Wells Bring Hope

Who are the people you serve with your mission?

We serve the people who reside in rural villages in Niger, West Africa, those who do not have access to safe, clean water. Women and girls as young as seven, walk 4-6 miles every day to find water, water that is often contaminated. One out of seven children dies in rural Niger, from contaminated water. We serve people who face increasingly frequent famines. When a well is drilled in a village, child mortality is reduced by upwards of 70%. Girls have time to attend school and women can work and earn money. When a famine comes, the crops they grow enable them to survive.

How is your organization collecting feedback from the people you serve?

Focus groups or interviews (by phone or in person),

How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?

To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals,

What significant change resulted from feedback?

Early on, we realized that it was not enough to give clean water; women wanted to work and earn money but needed education. We established a savings group program to accomplish this. Over time, we heard that the hand pump was laborious to use. Changing the system was economically infeasible until September 2021, when we began installing cost efficient solar-powered water systems. This crucial change has helped alleviate the daily burden of women in getting water because now they simply have to turn on a tap. In 2019, we learned that there were many health clinics in rural Niger with no access to any water. Women in labor had to carry water for their delivery. Our mission expanded to include one solar-powered water project for a health clinic a year.

With whom is the organization sharing feedback?

Our staff, Our board, Our funders,

How has asking for feedback from the people you serve changed your relationship?

Asking for feedback from the women and girls we serve has clearly shifted power to them. When women knew that they were heard, that they were given training to start their own small businesses, power was shifted from only men to both women and men. As women who contributed to the economic well-being of their families, they shared in decision-making regarding monetary expenditures. The village chief and elders viewed women in a different light, acknowledging their contribution to improving life in the village. Women are no longer as dependent as they once were, and they are not powerless the way they were before they began working and earning money. Men no longer “made the rules,” nor did they have all the power within the family.

Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?

We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive,

What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?

Inability to visit Niger due to terrorist threats, dangerous to access remote villages & Covid-19,