.
How?
• SENAI partners with Salaam Awaasa Business Group to implement our water projects in Ethiopia. They provide a skilled and local workforce, business relationships, in-country experience and dedication to social enterprise.
• Members from each community participate in the well drilling project by providing labor for the installation, building a fence to protect the well, and gathering a goat or chickens for payment.
• Becausewe use local resources, the cost of a well is lowered to $5000.
• Because the equipment is manufactured locally and the wells are dug by the people of the community, moving parts are easier to maintain and repair.
• Upon completion of the well, basic health and hygiene are taught to community and church leaders, who then pass this education on to the people in their villages.
• Year-round farming is now possible because of a clean water source. Tools are sold or donated so drip irrigation gardens can be created. People are better able to feed their families and can sell their surplus in the market.
• SENAI will encourage formation of self-help groups that will collaborate to receive micro-loans and allow entrepreneurs to create businesses like: farming, food vending, basket weaving and sewing.
