Our
Projects
Getting started
Water Centric (WC) was launched on Feb 6, 2008. Soon after, it started work in India, where it has prior relationships with local implementing Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and international organizations working on water. In its first full year, Water Centric launched an initiative in 10-Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). As funds become available, Water Centric intends to also start a rural initiative in India. After WC has documented success in the two initiatives in India, these models will be replicated and scaled–up to serve other regions of India and the world.
Water Centric’s Urban Initiative:
WC and its local NGO partner Sakshi have started with an initiative to provide clean water, functional toilets/sanitation and hygiene education to 10 Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) schools. This project serves the needs of 10,000 students, most of who come from the poorest and most deprived communities. The children are often from migrant families that have moved to Delhi in search of work. Other beneficiaries include the school principals and teachers trained in our approach as well as our NGO partner and local government officials that work with us to help implement and sustain our projects.
Today we are well into this project (see our latest newsletter to follow our progress). This 10-school urban initiative has a high scale-up potential since there is a mandate, from the State, to provide this sort of service to the many needy, among the more than 1800, MCD schools that exist in Delhi.
Our approach involves an individual assessment of each school’s needs to determine the most cost effective means to provide clean water and functional toilets.. |
Chronology of Delhi Project:
June 2008 – Selected a local NGO partner, identified schools and planned implementation of our first initiative, to provide clean water, functional toilets/sanitation and hygiene education, in 10 peri-urban Municipal Corporation of Delhi schools in India.
July 2008 – Orientation of the principals from the 10 schools
August 2008 – Began teacher training for hygiene instruction
September 2008 – Started a few student hygiene clubs and teaching hygiene modules to students in five schools. In the USA, five schools through H2O for Life signed up to raise money to partially sponsor five schools in Delhi.
November 2008 – Student hygiene clubs formed in all 10 schools and first joint newsletters generated by the clubs
January 2009 – Contract bids solicited for installing septic tank in one school and repair of water system in two other schools
February 2009 – Water supply connected in one school
March 2009 – construction begun on septic tank
April 2009 – student letter exchanges begin between USA and Indian students
July 2009 - septic tank completed and work begun to construct a modern water station in second school. |
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In some cases, there are adequate toilets and water connections, but inadequate sewage removal and water delivery systems. Water Centric and its partner are also addressing problems of poorly designed water stations and clogged toilets. We are a results oriented organization that seeks to make effective use of our resources in order to have a real impact on the lives of these children. WC maintains close contact with our partner and the schools. Part of our program involves an extensive documentation process. We believe in quick results along with long-term sustainability
Construction projects:
Molar Bund Septic Station: WC recently finished the construction of a septic station in our school in Molar Bund. The facilities will be fully operational when the students resume classes after vacation in July 2009. Pictures of the construction of the septic tank are below:
Updated Water Stations: In another school, the condition of the existing water stations was very poor. We are finding that the children have a difficult time using some of the systems that have spigots that spray water all over them or that are very difficult to use. We are installing updated water stations that are child friendly.
 Hygiene Education
Hygiene Education is an essential component of our Water Centric program. Our mission is to change behaviors through a hygiene education program that will improve the quality of these children’s lives. Teachers have been instructed and hygiene clubs have been formed in all 10 MCD schools. The children in the hygiene clubs are learning fundamentals of hygiene and the importance of following good hygiene practices. They recently published a joint newsletter. We view these clubs as an effective way to involve the children and to teach them responsibility for their hygiene and the maintenance of the facilities. You can see some of the children in the hygiene clubs in the following pictures:
Inter-continental communication and school-to-school fundraising:
Water Centric is very pleased that five schools in the United States through the organizing efforts of H2O for Life have partially sponsored five of our Delhi schools. This spring one of the US schools started writing letters to its partner school in India. This created a lot of excitement among the Delhi students who in turn responded with letters of gratitude. You can read some of these heartwarming exchanges below:
 
Water Centric’s Rural Initiative:
WC plans to work with its selected NGO partner Swami Vivekanand Youth Movement (SVYM) on the second initiative for 150 schools in rural Karnataka (a State of South India). This initiative is still in proposal development stage and will be ready for submission when funding is available.
What’s next?
The goal of this WC project is to create a ‘replicable and sustainable model’ that will bring clean water, functional toilets/sanitation and hygiene education to clusters of schools. Once developed, this model will be replicated in many more clusters of schools within India and other developing countries. Water Centric’s vision is to eventually scale up to 15,000 schools (both peri-urban and rural) and serve over 3 million children, over the next ten years.
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