Women carrying water in Rajasthan, India
Some 1.2 billion people worldwide are drinking unsafe water. Although many organizations purify water for entire communities in the developing world, women and children often walk long distances to transport it — and it often becomes contaminated during the trip. From retrieval to consumption, water’s journey is complex and provides ample opportunities for improvement. Acumen Fund and IDEO, with backing from the Gates Foundation, joined forces to tackle the issues of water transport and storage.
The Ripple Effect project set out to:
• improve access to safe drinking water for the world’s poorest and most underserved people;
• seed innovation among local water providers; and
• build the capacity for future development in the water sector as a whole.
Acumen Fund, a nonprofit global venture fund that uses entrepreneurial approaches to solve large-scale problems, brings experience in the water sector and a deep understanding of what brings success to social enterprise. IDEO offers a human-centered approach to designing products, services, and interactions.
Ripple Effect is an innovative model for connecting organizations, providing insight and inspiration, and giving design and business support to entrepreneurs looking to develop new offerings. The project was entirely public: Acumen Fund and IDEO teams worked closely with local companies and NGOs that provide safe drinking water and recorded what they learned so that others may benefit from it.
The first phase of the project took place in India from November 2008 to June 2009. The second phase happened in Kenya from July 2009 to February 2010. In each region, we followed the same process:
FIELD RESEARCH. Our work started with field research to understand the needs and desires of stakeholders in the water journey, from customers to providers.
WORKSHOP. We gathered organizations in three-day workshop to share insights and collaborate on solutions — products, services, and systems — that would improve water delivery and storage.
PILOT PHASE. To test and develop potential solutions, we conducted a funded pilot phase in which organizations developed business ideas with support from the IDEO and Acumen Fund teams.
