Just got this note below from Susan Davis at Water For People. Water For People is launching today a VERY interesting initiative. This gets as close to a game-changer as anything going on in the global WASH sector these days. Please do watch Ned's talk today (details below) if you can.
Note in particular the "other organizations" part of FLOW. Water For People means this to be open source, available for all organizations across sectors to use for their own sustainability / accountability / M&E purposes. As I'm watching, I'll be thinking about how I could apply it to my own work.
__
This Thursday, October 21, CEO Ned Breslin will be revealing big news from Water For People at the annual Pop!Tech conference in Camden, Maine.
Water For People, in conjunction with Gallatin Systems, has been working diligently to develop a dynamic new data-monitoring tool that seeks to revolutionize the sector. Sustainability, transparency, and accountability will no longer be merely buzzwords. Thanks to FLOW, these words are now transformed into true measurements of success.
Tune in to http://poptech.org/live to the watch the reveal of FLOW live from Pop!Tech. Ned has 18 minutes to tell his story, including how FLOW will enable Water For People and other organizations to build on strengths, identify and improve weaknesses, and ultimately reach the goal of true, proven project sustainability.
Feel the excitement as Water For People once again challenges the norms of water and sanitation development with this inspiring reveal!
Date: Thursday, October 21, 2010
Time: between 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. EDT /9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. MDT
(18 minutes within that time)
Address: http://poptech.org/live
Showing posts with label financial sustainability. Show all posts
Showing posts with label financial sustainability. Show all posts
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Friday, September 10, 2010
More Business, Less Charity: Fast Company, Alice Korngold
Great piece from friend Alice Korngold on Fast Company regarding an emerging and soon-to-be-best practice in 'charity.'
Quick commentary: This is not a controversial piece that Alice has penned. If an initiative/project/program is not making ends meet financially, it is not sustainable. Period. It doesn't matter whether the initiative is nonprofit, for profit, or a hybrid. The traditional dichotomy is lost on me. An effort is either built to last, or just a nice thing to do that won't fix the problem over the long run.
More Business, Less Charity
BY FC Expert Blogger Alice Korngold
Tue Sep 7, 2010
There's a new trend emerging among a small number of NGOs (non-governmental organizations, used in reference to global nonprofits). Here's what it looks like in comparison to the traditional nonprofit approach:
Traditional: NGO raises charitable dollars. Hires expert staff to send abroad. Expert staff sets up offices and the necessary facilities (clinic, school, etc.). Expert staff proceeds to provide services. NGO counts and reports on the number of people it helps abroad. NGO continues raising money to fund the staff it has established in its international offices. Or, in some cases, the expert staff moves on to another community, and there is no infrastructure at the local level to ensure ongoing services and implementation, nor any external system for monitoring and reporting.
New School: NGO raises charitable dollars. Hires expert staff--most often local--to work on programs. NGO leverages its dollars to raise funds from the local community and local government, thereby forming a three-way partnership to achieve the goal--whether that's to establish a new health clinic, school, or access to clean water, etc. NGO provides expertise to help local government and community to achieve the goal, train people from community or region to provide the ongoing service, establish a viable revenue model for a sustainable business model, and perhaps establish a local business enterprise to provide long-term services. NGO counts and reports on the number of people it helps abroad. More importantly, NGO monitors the project to ensure longer term success--making sure services are being provided over time, not just after the project is finished. NGO moves on to other communities, thereby increasing its impact. NGO seeks to have their models spread virally by being replicated by others, beyond just the areas where it works.
A good example of "New School" is Water for People. The challenge they address is the lack of access to water, sanitation, and hygiene (known as WASH) in developing countries. According to the World Health Organization, "Around 1.1 billion people globally do not have access to improved water supply sources whereas 2.4 billion people do not have access to any type of improved sanitation facility. About 2 million people die every year due to diarrheal disease, most of them are children under 5 years old."
Building Sustainable, Business Solutions
Ned Breslin, CEO, Water for People, advocates for business-oriented solutions that are community-wide, serving homes and schools in developing countries. In a private interview, Breslin explained to me that his organization leverages its investment to involve the local government and community in partnering to establish the WASH infrastructure and revenue model.
Furthermore, Water for People uses its know-how to help establish a locally owned business that will service the community's WASH needs for the long-term. Breslin says his organization's position can be controversial among NGOs. Comparing the local WASH business to telephone service, Breslin explains that setting up a community water and sanitation service is useless unless it is regularly serviced. "The outcome will have to be a combination of sanitation coverage without donor dollars, high user satisfaction with the service, and a price point that does not prohibit the poor from participating but is still profitable for the service provider."
