Water Access Rwanda was born out of the pressing need for clean drinking water in a country where many only had limited access to it.
by Julia Migné
With more than 70% of our planet’s surface being covered in water, it is easy to sometimes forget how precious that seemingly endless resource actually is.
Despite its apparent abundance, the World Health Organization reported this year that “785 million people lack even a basic drinking-water service” around the globe.
Restricted access to clean drinking water has a heavy impact on women who often end up having to be the ones collecting it and bringing it back home.
In Rwanda, one woman saw how pressing the need to provide clean drinking water was and decided to launch a social enterprise, Water Access Rwanda, to tackle the issue head-on.
Christelle Kwizera, Managing Director and Founder of the company, talked to INKLINE about the importance of involving young people in the enterprise and shared with us what is in the pipeline for Water Access Rwanda.
INKLINE: What was the water situation like in Rwanda before you launched your social enterprise?
Christelle Kwizera: In 2014, when Water Access Rwanda started, there was a pressing and urgent need to provide clean drinking water for people living around areas where crocodiles had infested lakes and rivers.
As of 2015, only 56.7% of Rwandans had basic access to clean drinking water . More so, waterborne illnesses claim the lives of infants and adults because of contaminated water sources.
The time spent fetching water disrupts education and economic development and traps families in a cycle of poverty. The Rwandan government is still striving to make clean water accessible to all, with ambitious plans to do so within the next two years.
I: Why did you decide to start a social enterprise tackling that specific issue of water scarcity?
K: Water Access Rwanda was started to eliminate water scarcity in Rwanda while employing young people as solution providers. As a long term youth advocate, I knew the biggest issue facing youth was underemployment. I also saw potential in technologies that made drilling boreholes much more affordable, especially those promoted by Water4, a US-based NGO.
I wanted to address both the issues, but also to create a self-sustained enterprise in a drive to see users of our services as customers who dictate what they receive from us rather than beneficiaries who should just accept what is provided.
So I decided to drive my business acumen into the water sector, mainly because I saw the lack of access as a big factor that traps families in poverty and results in more gender inequality by having women spend the most time on collecting water.
Being a social entrepreneur has helped me put into practice how business can benefit people. It’s more rewarding than being an average Wall Street person.
In 2017, WARwanda launched the INUMA groundwater solar kiosk project, which is a new model for sustainable provision of purified groundwater to rural and semi-urban areas, by selling it to the local communities. It is providing better access to water, ensuring the sustainability of water systems and the plan is to guarantee continuous clean water supply for villages.
I: How you are revolutionising the water industry in your country?
K: We adopt affordable technologies. Not every borehole needs to be drilled via air rotary which is quite expensive. We have now drilled over 50 boreholes with manual tools. We also use an innovative geophysical surveying toolkit to cut the cost of VES surveys.
Most importantly, is INUMA™, which filters groundwater from borewell and distributes it right up to people’s homes.
I: What challenges did you face while working on Water Access Rwanda?
K: Some members of the communities would reject the clean water infrastructure and go back to using free surface water. This is why we place so much value on behavioural change campaigns and cooperation with the local government to overcome this challenge.
We do note a reduction in usage during the rainy season and are mitigating this through access to water at home.
Another challenge I personally face is how much managing a company is about managing people. As a young founder and managing director, this has so far been the challenge I spend the most time addressing. I have learnt many lessons in the process and overcome the initial shock by also accepting that I can’t bring a solution to every situation.
I: Engaging youth seems really important to you, could tell me more about your Summer Warrior Internship Program?
K: Providing water systems has allowed me to achieve my other goal which is to employ young people and see communities develop. The Summer Warrior Internship program was established in the purpose of helping students, who are in their second or third year of university, practice their skills and learn other new ones from a real-life situation of working in the development field.
It targets students who wish to have a social impact as part of their careers and who want to develop valuable professional and social skills through interactions with WARwanda staff and participation in regular office activities.
The Water Warriors Student Volunteer Program is targeted at secondary students during their gap year and during their university education period in Rwanda.
The long-term plan is for all rural and peri-urban Africa to have access to piped clean drinking water and we intend to play a major role in this!
Gap-year students who already possess a set of basic and desirable office working skills are involved in this program which will see them assigned projects, shadowing staff in future dream positions and contributing to the eradication of the water crisis very early on in their career.
Engaging the youth is very important because youth underemployment is a pressing issue within East Africa and there is a need to purposefully engage youth into work that is economically empowering their nations.
Being a social entrepreneur has helped me put into practice how business can benefit people. It’s more rewarding than being an average Wall Street person.
I: You also have a strong focus on climate. What are you hoping to achieve with the Water For Climate project?
K: The Water For Climate project is about providing clean water to several villages who would have had to boil the water otherwise, thus saving a lot in carbon emissions.
The project is with Spadel, via CO2 Logic and Mkaarbon Safari. It is a 10-year project which will ensure continuous maintenance and care of water points.
I: How do you assess the impact you are having?
K: Data is the most important tool in delivering our solution, especially as it emphasises heavily on creating customers and not just beneficiaries. We keep a regular track and also conduct periodic surveys on users and their satisfaction of INUMA water, volume of litres sold, jobs created, hours spent collecting water, etc…
Always strive to make your customers so happy that they are the ones showering you with awards and good word of mouth marketing.
All our data is then disaggregated to see patterns of gender, age and location. We further relate our impact on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), where we have done an SDG framework analysis and noted 13 SDG targets we are impacting and positively affecting through our work.
I: Anything exciting in the pipeline for WARwanda?
K: The short term plan for WARwanda is to connect 100 households to clean water in their homes. The more ambitious mid-term goal is to go to a new market with INUMA™. The long-term plan is for all rural and peri-urban Africa to have access to piped clean drinking water, and we intend to play a major role in this.
I: If you could give a piece of advice to someone who wishes to start a social enterprise what would it be?
K: As a social entrepreneur, you are solving a need for your customers. Make sure to find and grow happy clients, listen to them and transform their need into your market.
The world is ready and waiting for successful stories of social entrepreneurs, this results in a lot of media coverage and awards, even at the idea stage, so you need to keep yourself grounded amidst all this praise and attention.
Always strive to make your customers so happy that they are the ones showering you with awards and good word of mouth marketing.
Julia Migné is a multimedia journalist and wildlife photographer specialising in environmental issues and odd hobbies. She has written for Africa Geographic and BBC Wildlife among others. An endless traveller, she swears that she would visit one country for each letter of the alphabet.