Green Empowerment, Portland, United Stateshttp://www.greenempowerment.org
Target: £4,836.00
Raised so far: £6,713.00
Great news - this project has reached its funding target. Thank you to everyone who donated. Search for another cause to support
Green Empowerment, Portland, United Stateshttp://www.greenempowerment.org
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On the island of Negros, in the Philippines, an innovative pump will bring clean running water to thousands of people in 12 villages and encourage watershed conservation within these communities
Currently, women and children are having to walk down steep and dangerous hillsides in order to collect water. This task has significantly reduced the villager's standard of living. Yet there is a solution to the problem. AIDFI, a local NGO, in partnership with Green Empowerment, is able to deliver water to these communities using a ram pump, which will allow for the community members to spend their time doing other productive activities. This will take the burden off both women and children.
Donations will go towards the first project that needs funding on the list. Once this project has been funded, the next project on the list will be implemented. With each pump, villagers receive tree seedlings to plant, to preserve the watershed.
The installation of ram pumps for these twelve separate sites will benefit these communities in creating a more accessible water system and a healthier environment based on their agreement to protect their watershed in return for the technology.
Dexter Gauntlett
This is an exciting time for AIDFI and Green Empowerment in the Philippines. We don’t use ‘game changing technology’ unless we really mean it-- but that’s exactly what the ram pump is! And now, AIDFI’s hard work over 15 years and 180+ installations serving 50,000+ in 10 countries is finally receiving the attention it deserves. Your donations are simultaneously improving the health of some of the most remote communities in the world, while increasing awareness of the ram pump. If you have already donated to this project, please tell your friends. If you haven’t yet donated to this project, look no further.
Recent developments include:
Individual donations of any amount play a critical role since ram pumps are one of the lowest-cost renewable energy technologies for improving access to potable water. Your donation goes a VERY LONG way. literally. In Sitio Anangue (a village near Northern Negros National Park), ram pumps deliver water to a village of 400 people, with some villagers located more than 3km away, at an elevation 60+ meters higher than the source. With no fuel input and only 2 moving parts, the AIDFI ram pump is a game-changer-for-good.
Dexter Gauntlett
Dear friends, colleagues and supporters,
It's been 6 months since I left with my family to work in the Philippines with Green Empowerment to scale up our renewable energy and water projects in rural villages. We are now in the final round of evaluations for a $1.5 million proposal that would provide 22,000 people in 50 villages access to clean drinking water-- using an ingenious ram pump technology that requires no fuel input! But the main donor - the US Agency for International Development (USAID) requires a private sector donor to cover part of the material costs.
Will you please approach your company to help sponsor a water tank? We need 1 - 50 water tanks at only $660 each.
In villages, it is the responsibility of women and children to fetch water 2-3 times a day, walking up to a kilometer or more carrying 40lb buckets. This prevents them from going to school and is literally-- back breaking work. Our program will install ram pumps, storage tanks, and provide a communal tap. Our in-country NGO partner is the BBC World Challenge winner AIDFI, who has installed 170 ram pumps throughout the Philippines and other countries.
I need to submit the final proposal by July 15.
Here is an overview of the different sponsorship amounts:
The proposal targets 50 ram pump installations total over the next 3 years.
I'd be happy to speak with others at your company if they are interested and need more information, Dexter.Gauntlett@greenempowerment.org. Please help us make this exciting program a reality.
Best,
Dexter Gauntlett
Daniel Wasil
An indirect result of winning the BBC Challenge is that new prospects for community ram pumps have emerged. In the next 90 days, one such community which has been identified by AIDFI, will undergo greater assistance and preparations for planning, siting, community development and ownership, and “sweat equity” needs will be set into motion.
A preliminary estimate of $2,500 has been given for this emerging community, with greater details to follow in the next two weeks. While not as urgent, the Japanese situation has caused some disruptions in communication and some anxiety in certain communities.
Michel Maupoux
The great work and technology of our Filipino partner AIDFI, using improved ram pump technology for destitute communities, is receiving well deserved international visibility. If they win the BBC World challenge, they will get even more visibility, and a nice amount of cash to boost the number of projects and villagers they can reach. The winner is determined by votes from internet users like you, so you can help them this time with no donation required, by contributing your vote BY NOVEMBER 11th.
You can watch the latest TV documentary at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkhpeFHApQY
The BBC voting page, along with a shorter presentation, are at:
http://www.theworldchallenge.co.uk/2010-finalists-project08.php
Thanks for all you do.
Michel Maupoux
The team comprised of 4 students from the Norhtwestern University chapter of Engineering for a Sustainable World (ESW) and Michel Maupoux from Green Empowerment, was on site for 4 weeks ending July 20, 2010, to participate in the construction of a dual ram pump system in Tres Hermanos. The project was successfully completed in that time.
As I was out of commission for two weeks due to dengue fever, the students did a great job of participating and documenting the whole installation, showing that installing the pumps themselves is only a part of the work. This particular system was comprised of a network of pipes for lifting water and for its distribution, made of 6km (~4 miles) of pipes.