Sustainability is the true test, according to Breslin. That is, "How many people did you help five years ago, and what percentage of these people still have water today?"
Businesses as partners
My enthusiasm about working in CSR for 20 years is that the smartest companies and NGOs/nonprofits join their expertise to solve global challenges. Water for People's experience with ITT is an excellent example. As Breslin explains about companies as partners and donors, "businesses are creative. They understand experimentation and risk, as well as the need for rigor and monitoring." Breslin says that companies don't just provide funding but they also help find solutions. The partnership with ITT is one example. Additionally Breslin explains that "when we look at how to move spare parts for toilets in developing countries, a business like Pepsi or Coca-Cola is an expert resource, given their experience as a global distribution and service model."
I'll be blogging from the Clinton Global Initiative for my third year during the week of September 20. Stay tuned here to read about innovators who are addressing global challenges.
Quick commentary: This is not a controversial piece that Alice has penned. If an initiative/project/program is not making ends meet financially, it is not sustainable. Period. It doesn't matter whether the initiative is nonprofit, for profit, or a hybrid. The traditional dichotomy is lost on me. An effort is either built to last, or just a nice thing to do that won't fix the problem over the long run.
More Business, Less Charity
BY FC Expert Blogger Alice Korngold
Tue Sep 7, 2010
There's a new trend emerging among a small number of NGOs (non-governmental organizations, used in reference to global nonprofits). Here's what it looks like in comparison to the traditional nonprofit approach:
Traditional: NGO raises charitable dollars. Hires expert staff to send abroad. Expert staff sets up offices and the necessary facilities (clinic, school, etc.). Expert staff proceeds to provide services. NGO counts and reports on the number of people it helps abroad. NGO continues raising money to fund the staff it has established in its international offices. Or, in some cases, the expert staff moves on to another community, and there is no infrastructure at the local level to ensure ongoing services and implementation, nor any external system for monitoring and reporting.
New School: NGO raises charitable dollars. Hires expert staff--most often local--to work on programs. NGO leverages its dollars to raise funds from the local community and local government, thereby forming a three-way partnership to achieve the goal--whether that's to establish a new health clinic, school, or access to clean water, etc. NGO provides expertise to help local government and community to achieve the goal, train people from community or region to provide the ongoing service, establish a viable revenue model for a sustainable business model, and perhaps establish a local business enterprise to provide long-term services. NGO counts and reports on the number of people it helps abroad. More importantly, NGO monitors the project to ensure longer term success--making sure services are being provided over time, not just after the project is finished. NGO moves on to other communities, thereby increasing its impact. NGO seeks to have their models spread virally by being replicated by others, beyond just the areas where it works.
A good example of "New School" is Water for People. The challenge they address is the lack of access to water, sanitation, and hygiene (known as WASH) in developing countries. According to the World Health Organization, "Around 1.1 billion people globally do not have access to improved water supply sources whereas 2.4 billion people do not have access to any type of improved sanitation facility. About 2 million people die every year due to diarrheal disease, most of them are children under 5 years old."
Building Sustainable, Business Solutions
Ned Breslin, CEO, Water for People, advocates for business-oriented solutions that are community-wide, serving homes and schools in developing countries. In a private interview, Breslin explained to me that his organization leverages its investment to involve the local government and community in partnering to establish the WASH infrastructure and revenue model.
Furthermore, Water for People uses its know-how to help establish a locally owned business that will service the community's WASH needs for the long-term. Breslin says his organization's position can be controversial among NGOs. Comparing the local WASH business to telephone service, Breslin explains that setting up a community water and sanitation service is useless unless it is regularly serviced. "The outcome will have to be a combination of sanitation coverage without donor dollars, high user satisfaction with the service, and a price point that does not prohibit the poor from participating but is still profitable for the service provider."
Sustainability is the true test, according to Breslin. That is, "How many people did you help five years ago, and what percentage of these people still have water today?"
Businesses as partners
My enthusiasm about working in CSR for 20 years is that the smartest companies and NGOs/nonprofits join their expertise to solve global challenges. Water for People's experience with ITT is an excellent example. As Breslin explains about companies as partners and donors, "businesses are creative. They understand experimentation and risk, as well as the need for rigor and monitoring." Breslin says that companies don't just provide funding but they also help find solutions. The partnership with ITT is one example. Additionally Breslin explains that "when we look at how to move spare parts for toilets in developing countries, a business like Pepsi or Coca-Cola is an expert resource, given their experience as a global distribution and service model."
