CHALLENGE:  Lack of organized infrastructure to manage and maintain water services

ASD SOLUTION:  Create and/or strengthen Community-Led Organizations who can implement appropriate technologies to provide improved water supply and sanitation using sustainable practices

ASD realizes that simply providing water education and technology trainings, although vital in the reduction of water-related disease, is not enough to ensure sustainability.  Self-reliance and financial independence is crucial for lasting impact.  Creating income generating water organizations that offer viable solutions ensures the services are demand-driven and locally-owned.

What are PODS?  "People Offering Deliverable Services" or PODS are self-reliant grassroots organizations that reach a common vision and set achievable goals to offer affordable water services in their community. These organizations can assess needs, design and plan WASH program (not just a project), introduce an appropriate technology as a micro-business and can use earned capital to fund their community's development. This comprehensive program is designed to ensure community ownership, cultural appropriateness, local governance and fosters local expertise.

A Single Drop supports the development of three levels of PODS franchises:

• Local PODS - A local organization that offers an affordable water service to their community using sustainable business and environmental practices. Local community members undergo an intensive organizational development training with the goal of creating self-sustaining water service centers that can self-fund their own community development. With this model, the organization can
  • map their resources and assesses their community situation
  • identify the community's need
  • create a common vision and unite to resolve their issues in collaboration
  • design a 5 year Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Action Plan to resolve all their water issues in stages
  • seek and implement the proper solution using a micro-business co-op model, thereby taking ownership of the project from start to finish
  • employ good governance policies and strategies to ensure transparency and accountability
  • become a production facilities offering appropriate water services as a micro-business with a co-operative infrastructure
  • ultimately become a Regional Water PODS by training surrounding communities

• Regional PODS - An existing NGO trained by the National Water PODS to have all the strategies, technologies and expertise to conduct the PODS Sustainability Programs for their local communities.  This ensures cultural appropriateness, regional knowledge and experience, and empowers an existing service organization to offer trainings in their region therefore creating a multiplier effect.
  

• National PODS - A National water hub that is a clearing house for water education and training offering services to develop regional and local PODS. In addition to spawning regional and local community based water service organizations, this National Water PODS has the ability to solicit their own projects and funding locally, conduct impact studies and potentially service their surrounding countries. 
  • ASD first supported the formation of an independent country office in the Philippines called A Single Drop for SafeWater (ASDSW) by providing the start-up funds, technologies, strategies and techniques to become an income-generating water education and training center. Kevin Lee, ASD Director of Program Development, is serving as the acting ASDSW Executive Director and is mentoring our full Filipino staff for 3-4 years, eventually to hand over the organization to be owned and run by them. Gemma Bulos and Kevin Lee recently won the Echoing Green Fellowship and were recognized as the “Best Emerging Social Entrepreneurs of 2007” for their innovative model creating Water PODS.  Gemma Bulos is a Finalist for the Ernst Young Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the Philippines. Read more about A Single Drop for Safe Water, Philippines