GivePower Foundation

I am applying for the Elevate Prize to grow the impact of a program I established called the Solar Water Farm.  The program is built around a solar-powered water desalination system.  In communities lacking access to drinking water, this system provides high quality drinking water at prices on par with untreated alternatives.  The Water Farm also creates jobs and economic opportunity.  After several years of planning and fundraising, the system was piloted in Kiunga, Kenya, in 2018.  Three full-scale systems are now operating in Kenya with growing sales.  The program is designed to scale commercially.  A portion of the proceeds from all Farms is committed toward future implementations.  In this way, the concept propels its own development impact.  The more Water Farms in service, the faster the impact grows.

If awarded, the Elevate Prize would support the deployment of a Water Farm in a new community.  The added revenues from a fourth system would significantly speed sales-driven fundraising toward a fifth.  The amplification and mentorship of the prize would help grow sales at existing sites and win support for future implementations.  The award would enable GiveWater to reach about 100,000 additional people with clean, safe drinking water by 2023.

I am a passionate advocate for the benefits of renewable energy in international development.  My career in this space began in 2008 – a year I spent raising funds for a solar project at a school in Kenya.  That project was completed in 2009 and I saw firsthand the range of economic and social benefits renewable energy brings.  Since then, I have occupied many roles in various geographies, all in international renewables development.  In 2016 I became the Executive Director of the GivePower Foundation – a driven group of solar power and engineering professionals that has delivered over 2,650 solar projects in economically disadvantaged communities around the world.

Over my career, I gained an appreciation that electricity has its greatest impact in enabling access to life’s necessities.  With experience in a multitude of project models, I came to understand important role commercial solutions can have in international development.

I developed the Solar Water Farm program on that basis.  The system’s modular construction and innovative commercially scaling business model are designed for rapid growth and can make a major impact on the world water crisis.  I have set an ambitious goal of providing water to one million people by 2023.

GivePower is addressing gaps in reliable, affordable access to high quality drinking water among base-of-the-pyramid populations.  Nearly two-thirds of the world’s population experience severe water scarcity during at least one month of the year.  Over 2 billion lack regular access to safely managed drinking water.  The challenges of water scarcity are especially burdensome among poor populations, who lack resources to tackle related health and economic issues.  Poor water access contributes to illness, malnutrition, decreased educational attainment, reduced economic opportunities, and decreased civic stability. 

20 million Kenyans – about 41% of the national population – lack access to basic drinking water services.  18 million live below the international poverty line of $1.90 per day.  The problem is expected to worsen among these largely concurrent populations in coming years – population growth is straining existing water resources and rain patterns are becoming more erratic.

GivePower is addressing this problem by partnering with Kenyan communities to install Solar Water Farms.  Each system can provide drinking water for up to 35,000 residents.  This directly disrupts water scarcity while establishing a durable local institution around which additional economic and social benefits can grow.  The self-propelled expansion of the model provides a path to widespread impact.

The Water Farm technology is innovative.  Each system consists of a 50 kilowatt solar photovoltaic array, 135 kilowatt-hour battery for nighttime operation, and reverse osmosis water filtration membrane.  It is sized to meet the drinking water needs of 35,000 individuals.  The containerized technology can be rapidly deployed with little supporting host site infrastructure.  The design is the result of a years-long engineering effort based on the many decades of collective experience of the GivePower team.  No other known system provides drinking water with solar energy in disadvantaged areas, let alone in a cost effective, reliable package.

The business model of the Solar Water Farm is very innovative.  Traditional interventions such as boreholes and rain catchment have notoriously high abandonment rates.  By establishing a locally led business around the Water Farm, GivePower recruits strong local stakeholders.  The business fully funds the wages of operators and managers hired from within host communities.  Most importantly, a portion of the proceeds is committed to future Water Farm implementations in other communities.  This novel approach will result in a substantial impact on water availability without any ongoing outside investment.  Our initial focus is in Kenya, but I intend to scale the concept far beyond.

GivePower is deploying Solar Water Farms in Kenyan communities with inadequate drinking water.  This disrupts water-related health challenges.  The annual mortality rate attributed to unsafe water, sanitation, and hygiene in Kenya is 51.2 per 100,000 – four times the global average.  The 21 million liters of clean water sold to date have produced an estimated 24% reduction in water coping costs in host communities, largely attributable to reduced expenditures on waterborne illness management.

Poor water access is particularly burdensome to girls and women.  Girls’ educational attainment and economic mobility suffers due to a greater focus than male peers on uncompensated domestic work.  Improved water access disrupts this challenge.