I'll be blogging from the Clinton Global Initiative for my third year during the week of September 20. Stay tuned here to read about innovators who are addressing global challenges.
Monday, August 31, 2009
ITT and Water For People at World Water Week in Stockholm
ITT has been a longtime supporter of the World Water Week in Stockholm. ITT's Bjorn Von Euler has done a lot of writing this summer and you might want to skim his Final Thoughts from Stockholm World Water Week 2009.
To reiterate one point that Water For People’s Ned Breslin made at Stockholm: “Please hold poor people accountable.”
Donors, implementing nonprofits, and local communities *all* need to be held accountable for the sustainability of their water and sanitation programming, each as much as the other. Often the best way to ensure decentralized ownership and thereby local sustainability is by making sure that the local communities have a financial stake in the program. This often comes as an upfront cash investment in the capital costs of the work (e.g. the community itself pays for 5-25% of the cost of the borewell) and most if not all of the ongoing operating costs. This contribution will be managed by a village water committee or its equivalent in an urban or peri-urban environment. That committee will also be charged with ensuring that the benefits of the program are distributed equitably, including to those families and individuals who are too poor to pay anything at all.
ITT, Water For People, and many other groups (for profit and/or nonprofit - this distinction is often lost on me) are doing what they can to “work themselves out of a job” - the true goal of global development work. Accountability and sustainability (including financial sustainability) are two facets of development which need to pervade the safe drinking water sector.
To reiterate one point that Water For People’s Ned Breslin made at Stockholm: “Please hold poor people accountable.”
Donors, implementing nonprofits, and local communities *all* need to be held accountable for the sustainability of their water and sanitation programming, each as much as the other. Often the best way to ensure decentralized ownership and thereby local sustainability is by making sure that the local communities have a financial stake in the program. This often comes as an upfront cash investment in the capital costs of the work (e.g. the community itself pays for 5-25% of the cost of the borewell) and most if not all of the ongoing operating costs. This contribution will be managed by a village water committee or its equivalent in an urban or peri-urban environment. That committee will also be charged with ensuring that the benefits of the program are distributed equitably, including to those families and individuals who are too poor to pay anything at all.
ITT, Water For People, and many other groups (for profit and/or nonprofit - this distinction is often lost on me) are doing what they can to “work themselves out of a job” - the true goal of global development work. Accountability and sustainability (including financial sustainability) are two facets of development which need to pervade the safe drinking water sector.
Friday, August 21, 2009
USAID Water Finance Website - launched
If one subscribes to the theory that true sustainability happens when development meets capitalism, then finance is clearly an important part of the solution to the global water and sanitation challenge, at many levels (e.g. capex, social entrepreneurs, microcredit/microfinance, etc.)
I do subscribe to that theory - with the 'poorest of the poor' caveat (grantmaking will likely never totally disappear) - so it's good to see USAID's Development Credit Authority launching their USAID Water Finance Website at Stockholm's World Water Week.
In USAID's words:
One way or another, these services have to be paid for, by the government through public sector finance, or by private citizens, farmers, businesses. Those without such services are paying for that in time, healthcare costs, lost wages and other opportunities.
Note that most of the developed world does not of course meet this "financial sustainability" criterion for water and wastewater resources management or else we would not have a half trillion dollar financing infrastructure gap in the US alone. Stay tuned for more on water pricing.
I do subscribe to that theory - with the 'poorest of the poor' caveat (grantmaking will likely never totally disappear) - so it's good to see USAID's Development Credit Authority launching their USAID Water Finance Website at Stockholm's World Water Week.
In USAID's words:
The Water Finance Website is designed to help you integrate finance into your broader WSH [Water, Sanitation, Hygiene] strategy. Financing is especially crucial to the development of WSH services because those services are very capital intensive. Just as WSH services need to be technically sound and sustainable from an environmental perspective, they also need to be financially sustainable in order to develop adequately. By including financing in the development of a strategy to promote pro-poor WSH services, you will be helping to assure that technical, environmental and health results achieved will continue beyond the end of funding any one individual activity.Curious as to their definition of financial sustainability, I logged in and found this: "Financial sustainability is achieved when sufficient funding is available so that service providers can continuously reduce the number of poor and marginalized people who lack adequate access to WSH services."
One way or another, these services have to be paid for, by the government through public sector finance, or by private citizens, farmers, businesses. Those without such services are paying for that in time, healthcare costs, lost wages and other opportunities.
Note that most of the developed world does not of course meet this "financial sustainability" criterion for water and wastewater resources management or else we would not have a half trillion dollar financing infrastructure gap in the US alone. Stay tuned for more on water pricing.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
