Access to clean water changed her life. Voss Foundation built the clean water project in her village in Tigray region, in partnership with Water.org and the Relief Society of Tigray (REST) in 2011.

Water so close to home, she can go to school.

Water so clean and healthy, she can pursue her dreams.

That’s Voss Foundation’s dream.  Will you share it?

Click here to view the embedded video.

(Video courtesy of Water.org.)

Share her story of joy!

Voss Foundation built the clean water project in her village in Tigray region, in partnership with Water.org and the Relief Society of Tigray (REST) in 2011.

Click here to view the embedded video.

(Video courtesy of Water.org.)

Voss Foundation built the clean water project in her village in Tigray region, in partnership with Water.org and the Relief Society of Tigray (REST) in 2011.

Click here to view the embedded video.

(Video courtesy of Water.org.)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Photo courtesy of Water.org

Voss Foundation began its partnership with Water.org in September 2011, funding the launch of a community-based, comprehensive program that brought clean drinking water, improved sanitation, and hygiene education to 2,278 people in the northern region of Tigray, Ethiopia in the past year. Of those served, more than 1,300 are women and children. Voss Foundation was one of several funders in the large-scale project that reached 100% of its targeted 5,695 beneficiaries with access to clean water. The project resulted in the construction of four hand dug wells, nine shallow borehole wells, and four spring catchment systems.

Photo courtesy of Water.org

Thanks to a thorough needs assessment and analysis of best practices, Voss Foundation enabled Water.org to expand and scale its work in Tigray. Water.org worked closely with local partner REST to empower communities to address their water and sanitation needs sustainably, engaging community leaders in rebuilding key infrastructure and replicating a successful household toilet model built with local materials, a project which they now hope to scale-up to increase access to proper sanitation facilities.

Read Water.org’s full completion report here. Click here to learn more about Voss Foundation’s work in Ethiopia. View more photos from Voss Foundation’s completed project with Water.org here.

See above and below great photos from our partner CHF International showing our wells in the Gode and Kelafo zones in Ethiopia!

Here is the completed well at Niri

The shallow wells’ construction is based on a design incorporating both hydrological engineering best practices and  local preferences. Each well has a one meter high wall around it apron to avoid outside contamination and protect against flooding. Each well also has two watering troughs for livestock. All of the wells are fitted with rope and washer pumps. Everything was constructed using hand held tools and locally-source materials.

Each well is monitored by a 12-person Water Management Committee, comprised of community members, half of which are women.

We are so happy to see the members of the Hadhawe, Niri, and Waylasidig communities enjoying facilitated access to clean drinking water!

*Photographs courtesy of CHF International

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

VOSS FOUNDATION HELPS CHF INTERNATIONAL PROVIDE CLEAN WATER IN RURAL ETHIOPIA

Donation Will Increase Access to Safe Water for More Than 100,000 People

Silver Spring, MD (June 3, 2010)— Continuing its long-term commitment to Ethiopia and its successful partnership with CHF International (CHF), the Voss Foundation has donated $25,000 to the Silver Spring-MD-based international development organization. With its first donation, the Voss Foundation joins CHF in diversifying livelihoods and increasing access to safe water for more than 100,000 rural Ethiopians by building three wells in rural communities.

“We help these communities to meet their needs through a unique approach which ensures local ownership and long-term sustainability through partnerships with trusted organizations on the ground, like CHF,” says Kara Gerson, Executive Director of Voss Foundation.  “It is critical to use appropriate technology that assesses the multiple water requirements of a community; in large pastoral communities in Ethiopia, this meant shallow wells with hand pumps for drinking water. Thanks to our Give A Drop partnership with Virgin Unite and Project Clean Water, and our Sammen for Vann Norwegian campaign, Voss Foundation is able to join CHF in changing lives with the provision of access to clean water.”  Funded by USAID, CHF began working in Ethiopia in 2004 to help mitigate the impact of extreme drought and floods on rural, agricultural communities and decrease their dependence on food aid. Activities have focused on improving food security by increasing household assets such as livestock, supporting livelihoods through access to economic opportunities, and improving health and hygiene through access to clean water and sanitation.

The work developed together by CHF and Ethiopian communities proved to be in line with Voss Foundation’s vision to provide access to clean drinking water to rural communities in Sub-Saharan Africa. Voss Foundation’s donation will allow CHF to expand its existing program to include three additional villages Gode, Mustahil, and Kelafo, all of which have large pastoral communities, by building three wells. The project is part of CHF’s USAID-funded Sustainable Humanitarian Assistance Program for Ethiopia (SHAPE) program in the Gode zone of the Somali Regional State.

Michel Holsten, CHF Vice President for Business Development, sees these corporate partnerships as vital to CHF’s work in the developing world. “Relationships such as the one we have built with the Voss Foundation are crucial to CHF’s work and guarantee the effectiveness of our programs in the region. The goal of the program is to help drought-affected communities meet their emergency needs for water, food and income while assisting them to build their resources and capacities to respond to future crisis.”

ABOUT CHF INTERNATIONAL:
CHF International (CHF) is an international development organization founded in1952 that works in post-conflict, unstable and developing countries.  CHF partners with communities around the world to help them to improve and direct their lives and livelihoods.  The organization believes that those best suited to decide what a community needs are the community itself.  CHF is a politically neutral, non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. For more information, visit www.chfinternational.org

ABOUT VOSS FOUNDATION:
Voss Foundation is dedicated to providing access to clean drinking water to rural communities in Sub-Saharan Africa.  We employ a unique approach that ensures local ownership and long-term sustainability through partnerships with trusted organizations on the ground, use of appropriate technology, and through systems that align environmental consideration with the diverse water needs of a community.  Founded by VOSS of Norway ASA as an independent 501(c)(3) public charity,  the Voss Foundation has offices in New York and Oslo, and is currently working on projects in Kenya, Mali, Ethiopia, and Democratic Republic of the Congo. For more information, visit www.thevossfoundation.org

Contact:

Danielle Duran Baron, 301.587.4700 x1821

dbaron@chfinternational.org

Tina McCormack, 301-585-5034 x116

tina@cfoxcommunications.com

*Photographs courtesy of CHF International