Addressing the Challenge of Scale

How To Deliver and Sustain600,000 Small-Scale Projects

Providing Sanitation and Water to600,000,000 Indians

Step 1: Build World-Class PlatformStep 2: Decentralize, Crowdsource, & Peer Review

Step 3: Use SMS

Rajesh Shahrajesh@peerwater.org

May 2013

© 2013 Peer Water Exchange 2

Solicit, Select, Manage, and Verify 200,000 small-scale local projects annually

To reach 1,000,000,000 people without safe waterand

2,600,000,000 people without a toilet

The Challenge

“Dare to be naive”– Buckminster Fuller

© 2013 Peer Water Exchange 3

The Water Sector Is A Hierarchical Pyramid Today

Beneficiaries

Implementers

Funders Intermediaries

• Top-down approach has not shown impact despite having technical solutions• Small projects tailored to local context lack visibility and oversight• Accountability lost in many expensive layers of bureaucracy• Lack of collaboration, no reporting of failures, and no shared learning• Bottom-up approach needs empowerment at BoP

NOT SCALABLE!

© 2013 Peer Water Exchange 4

The Water Sector Rearranged As The Four Wings Of A Butterfly

FundersFragmented

Intermediaries + Products/ServicesCompetitive

BeneficiariesInvisible

Regional ImplementersExperience Not Used

There is no heart and no brainAll vital flows are bi-lateral and outside – no muscle either!

Information FlowSlow

Hidden

Financial FlowPeripheralOpaque

© 2013 Peer Water Exchange 5

The Water Sector Butterfly Containing A New Central Exchange

Major step in reaching billions and getting reached by them is to use SMS

Financial FlowTraceable

Clear

PWX

Information FlowInstantaneous

Universally Accessible

FundersNetworked

Intermediaries + Products/ServicesCollaborate

BeneficiariesParticipate

Regional ImplementersShare and Learn

PublicEngaged

© 2013 Peer Water Exchange 6

SMS Is The Best Technology For Communicating With Field Staff (No Computer, No Internet, No 3G)

Field StaffSends SMS: “construction of 4thToilet will be startd tomarrow at Sapna's house.”

PWXResponds with acknowledgement.

Example 1: Shohratgarh, UP

© 2013 Peer Water Exchange 7

Our Innovation Is To Integrate SMS Notes Elegantly Into The Platform http://peerwater.org/en/projects/1649#verification

PWXAttaches SMS note to project report in nice historical format

© 2013 Peer Water Exchange 8

Want To Know How Projects Are Performing Along Specific Parameters? Tired of beautiful photos of anonymous people in unknown locations?

Example 2: N. 24 Parganas,

West Bengal

Field StaffSends SMS about number of people using and for what purposes

Field StaffConducts education about arsenic in water

Field StaffNotes water quality and types of use

© 2013 Peer Water Exchange 9

Our Members Use SMS To Capture Metrics Transparently For The Public Good http://peerwater.org/en/projects/790#verification

PWX SMS ReportingAllows for tracking specific metrics:• # of families• # of users• What types of use?• Chlorine sold

© 2013 Peer Water Exchange 10

PWX Maps Every Project Openly:Any Person Can View Results And Report Toohttp://peerwater.org/en/map/show/project/511/1368 also http://peerwater.org/en/map

PWX SMS ReportingAllows for tracking specific metrics:• # of families• # of users• What types of use?• Chlorine sold

Example 3: Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu

© 2013 Peer Water Exchange 11

Field Staff Can Communicate In Their Languagehttp://peerwater.org/en/projects/511#verification

Field StaffDo not expect them to be:• English speaking• as tech savvy as

today’s teenagers• project

management gurus

PWX SMS ReportingWill store data in original form,making it easy for next staff tolearn and pickup.

Example 3: Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu

© 2013 Peer Water Exchange 12

PWX SMS Reporting Can Now Track Public Toilet Usage and Revenues

Example 4: Demo Project,Maharashtra

Toilet OperatorTrained to send SMS everyday on:• # of male users• # of female users• Revenue collected

Members of M4G and mBillionth Jury: Please Try!

© 2013 Peer Water Exchange 13

PWX Metrix Can Track Public Toilet Usage And Revenues http://demo.peerwater.org/en/projects/1680#sites/2636/site_metrics

PWX MetriXExtracts data from SMSGraphs itVisible in Real-timeMax threshold highlightedMin threshold highlightedAbsence of data highlightedAvailable for download.

© 2013 Peer Water Exchange 14

Now Success Is Within Our Grasp

PWX is ready to handle funds and manage projects for any agency.

We seek:

1. Implementers who want to manage their projects on PWX

2. Funders who want to collaborate and fund through PWX

3. Volunteers who can report on projects near them or their travels

4. Investors to make this platform the enabler for solving the water crisis facing a fifth of humanity and a sanitation crisis facing nearly half of humanity

“Are we to decide the importance of issues by asking how fashionable or glamorous they

are?Or by asking how seriously they affect how

many?”– Nelson Mandela