Attached is the system construction report filed by the students, with photos showing the hard work and its results.
Enjoy, and thanks for your support.
Michel Maupoux
A group of four students from Northwestern University (Illinois), members of Engineers for a Sustainable World, have raised enough funds to pay for most of the cost of a new two-pump system for the village of Tres Hermanos, and to cover their travel costs to go participate in the installation. We will be there for 4 weeks until July 20. Stay tuned for a report and photos!
Bill Brower
Bill Brower is a Field Program Officer with GlobalGiving who is visiting our partners’ projects throughout South and Southeast Asia. On March 11th he visited the site of a ram pump installation in Tinumpagan. His “Postcard” from the visit:
With a degree in Engineering for Sustainable Development and a particular interest in sustainable water systems, I was excited to visit this project of Green Empowerment’s implementing partner, AID Foundation. I had read about ram pumps, but had never seen one in operation. Frankly, they sound too good to be true—or at least too good to not be more widely spread. No electricity or fuel needed, and still able to pump water over great distances and to great heights. The AID Foundation design is better than others I’ve seen, featuring only two moving parts and made from simple, locally available materials. See Marvin of AID Foundation describe it in the video linked to below.
The pump we visited feeds four tap-stands 100 meters up the hill, serving 60 families. As the attached picture shows, the stands are being heavily used. While the pressure from the pump is insufficient to put a tap in each household, it was clear from the way the community jokingly reminisced about the 40-minute roundtrip walk to the river to fetch water that the AID system is greatly appreciated. Word has spread (what higher praise for an NGO’s work?) and AID Foundation has put in several other ram pumps in this area and is scheduled to put in more.
In fact, AID Foundation has no shortage of work. They are regularly approached with requests to put in ram pumps in a community. (They’ve had their share of people trying to copy their design as well—another obvious good sign.) Deals in the Philippines usually involve a bit of greasing the wheels, but since they are the only one offering a quality product, AID Foundation is able to refuse any project insisting on bribes, according to the founder, Auke. And rather than just throw up a system, AID aims to ensure long-term sustainability by establishing community water boards, which is in charge of collecting a nominal fee from each family to go toward maintenance. We met with the board in Tinumpagan and they expressed their appreciation for the installation and seemed genuinely engaged in the board.
All around this was a very strong project from an innovative organization. I’m proud to have it on GlobalGiving.
Michel Maupoux
With the help of our generous donors and of a group of students from NorthWestern University, we are now planning the next system for the community of Tres Hermanos, in Murcia municipality. Tres Hermanos is formed of 45 households, i.e. 215 people including 84 children. They currently spend 30 minutes one-way down and up steep terrain to fetch limited water. This is a relatively complex system, with more than 1 mile of piping and two pumps. We plan to install the system in July 2010.
Michel Maupoux
Thanks to the generosity of our Global Giving donors, we were able to complete the Herminal project with the necessary distribution system to tap stands (neighborhood faucets) by Septmeber 2009, instead of waiting for any funding from the local government, which never materialized.
We will now plan for the next village in need.
Michel Maupoux
As of July 20, the main part of the system is implemented, i.e. water is being pumped to the tank in Herminal, were people can fetch water much more easily than down the mountain where the pump is.
See the pictures and details in the report posted below.
Unfortunately, the regional government hasn't been able to deliver any funding for the distribution network to the 5 tap stands distributed through the community.
Thanks to our donors for your contribution.
If we receive a few more donations, we hope to be able to complete the distribution piping. Could you or your friends help us?
Thanks again
Michel Maupoux
Good news: thanks to good resource management, there were some funds left over after implementation of several of the listed ram pump projects. They have now been all regrouped and allocated to another site which had been put on hold. A ram pump water distribution system will now be installed in the village of Herminal starting in June 2009.
Thanks to all our donors!
Michel Maupoux
in November 2008, I had the opportunity to go and visit the clean water system installed in Amin as part of the 12-village project.
As progress continues on the overall list, it was heartworming to see how the villagers now have much easier access to water in or near their backyard, thank to the ram pump system.
Enjoy the included photo report of my visit and observations.
Thanks to our generous donors.
Michel Maupoux
Michel Maupoux
Thanks to our donors, Green Empowerment has been able to send partial funds for this group of projects. Amin/Isabela & Bayhao were completed February 2008, and documented in photos in the report below. in June 2008, we received photos of the now completed site of Minaluha and Nagka. They are posted in the photo gallery. Purok Lopues is 80% completed as of June 20, 2008. The funds we are able to provide result in great leverage. As a "Seed", they enable AIDFI to successfully challenge local organizations for matching or complementary funds. AIDFI was successful in securing local funding for several systems, with a combination of contributions from local municipalities (LGU) and a $20,000 grant from Seacology Philippines for this group of projects. Several sites are scheduled for implementation in June & July 2008. 3 sites had to be cancelled due to local political issues, but 3 substiture sites were identified. The spreadsheet below provides the latest status. Funding through Green Empowerment is now focused on Maghumay & Sikatuna.
Michel Maupoux
This excel document lists each community, the stage of each project, the local government contribution, and the funds needed.