Abundant Water
Providing domestic water filtration services in Laos, Cambodia.
Abundant Water is a Canberra-based initiative that offers domestic water filtration services in Laos. The organisation has a social business model that supports community members - increasingly women - to establish their own operations as vendors selling and installing water filters.
2016 Pitch
Funds raised: $21,545
At The Funding Network in Canberra on 30 June 2016, Abundant Water pitched a plan to 'use clay, coffee grounds and pic pipe to change people's lives' and install filters in five Lao schools and train five local vendors to demonstrate the filters in the villages. This simple yet compelling premise raised $21,545.
The impact...
The Hmong people of Laos are a distinct ethnic group with their own language, culture and religion who live in highland areas of Laos, mostly isolated from main roads, healthcare and other essential services. In April 2017, the Abundant Water team hosted a training session with representatives from five Hmong communities in Saisomboun Province, including village chiefs, vice chiefs, healthcare workers and local Lao Government officials. The group spent the day together learning about how to make and install clay water filters and how to promote this technology within their communities.
Within a year, the team has focused on refining the social business model and expanding its reach - along with a number of new projects in Laos and continuing development of a project in Nepal, Abundant Water is also scoping projects in Timor Leste and the Philippines.
The money raised in June 2016 funded production, testing, sanitisation, transport and installation of the filters as well as technical training and business mentoring and support. Training sessions like the one in April 2017 give local people the opportunity to hear about the technology in their own language and the confidence to engage more in the training and ask more questions. Importantly, the session was also a great opportunity for Abundant Water’s Hmong team member, Sou Chang, to develop his public speaking and technical training skills.
Read their Impact Report
Learn more about Abundant Water.
Supporting Sustainable Development Goals:
