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Reimagining the World’s Dirtiest Job: How Pit Vidura is Professionalizing Waste Management
Around 2.7 billion people – 35 percent of the world’s population – use on-site sanitation systems that are not connected to sewers. When they become full, they need to be emptied – a job that’s often done manually, presenting hazards to both the workers and their communities. Pit Vidura is tackling this challenge in Kigali, Rwanda, offering safe hygienic pit latrine and septic tank emptying for people in hard-to-reach areas. Katie Sottilare discusses the company’s innovative approach, and the impact it’s having.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise, WASH
- Tags
- public health, waste
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See Who Won NB’s Top Post of 2018 Contest
Thank you to everyone who voted in NextBillion's seventh annual Top Post of the Year contest. Here are the winners and their vote percentage totals as well as the complete results for this year's competition. Congratulations to the top three winning contributors for their articles, which both challenged and enlightened us. And Happy New Year to all of our readers.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Education, Energy, Environment, Finance, Health Care, Investing, Technology, WASH
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The Trouble with ‘Free’: Why Treating the Poor as Customers Works Better than Charity
Lack of access to safe water is a leading cause of illness in developing countries. Yet for years, Guatemalan entrepreneur Philip Wilson's family foundation worked to distribute free water filters across the countryside, only to see recipients repurpose them as flower pots and garbage cans. After going into the field to meet real families that were living with unsafe water, he came up with a better approach: a business model that treats the rural poor as consumers of products rather than objects of charity. He explores the reasons this model is working, and the challenges it has faced.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise, WASH
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Water ATMs: How Technology is Improving Water Governance in Tanzania
The lack of accessible, potable water for many of the world's most remote communities is too often due to a water governance issue. But as Madison Lawson is at Catholic Relief Services points out, new enterprises are combining database management, water pumping and business models that can deliver fresh water to places most in need. She highlights one such "water ATM" system in Tanzania.
- Categories
- Environment, Social Enterprise, WASH
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Toilet To Tap: Solving the Global Water Crisis With Wastewater
World Toilet Day is Nov. 19, and as it focuses global attention on how to improve sanitation and fight water scarcity, one somewhat uncomfortable solution is emerging: the re-use of wastewater. Of course, not everyone agrees with the methods, and the thought of "drinking human waste" isn't palatable. But thanks to rapid technological advancement and the growing recognition that waste can be profitable, the practice could finally be overcoming the "ick" factor to become an important strategy for solving the world’s water crisis.
- Categories
- Environment, Social Enterprise, Technology, WASH
- Tags
- waste
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Making WASH Sexy: An Often Neglected Sector Comes Into Its Own
In a social business landscape littered with apps and accelerators, WASH doesn’t come across as the sexiest of sectors. So when NextBillion launched its August focus on WASH, we editors weren’t expecting words like “hope” and “innovation” and “opportunity” to be thrown around a lot. But they were. And as the month ends, we’re feeling – dare we say it – excited about the long-term future of water, sanitation and hygiene, and about the businesses focused on improving them.
- Categories
- Health Care, Social Enterprise, WASH
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Powering Communities Through a Surprising Source of Renewable Energy: Human Waste
Around the world, a staggering 2.5 billion people lack access to decent toilets. That leads to far too many people getting sick from preventable diseases. Anne Healy and Erin Crossett of Development Innovation Ventures say the good news is that some enterprising companies are experimenting with ways to make human waste disposal profitable in the developing world.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment, Health Care, WASH
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From Smart Meters to ‘Water ATMs’: Innovative Solutions to Bring Water Services to Rural Africa
An estimated 663 million people lack access to clean and safe drinking water in the world today. Innovations such as smart metering services are being tested to enhance access to water. However, these solutions have not been widely adopted across Africa, except at some water vending points. George Muruka at MicroSave explores how these innovations can be scaled up to the household level.
- Categories
- Technology, WASH
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