This innovation is bringing clean water to rural communities in Africa

Water Access Rwanda, a social enterprise founded by 26-year-old mechanical engineer Christelle Kwizera, is at the forefront of revolutionizing the provision of clean water in rural communities across Africa. At the 2019 Transformers Summit in Dakar, Senegal, Kwizera shared her inspiring journey and the innovative microgrid solution project that aims to expand to 12 countries in the coming years. The core idea behind Water Access Rwanda's microgrid solutions is to transform broken hand pumps in rural areas into powerful systems that supply treated water. The treated water is piped to public kiosks and directly into people's homes, eliminating the need for women and children to spend hours collecting water. This not only saves time but also reduces carbon emissions as communities no longer need to boil water for purification. Moreover, the affordable nature of the system allows families to save money for other essential activities. Kwizera's journey began with a realization of the pressing need for clean drinking water in rural areas. Initially, she started a project that involved drilling boreholes and installing hand pumps. However, she found that hand pumps were not a sustainable solution as they often broke down, required costly repairs, and did not guarantee safe drinking water. This led her to innovate and develop a model that would provide piped clean water to homes through a network of mini-grids. Water Access Rwanda is currently focusing on perfecting its solution in Rwanda, where they have already established 35 mini-grids, creating over 65 jobs in the community. The plan is to learn from this experience, optimize the model, assess profitability, and invest in scaling the initiative across the African continent. The company aims to transition from running a few mini-grids to managing a network of millions, which will require significant investment in team training, processes, and infrastructure. One of the key aspects of Water Access Rwanda's approach is its commercial sustainability. While they collaborate with governments to navigate regulatory frameworks and gain access to communities in need, the enterprise operates primarily through commercial capital. By leveraging private funding and reducing reliance on donor support, Water Access Rwanda aims to bring financial scalability to the water sector and drive progress towards Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number six, which addresses clean water and sanitation. Kwizera emphasized the importance of diversifying funding sources in the water sector, which is currently one of the most underfunded SDGs. By attracting private capital, she believes that the initiative can achieve long-term impact and contribute to overcoming water challenges in rural Africa. Through collaboration with governments, businesses, and other stakeholders, Water Access Rwanda is setting a new standard for sustainable and innovative solutions in the provision of clean water.