Kindness

ISSUE:
Poor hygiene in our community caused by an insufficient amount of water due to the long distance required to fetch water, because there are only a few existing water points in our community. Some people think that hygiene is only for urban people. Women are too busy to care about proper hygiene because of their time spent caring for many children due to not using birth control. Poor hygiene is also caused by a lack of hygiene supplies and proper sanitation because of low income and/or a limited number of family members who have access to a job. Women don't have time to participate in incomes generating opportunities. Women spend time making many trips to the hospital because of numerous illnesses caused by waterborne diseases. Giving consideration to hygiene is not a priority when a woman is worried about being beaten and/or trying to cope with an ignorant husband who thinks of his needs as a priority. This results in chronic poverty persisting in families, school dropouts, increased number of street children, undesired pregnancies, and diseases related to unsanitary water.

MISSION:
Our mission is to reduce the number of families affected by a lack of hygiene through access to a reliable water source and delivering hygiene and sanitation education to our community.

THEORY OF CHANGE:
We believe that:

• We believe that if women have access to water and education about birth control, and thus having fewer children, this will help reduce the cases of hygiene-related diseases.
• By conducting a workshop on water treatment and hygiene sensitizations, we will reduce hygiene related diseases.
• By providing 2 free jerry cans a day to 20 very poor families we believe that we can increase their level of hygiene and help improve their lives.
• By providing sensitizations on the importance of hygiene, we will reduce the number of families who do not care about hygiene.

SOLUTION:
Our venture will provide water to 3000 people. We will use water directly from pipes or distribute water from our holding tank when needed. Each team member will serve water to people 1 day a month. We will provide workshops on water treatment 2 times a month over 8 months which will help us to reduce the cases of diseases caused by using and drinking dirty water. Also we will provide free water to 20 very poor families to increase their standard of hygiene. We will provide sensitizations on the importance of hygiene to 300 selected families 2 times a month over four months. Those households will be selected through social health workers from villages. We will provide training on family planning to 40 couples who will then train other couples on the importance of family planning two times a month over 2 months. We will provide workshops on water treatment to all 3,000 people who collect at our standpipe and that will happen once each week over 8 months. We will provide training to 30 existing couples and 10 future couples on gender equality one time a week for one month. Through this training we will be able to bring peace to our families which will help their well-being.

12-MONTH GOALS:

• After 1 year, 85% of community members will have access to clean water
• After 1 year, 75% of trained couples will change their mindsets regarding gender equality
• After 1 year, the number of diseases cases caused by unsanitary water will be reduced by 50%
• After 1 year, mothers who use family planning will increase by 25%
• After 1 year, 80% of households will care about and carry out hygienic practices