Prospective trips for future editions in West Africa
We are thrilled to announce that in 2020 we will be implementing our first Young Water Fellowship national editions in Senegal and Ivory Coast, with the financial support of the Swiss Embassy for Development and Cooperation, Enabel and Besix Foundation. We recently visited with our team these countries, where we organised prospective meetings with young entrepreneurs and key public and private stakeholders. Young Senegalese and Ivorian entrepreneurs, keep your eyes open for the next calls for application! ...
YWF East Africa Pitching Night in Kampala
As culmination of the YWF East Africa start-up training in Uganda, YWS and TuriKumwe organised the Pitching Night, event held at SS Hotel Kampala on Saturday 23/11. Its main goal was to provide a platform to the 10 Young Water Fellows, for them to present in 2-3 minutes their business idea, followed by a networking and walking dinner. The 80 honourable guests who attended the event included water and environment experts, donors, social entrepreneurs and development partners implementing WASH/IWRM initiatives. Hon. Sylvia Rwabwogo, District Woman Representative for Kabarole District at Parliament of Uganda gave the opening remarks, publicly committing to support the YWF programme in future editions.The closing remarks were given...
YWF 2019 East Africa start-up training in Uganda
In November (13th to 24th 2019) the 10 selected Young Water Fellows participated in a 10-days start-up training in Kampala, part of the Young Water Fellowship East Africa, delivered in partnership with cewas and Turi Kumwe Uganda. The start-up training was the first stage of the one-year support programme, and enabled the Young Water Fellows to develop social business models that focused on solving a water, sanitation, hygiene or IWRM issue in their communities, while doing it from a gender and BoP (Base of the Pyramid) approach. It included sessions such as Market Demand Analysis; Business Model Canvas; Customer Orientation; Value Proposition Design; Revenue Models, Operations planning, and water and gender, among others. According to the feedback survey completed by participants, 100% of their expectations...
Young Water Solutions approved to issue Tax Certificates to donors
Due to our development work, at Young Water Solutions we have recently been granted by the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs the possibility to issue certificates for Tax Benefits to our individual and corporate donors, for donations over €40.If you are in Belgium and would like to support our Young Water Fellowship Programme or our Fellows' work, please visit our Donate section on the website, and contact us at contribute@youngwatersolutions.org for a tax certificate. Account holder: Young Water Solutions IBAN: BE07 3631 5983 9266 BIC Code: BBRU BE BB ...
Field visits to Kenyan and Tanzanian Young Water Fellows
From April to June 2019, Young Water Solutions' Director Antonella Vagliente visited four Young Water Fellows in Kenya and Tanzania to monitor the progress on the implementation of their pilot projects.Aspects monitored included quality of the infrastructure, social and environmental impact, community engagement, stakeholders' engagement, O&M strategies in place, team management and potential for scaling up. Young Water Fellows visited were:- Beth Koigi (Majik Water - Kenya - 2018 Fellow): Majik Water provides air-to-water technologies in water scarce areas. The pilot project consisted in testing a 50-liters machine in an orphanage, funded by the Global Water Partnership. [Top left photo].- Jonathan Nkungu (Sani Loan Initiative - Tanzania - 2018 Fellow): The Sani-Loan Initiative, implemented by Jonathan's NGO EEDS, builds latrines for rural families in Biharamulo...
Young Water Fellowship East Africa launched
Following the success of the global editions, Young Water Solutions is thrilled to launch the first regional edition: The Young Water Fellowship East Africa. In partnership with the youth-led Ugandan NGO Turi Kumwe, the programme will offer 10 young entrepreneurs from East Africa a one-year support package that includes training, mentorship and seed funding opportunities to turn their water/sanitation initiative into a social business. They will also be assigned mentors, get the chance to exponentially increase their supporting networks in the water and entrepreneurship sectors, and apply for seed-funding to pilot their initiatives. The 10 selected 'Young Water Fellows' will be invited...
2019 Global Young Water Fellows selected
We are excited to announce the 2019 Young Water Fellows, who were selected to participate in the 2019 Young Water Fellowship Global edition. These inspiring young entrepreneurs from 8 different countries will attend cewas' 5-weeks training (August 2019), participate at the World Water Week in Stockholm to exponentially increase their supporting networks, receive coaching and mentorship for one year and have the opportunity to apply for funding to pilot their water and sanitation social businesses.They were selected over 375 candidates based on criteria that included impact, relevance, innovation, feasibility, social business potential and leadership potential of the candidate. A document presenting them and their initiatives can be downloaded here. Young Water Solutions is engaging new partners who would be willing to sponsor a Fellow and contribute...
2018 Fellows advance on their pilot projects
From November 2018 to April 2019, Young Water Fellows selected in the 2018 call for applications are focused on piloting their social businesses with the €5000 received as part of the seed funding offered by the Young Water Fellowship Programme. Their pilots are expected to help them set up their social businesses and improve the water and/or sanitation conditions of 5,000 people. Photos of some of our Fellows' progress (from left to right)- Fellow Nuha (Indonesia) in the process of building her sand filter for metal ions (Aikite)- Fellow Elizabeth (Kenya) training the Maasai women on brick making for water tanks and latrines, as part of her Maji Mamas social business- A protoype of...