With the three initial Water Farms, GivePower identified a new opportunity for impact.  The systems have attracted unaffiliated resellers, mainly women, who distribute water throughout host communities.  At the next site, GivePower plans to build satellite water kiosks to support these female-led microenterprises.  By placing storage tanks further afield from the Water Farm, GiveWater will expand its reach, grow sales, and support this economic activity.

Ultimately, improved water access brings broad economic, social, and civic benefits.  The Solar Water Farm is a durable community asset around which these benefits are taking root.  

Three Solar Water Farm systems are now operating in Kenya.  These directly impact residents in in their host communities by providing clean, affordable drinking water.  The existing systems serve an estimated 105,000 customers combined.  In one year, I expect to be serving about 450,000 people.  That projection is based on an ambitious goal to reach 1,000,000 people by 2023 and assumes ten Water Farms will be deployed between now and mid 2022.

Customers of the Water Farms are the direct beneficiaries of GivePower’s work.  The most immediate benefit is a projected 24% reduction in water coping costs for families purchasing water from the Water Farms.  This savings is based on reductions in the cost of home disinfection and reduced costs associated with waterborne disease.  In addition to health benefits, the Water Farms benefit customers by freeing household resources, including money and time, to be more productively deployed.

Liberated time and money expand educational and professional opportunities.  This is especially true for women, who typically bear a disproportionately large share of the burden of inadequate water access.  On a community scale, the Water Farms deliver broad economic and civic benefits, such as expanded gender equity and decreased community conflict.

The principal goal of the Solar Water Farm program is to establish universal access to affordable, high quality drinking water in host communities.  The Water Farms produce important impacts such as reduced poverty, increased health, reduced community conflict, expanded opportunities for women, and significant climate benefits.

Progress toward the overarching goal of improving water access will be measured by a planned series of pre- and post-intervention community surveys.  These will include questions on water farm attendance, waterborne disease, and household economics.  Survey data will be combined with key performance indicators including daily sales data and liters per customer visit to obtain information on the impact to water accessibility in each host community.  This is the most direct practical method of measuring the program’s goal: to establish universal drinking water access.

Because the linkage of water access to other goals – such as health and well-being (SDG 3), gender equality (SDG 5), and reduced inequalities (SDG 10) – is well supported in current literature, survey data will also be used to establish impacts in those areas.  Impacts toward sustainable cities and communities (SDG 11) and climate action (SDG 13) will be documented through tracking solar power production and CO2 savings.

I aim to deliver water to one million people by 2023.  To reach that ambitious goal, GivePower will continue deploying Solar Water Farms in new communities over the next year.  One key challenge in scaling the program is making sure the target audience benefits.  GivePower’s mission is to reach base-of-the-pyramid populations that have previously lacked access to clean, affordable water.  Care must be taken in site selection, distribution, and marketing to effectively reach the intended audience.

GivePower will meet this challenge by building relationships with water vendors already serving the target market.  Associations with retailers close to, or part of, these market segments, are essential.  Success will enable GivePower to deliver water to the intended customers at an affordable price.  This means continually probing the Water Farms’ impacts and adjusting siting, pricing, and marketing strategies as needed.

This ongoing effort to understand and respond to local economics and demographics is time consuming.  Significant care has been taken in initial pilots and the GivePower team has substantial experience in this area.  As the program scales, producing more data, additional resources may needed to develop strategies to continually improve with each installation.

If awarded, Elevate Prize funds would support the deployment of a Water Farm in a new community.  The added revenue from a fourth system would significantly accelerate the impact.

Elevate network support in marketing would have two crucial impacts.  First, it would build momentum for the Solar Water Farm program and accelerate fundraising.  Second, it would help to tailor marketing and outreach efforts in Water Farm host communities.  Outreach is a key challenge in reaching the intended population with clean, affordable drinking water.  This support would strengthen the Water Farm program’s impact.

Business mentorship available through the Elevate Prize network would be vital in accelerating the sales-driven growth of the Water Farm model.  The commercially scaling model relies on excellent management and administration to deliver its development impact.  In the future, GivePower will consider an investment opportunity for impact investors.  Mentorship around this complex financial concept will be critical.

The connections made through the Elevate Prize network would support personal growth and organization goals.  From insights on hiring and marketing to finance and technology, I eagerly anticipate engaging with peers involved in diverse, impactful innovations through the network.

GivePower is committed to building a diverse, inclusive organization in the US and at each Solar Water Farm site.  Not only is this a core value with immense benefits for the organization, gender and social equity are central to tackling the interrelated challenges of poverty and water access around the world.  Though water scarcity has far reaching impacts across geographies and economic strata, the greatest burdens are borne by the world’s poor.  Among those populations, women are disproportionately impacted.

