HOT OFF THE PRESS! It's the Friendly Water February Newsletter

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Subject: HOT OFF THE PRESS! It's the Friendly Water February Newsletter

Hi Friend,

I'm Curt Andino, the Executive Director for Friendly Water for the World, and I want to thank you for reading the February issue of our monthly newsletter, Essential Resources. This month we’d like to turn your attention to a way of looking at the results of our work: outputs, actions and outcomes.

What are these things? Well, outputs are deliverables, things that people actually use. Soap, ISSB Bricks, Rainwater Catchment Tanks and delivery pizza are all outputs of production. Actions are simply the usage of the outputs: washing your hands, building a school, storing water, eating that pizza. We plan outputs and bring them into being through action. Outcomes are different.

Outcomes are a result of using the output. An outcome can be good or bad. The soap may reduce disease transmission in your school resulting in more attendance, better grades and increased opportunity over time. These are all positive outcomes. But the pizza may just make you fat. So, outcomes are a little different because an outcome can be intended, unintended, good, bad or unpredicted.

But if you’re thoughtful and listening in your approach, have strong local partnerships, recommend appropriate solutions and always let the community lead, your outcomes will almost certainly be positive, because inclusiveness creates a foundation for success.

Here are some examples.

Enjoy,

Curt D. Andino

Executive Director

A Better Building Ambassador

matsakha primary rainwater catchment tank

Everyone recognizes Friendly Water for the World as a knowledge-sharing organization. The goal of this sharing, done through a program training, is to increase the proficiency of our partner community in a particular practice. Let them become good at it.

Sometimes though we exceed our own goal and create experts. Such is the case of Jafred (pictured in blue), a Friendly Water trained assistant mason from Kambiri who has helped produce thousands of ISSB bricks in our Better Building program. Recently our brick press supplier Makiga Industries asked if Jafred would be able to travel to Migori (Southwest Kenya) to help produce 40,000 ISSB bricks for a homeowner with expansion plans. Afterwards, Friendly Water trained masons will travel to Migori to help build this new house.

This is not only a honor for Jafred but for Friendly Water as well, but perhaps more importantly, it’s not just an honor it’s a paycheck for Jafred and the masons who will follow. But most importantly, Friendly Water didn’t grow this tree we just planted the seed. An unforeseen, but very welcome, outcome from a well planned output.

Synergy

Our friends at the Matsakha Development Group (MDG) sold over 4900 liters of Liquid Soap in 2021.

Their soap-making venture began last year as the first program training to come out of our Community Engagement process. Given a small subsidy up-front to help get established and “Meta” liquid soap was born.

Today, MDG’s soap-making business runs on its own, generates an income for its production and sales workers and provides discounts based upon need. This was all part of the plan.

An unanticipated, but welcome, outcome is that MDG would use some profits not needed for re-supply or payroll to pay school fees and buy uniforms for local orphans. Or another, that they would start a table-banking initiative among themselves allowing for personal savings (and eventually loan making within the group).

But what really connected the dots for us is when the Magale Secondary School in nearby Kambiri where we built a Rainwater Catchment Tank let us know that they really needed a supply of good soap to go with their new water supply. Magale meet MDG. Our role here was not to make soap or sell soap - just to introduce two groups to each other. The result: clean hands and a new customer, the check above from Magale to MDG tells the story.

Positive outputs can create mutually beneficial outcomes!

Working as Designed

Sometimes outputs are exactly what we intended.

We got into the Water Security business because every community we’ve met is challenged by water accessibility issues. We also wanted to get into ISSB brick production, not only for all its environmental benefits but because we had a hunch this could revolutionize Rainwater Catchment Tank construction. Happily, we were right on both counts.

Today, we have fifteen tanks constructed and four more underway. By the end of 2022 we will have over fifty rainwater catchment tanks installed and running in Western Kenya and Southern Zambia. Building tanks creates jobs and water security, those are two key outputs.

What will the outcomes of good wages and available water be? We won’t know for a few years but what we do know is that by working together two of this community’s most immediate challenges have been addressed, and that's our role.

Becoming a Catalyst for the Common Good

We don’t make the rain fall, cure disease or build schools. What we do is share ideas and trainings about capturing that rain, successfully protecting your family from commonly transmitted preventable illnesses and make building a better school easier, cheaper and more environmentally sound.

Everyone can have a role in this work, the more partners the lighter the load. Like these schoolchildren (above) who are carrying ISSB bricks to build three Rainwater Catchment Tanks outside their classrooms. That’s about 3000 bricks and it would have taken our four masons at least an entire day to move them. Five-hundred children made short work, about half-an-hour, of that challenge.

If you would like to become a partner with Friendly Water for the World and pick up a few bricks to help spread out the load, your contribution would be quickly put to effective and meaningful use.

If you have any questions about anything in this newsletter, please contact-

Programs- Eric Lung’aho Lijodi eric@friendlywater.org

Finance- Heather Avery heather@friendlywater.org

Administration- Curt Andino curt@friendlywater.org

Thanks for reading!

FRIENDLY WATER FOR THE WORLD

https://friendlywater.org

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Subject: HOT OFF THE PRESS! It's the Friendly Water February Newsletter