Adding to basket
The Problem
Saha works in remote northern Ghana, where hard seasonal rains are followed by long dry spells.There are few year round streams, and underground water is impossibly deep. So villages collect and store rainwater in big stagnant ponds.The water people drink starts contaminating and gets worse as the dry season continues.Clean water solutions rarely reach remote places and when they do, they often don’t work mainly because equipment is not maintained, the water is too expensive, it gets re-contaminated, and/or people don’t drink it consistently.
The Solution
Saha gets the cleanest water to the poorest people. In each village, they set up entrepreneurial women with a chlorinating business that provides clean water at affordable prices.They provide simple equipment that uses locally available materials, train women how to run the business, mentor them over time, and closely monitor water quality and consumption. Water entrepreneurs earn profit of about $1-2USD/week for about 5 hours of work.
Impact
Saha has helped 256 women in Ghana open a total 100 water businesses.48,174 people have access to Saha water and 36,130 people are consistently drinking that water.
Loan use
The loan will directly enable Saha to open 13 new water businesses.These businesses will serve 5,200 people.
Disclosure
Kiva's current VP of Strategic Development, Bennett Grassano, is a member of Saha Global's Board of Directors. Bennett was not involved in Kiva's decision to partner with Saha and does not make any decisions related to Saha's funding on Kiva.