To build a diverse, equitable culture in and around GivePower, I have established a goal of maintaining a 50% gender balance in our staff.  This applies, independently, to our US operations and each Water Farm site.  GiveWater hires members of the communities served by the Water Farms.  By investing in employee training and supporting career progression at these sites, GivePower will have the greatest possible impact.

Specific recent achievements include:

- Hiring GivePower president, Michele Magee, as our leader.

- Building an all-female staff of water site managers in Kenya.

- Hiring and promoting women in engineering and leadership roles where female involvement has traditionally lagged.

- Preparing to apply for W+ credits through WOCAN: a women’s impact verification program.

I approach the challenge of water access with over a decade of experience in international development and renewables.  Since 2008, I have committed my career to delivering electrical and water resources to communities in need.  I have lived in these communities while leading electrification and water resources projects and I have a deep understanding of benefits these projects provide.

Since becoming the Executive Director of the GivePower Foundation in 2016, I have built out our team with leaders from the solar power, international development, and engineering industries.  Together, this team has delivered over 2,650 solar projects in economically disadvantaged communities around the world.  The Solar Water Farm equipment and program are designed based on the collective experiences of this uniquely qualified team.

Each Water Farm is led by members of the communities it serves.  Local leadership is crucial to establishing durable community institutions around the Farms.  The leadership of local residents in managing and operating each system is a key ingredient in propelling sales and growing the impacts of the program.

One experience that was instructive in this regard was the process of winning support for the first project I developed.  After graduating from college, I set out to demonstrate the benefits of delivering electricity to a school in need.  I spent 2008 raising funds for a solar power project at a primary school in Kenya.  I lived and worked in Kenya to develop the project, traveling to the US to seek funding.

The process was long and challenging.  Attracting attention for the work was difficult.  Without a significant track record, winning funding was a major challenge.  At times I questioned the career trajectory I had set myself on.  Nevertheless, I remained committed to the project.  Eventually I became the first grant recipient of the Sunpower Foundation.  I also raised a significant portion of the funds from individual donors.  I developed a relationship with a solar provider who donated photovoltaic panels.  The project was completed in 2009 with transformative impacts on the school, the community, and on me.

I have attempted to build a culture at GivePower that reflects the important lessons learned during that experience: perseverance in the face of uncertainty, tenacity, humility, emotional intelligence, and a spirit of giving.

I have participated in a variety of live speaking engagements on renewable energy and international development.  One such example was a recent live talk featuring “Game Changers in Silicon Valley”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT6vCWPHuF0

For the first Solar Water Farm in Kenya, GivePower was awarded 1st place in the Innovative Projects category of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Water Awards: https://www.suqia.ae/ipa-winner-2-givepower-foundation

This year, GivePower was highlighted in the Fast Company “World Changing Ideas” program: https://www.fastcompany.com/90617633/world-changing-ideas-awards-2021-developing-world-technology-finalists-and-honorable-mentions

I am committed to the idea that immense human potential will be unlocked by empowering base-of-the-pyramid communities around the world.  Based on a career helping to bring power and water to communities in need, I believe the most effective way fight poverty and expand access to water is by empowering communities to use their own local solar and water resources.  The Solar Water Farm is built on this idea.  My principal goal is to see the Solar Water Farm program take flight, fueling its own expansion and delivering a massive blow to water access challenges for base-of-the-pyramid populations.

The program is in its early stages.  I have won support for the Solar Water Farm concept.  The initial pilot sites have been very successful.  I am now committed to scaling the program.  The Elevate Prize will support this goal by adding a new site at this nascent stage – an important moment for winning widespread program support.  The Elevate network will help me refine the business operations, secure additional support, and reach more stakeholders.  If awarded, this will dramatically elevate the impact of the program in pursuing my principal goal: universal water access.

GivePower has partnered with UC-Berkeley’s renowned Energy Resource Group to evaluate the impacts of the Solar Water Farm.  This partnership was instrumental in designing the Solar Water Farm Program.  Tesla and Katadyn have provided battery and filtration equipment used in the Solar Water Farm.  These suppliers have supported the initial design of the Solar Water Farm systems and their partnership is exceptionally beneficial.  However, it is important to note that the Solar Water Farm program does not depend on any specific equipment provider.  The equipment is largely interchangeable.  Solargen, East Africa’s premier solar company, has installed solar power systems for the Water Farms.  Partnership with this Kenya-based company has been beneficial in navigating all aspects of project management in Kenya.  The Young Women’s Christian Association of Kenya has partnered to conduct outreach and education around the Likoni Water Farm system.  This grows the impact of the system and engages girls and women in disseminating knowledge of its health benefits.  I intend to continue partnering with local groups to establish strong links to each host community.