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Energy 4 Impact and Oshun Senegal bring clean, affordable water to rural Senegal

26/04/2018

Energy 4 Impact and Oshun Senegal have launched the first Providence clean water kiosks in Tambacounda, Senegal.  Their partnership equips women entrepreneurs to play a vital role in boosting supplies of clean drinking water in the region, where most people have to rely on water from dubious, unsafe - and often costly - sources. 

The kiosks take their name from the Providence solar-powered filtering device which cleans the water.   Energy 4 Impact and Oshun plan to train and equip women entrepreneurs to set up and run as franchisees, a total of five Providence kiosks in the cities of Tambacounda, Koumpentoum, Goudiri and Bala.  Energy 4 Impact’s participation is funded by a Swedish Postcode Foundation programme, which supports women entrepreneurs in Senegal to develop commercial activities. 

Energy 4 Impact helps Oshun identify optimum locations for the kiosks and select potential franchisees. The franchisees are all women entrepreneurs whom Energy 4 Impact has worked with and advised over the last three years.  They are based in one of the potential locations for a kiosk and as established entrepreneurs, selling clean energy products, have a solid record of creditworthiness which should enable them to secure the finances for a kiosk franchise.

Successful recruits pay a deposit which funds the building of the kiosks.  Oshun provides and installs the Providence filtering device and trains the franchisees how to operate it.  The franchisees pay a fee each month to Oshun and a second variable amount based on the monthly sales of water.

The women receive technical and financial mentoring from Energy 4 Impact, which includes coaching in management, accounting, and marketing to help them manage the kiosk business.  Energy 4 Impact also helps to build the demand for cleaner and affordable water by raising awareness of water quality issues, including the risks posed by dubious and unfiltered water, such as contamination and spread of waterborne diseases. 

As well as offering local entrepreneurs a new sustainable source of income, the scheme makes clean water more affordable.  While there are alternative sources such as tap water supplied by the national water company, pay-as-you-use boreholes and free water from wells, the quality is often dubious.  Treated and pure drinking water is available from private companies but is expensive; at up to 500 CFA francs a litre it is beyond the reach of many families. 

The Providence kiosks operate a deposit system.  The customer deposits 1,000 Senegalese Francs ($1.8) to buy their first five litre bottle and they can refill this at any time for only 100 Francs, with the option to swap the bottle for one which has been cleaned and disinfected.

OSHUN provides ongoing technical support, including repairs and filling the filter cartridges, and carries out regular water analysis and remote monitoring.   The proposed kiosk locations are mostly in off-grid areas and Oshun also supplies the solar panels to power the reactors for ultra violet (UVC) water disinfection. 

Not only is this partnership bringing clean and affordable drinking water within the reach an estimated 11 000 people but it is also creating a new and sustainable source of income for our women entrepreneurs, 

said Abdoul Dosso, Project Manager, Energy 4 Impact. 

“The additional mentoring, skills and experience they acquire with this diversification will help increase the productivity, resilience, efficiency and viability of their businesses.  Indeed, the franchisees in the pilot phase are already making a monthly profit of 150,000 to 200,000 Senegalese Francs ($280-370).”  He added. “We plan to expand to more locations, building on the successes and results of the pilot phase.”

The lack of access to energy is an obstacle to development. The work that Energy 4 Impact is doing to empower women entrepreneurs and improve their livelihoods by providing access to clean energy-powered products, is vital to sustainable development, 

said Marie Dahllöf, Secretary General of the Swedish Postcode Foundation.