Content Type
Tuesday
December 1
2015
As the world works toward achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6 – ensuring access to water and sanitation for all – we here at NextBillion have been asking questions of organizations working to help the 1.8 billion people globally who use a source of drinking water that is fecally contaminated. So many questions, in fact, that we’ve turned them, and the answers we’ve received, into a series.
Interviews
Thursday
May 5
2016
Jasmine Burton of Wish for WASH: "Although we are still very much researching and iterating our design, (the) SafiChoo (toilet) is innovative because it seeks to incorporate human-centered design and community-driven solutions to best improve the user experience in all parts of the market (from manufacturing to shipping to distributing to customers to end users)."
Interviews
Tuesday
December 15
2015
In 2009, Philip Wilson led his Guatemala-based organization’s transition from an NGO to a social business, and since then its customer base has expanded dramatically. Ecofiltro found that giving its water filters away was not scalable or financially sustainable – but that ensuring his customers' dignity was.
Interviews
Wednesday
December 2
2015
"The economic impact of poor or zero safe sanitation is catastrophic but preventable," says Mark La Trobe, international managing director of Enviro Loo. He believes his firm – which makes waterless, chemical-free toilets that use air movement and heat from the sun to reduce solid waste – is in prime position to make a global difference.
Wednesday
September 30
2015
mWater CEO Annie Feighery says, "We have to keep doing a better job at getting the word out that digital monitoring can help every single aspect of the aid industry do its job better. There are so very many malthusians out there who say things like, 'Technology is not a solution.' Imagine saying that to a librarian organizing card catalogues in 1995. Technology is the solution."
Guest Articles
Tuesday
September 29
2015
The world met the Millennium Development Goal target for water – doubling the number of improved water sources by 2015 – but that accomplishment won't save lives unless those new water sources are safe. Making sure they are is the goal of a nonprofit tech startup, mWater, that's being run like a for-profit tech startup in Silicon Valley.
Interviews
Friday
September 11
2015
Lima, Peru, is one of the driest capital cities in the world. That's one reason x-runner, a social enterprise, has had success selling urine-diverting dry toilets and coordinating a for-pay sanitation system for subscribers in the slums there. Another reason might be its trial and error, local-oriented approach.
Thursday
September 3
2015
Namita Banka, a former jewelry designer, took a course in social entreprepreneurship in 2009 and emerged ready to make a difference in her community. A few years later, she incorporated Banka BioLoo to produce environmentally friendly bio-toilets. Here, Sanjay Banka, Namita's husband, talks about the business and the cultural obstacles it's working to overcome.
