Water for Good
A bold new way to end water poverty!
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
The Central African Republic is among the most conflict-affected countries in the world (UN OCHA 2021). With a chronic humanitarian crisis, Central Africans face enormous challenges related to achieving the Sustainable Development Goal for universal and sustained water services. Currently, their 4.9 million population has limited access to clean water and existing systems are in poor or non-functioning condition due to a lack of management. A lack of clean water creates adverse consequences to all facets of life, including increased morbidity and mortality (WHO 2019), and disproportionately inhibits the development of women and children as they bear the burden of collecting water (UNICEF 2016). “Before (Water for Good installed the new well), we used water from a source more than one kilometer away, with illnesses such as parasitosis, typhoid, diarrhea, etc., which forced us to go to the hospital often and spend money,” explained Nabali Stella, from Babaza.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Water Program
Water for Good provides access to clean and safe water through newly drilled wells, repairing broken wells and preventative pump maintenance programing.
Clean Water Projects
Our goal is to provide reliable water services through private sector solutions that will end water poverty in the Central African Republic, for good. To be most efficient and effective, we started with one region, and have begun to focus on other regions to scale our efforts to reach the entire country. Beyond just providing clean water, Water for Good maintains a commitment to keeping the water running, for good. We believe creating a sustainable water system is the only effective way to tackle water poverty in the country
and the world as a whole.
Where we work
External reviews
Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Evaluation documents
Download evaluation reportsNumber of people receiving safe drinking water from community systems
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Economically disadvantaged people
Related Program
Water Program
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
This is an estimate based on local communities self-reporting the population that uses all of the water wells that we maintain annually.
Average number of dollars per person served
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Water Program
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Water for Good's total organizational expense divided by the number of people served annually.
Number of donors retained
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Water Program
Type of Metric
Input - describing resources we use
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
People who donated last year and two years ago.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Water for Good is tackling water poverty in one of the world's most forgotten countries. Our mission is clean, lasting water for every man, woman, and child in the Central African Republic.
Our goal is to provide reliable water services through private-sector solutions, which will end water poverty in the Central African Republic, for good. Our exit strategy? In addition to drilling wells, we know a reliable maintenance program must be part of the solution. Water for Good maintains a commitment to keeping the water running, for good. Focusing on sustainability, we incubate professionalized local water service providers that can deliver clean water in coordination with the local government and non-profit partners. We are committed to working ourselves out of a job in the Central African Republic.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Eliminating water poverty in one of the world's most remote and forgotten countries is ambitious but achievable. First, we will aim to scale up to reach everyone with reliable, safe water in one focus region of the country. We are geographically focusing our new water projects in Central African Republic’s Region 2 in order to reach every man, woman, and child in that area with sustainable water access. Pursuing this strategy will also give us a model that can inform our efforts to continue to scale operations across the entire country. As always, local people manage all field operations and implementation. Our goal has always been to work ourselves out of a job—training and equipping local people to overcome the problems faced by their communities.
Why? Long-term, it is not sustainable for a US-based non-profit organization, like Water for Good, to do all the drilling and maintaining of water wells in the Central African Republic.
So, what's our solution? Building sustainable water services. In addition to installing new water points, we know a reliable maintenance program and a strengthened water system must be part of the solution. Water for Good maintains a commitment to keeping the water running, for good. We are committed to working ourselves out of a job in the Central African Republic.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
With nearly 20 years of experience, Water for Good is already the largest water provider in the Central African Republic, currently serving approximately 850,000 people annually. We currently maintain more than 1,800 water points and have drilled over 1,000 handpumps. Our locally-trained technicians have been working hard to keep the clean water flowing. They use electronic reporting to allow our organization to monitor the use of spare parts, manage the restock, and help with supply-chain logistics. This country is geographically large, but with a small population of only 4.9 million people. Reaching everyone in this country is possible. And now is the time. We partner with multilateral organizations, the Central African government, and many other charitable, humanitarian, and development organizations. We don't have to go it alone.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Water for Good has a proven capacity to operate despite poor infrastructure and insecurity in CAR, and in 18 years of operations, our local teams have drilled over 1,000 new water points (mainly handpumps, and increasingly tapstands connected to solar powered-pump systems) and rehabilitated over 950 water pumps and boreholes. What sets Water for Good apart is our capacity and commitment to keep the water flowing to around 1,800 water points through sustainable water maintenance services and our efforts to start local, water-sector businesses. Water points enrolled in this maintenance service have functionality rates approaching 97%, where 40-60% functionality might be expected without this service. Our well-trained and experienced local team is led by our Country Director and supported by our US-based staff; together we work to execute projects amidst difficult conditions. Given our successful implementation of several solar-powered pump systems over the last three years, we are planning to increase the number of these systems in the CAR because they are a cost-effective and sustainable solution for larger communities. Furthermore, they provide water disinfection treatment using inline chlorination systems; thus, they can provide safely managed drinking water to users.
The evidence of Water for Good’s impact can also be understood through the people that use the water infrastructure that we build and maintain:
- Nabali Stella is 40 years old and the wife of the pastor of the church in the community of Babaza. When asked about life after Water for Good completed a handpump in her community, she said, “After the completion of this drilling, it is a great relief for us women who have the chore of carrying water a very acceptable distance, quality water so no diarrhea as before, we frequent the hospital less, our guests of the church find water for their needs in case of a conference. Even for the construction of our church, is thanks to this drilling. The elderly do not suffer anymore because of poor quality drinking water. If our pump breaks down, it is a return to our starting situation, and thanks to Water for Good, a team is always there for the maintenance. This is to be congratulated.”
- Basil Ndounga, 51 years old, works as a security agent for a power company and lives in the Nambona neighborhood of Berberati. He and his family use pump F476, along with approximately 500 people. Before the pump was installed in June 2013, they would make a significant walk to a water spring and would often get sick with diarrhea, parasites, typhoid, and other diseases. Since this borehole was installed, they don't suffer from these diseases and their health costs have decreased with fewer visits to the health center. Basil said, “One time, the pump stopped working. We had to go back to the old water source, and the same diseases came back quickly, and our health costs went back up until Water for Good came and repaired our pump."
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
-
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
-
Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), 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?
It is difficult to find the ongoing funding to support feedback collection, Staff find it hard to prioritize feedback collection and review due to lack of time
Financials
Unlock nonprofit financial insights that will help you make more informed decisions. Try our monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights?
Learn more
about GuideStar Pro.
Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Water for Good
Board of directorsas of 01/26/2024
Mr. Mike Lenda
Ed Miller
Exhibit Pro Inc
Dan Stanek
WD Partners
Mike Lenda
The Well Coffeehouse
Kess Atuyota
Nortal USA
Rebecca Halbur
Biogen
Earl Quijada
Kaiser Permanente
Katie Ruby
Brown Caldwell
Dany Guerendo Christian
STATProg Inc.
Jennifer Kenney
Gifts for Good
Drew Scholl
Missional Leader
Greg Liening
The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
-
Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
No data
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data