1001 FONTAINES POUR DEMAIN
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Mission Statement
At the time when one third of the world population does not have access to safe water, 1001fontaines brings a global and sustainable solution to deal with water crisis on a large scale. In Cambodia alone, 6.3 million people still lack access to a safe water source, and 60% of them are impoverished and live in rural areas. 1001fontaines was founded when Chay Lo, a young brilliant Cambodian engineer, met François Jaquenoud and Virginie Legrand, who had spent one year in Cambodia. Inspired by Louis Pasteur’s quote “we drink 90% of our diseases”, the three co-founders took on the challenge to improve the health of rural populations by bringing safe drinking water to areas where meeting the standard water access requirements defined by the World Health Organisation (WHO) is nearly impossible. 16 years after its creation, 1001fontaines has proven its impact on health, economic development, education and environment. Today, the initiative benefits over 850,000 customers in four countries: Cambodia, Madagascar, Vietnam and Myanmar.
About This Cause
1001fontaines believes the best solution to improve the health of vulnerable populations is to enable them to drink safe water. Transferring know-how is more sustainable than giving. Since 2004, 1001fontaines has developed a sustainable solution powered by philanthropy and social entrepreneurship to solve the water crisis at big scale: donations fund the launching of micro-social enterprises - called Water Kiosks - run by local entrepreneurs who produce and deliver safe drinking water to rural populations. Today, 255 Water Kiosks have been built in rural villages, enabling the creation of more than 1000 local jobs over four countries and the delivery of safe drinking water to 850,000 villagers, including 290,000 children. Our mission is to spread an entrepreneurial model enabling vulnerable populations in developing countries to produce safe drinking water, in an independent and sustainable manner. The project is based on four core principles: -An innovative technical solution: water from available local sources (rivers, ponds, wells) is treated using UV disinfection and solar energy technologies. Once treated the water is bottled in 20litre containers, which are sealed and delivered to beneficiaries’ homes, ensuring water quality up to the point of consumption, so that the water meets the strict quality standards recommended by the WHO. -A social entrepreneurship model: every station is managed by a villager, who is recruited and trained with the help of the local community, to turn him into an autonomous entrepreneur. We ensure the follow-up of micro-entrepreneurs on the long run through monthly coaching, including water quality control tests and maintenance services. -The economic sustainability of the model : by limiting transportation costs (distribution is limited to 5-8 km around the Water Kiosk), water can be sold at a low price (€0.02/liter) ensuring affordability for the most vulnerable local villagers. The revenues generated by water sales ensure the activity of the local entrepreneur as well as the sustainability of the model. -The "Water in School program" : launched in 2008, it aims at freely delivering safe water in the schools of the villages where we have implemented a Water Kiosk, to target children, who are the most vulnerable to water diseases. The program is fully subsidised to entrepreneurs, enabling them to deliver daily free water in primary schools, without threatening the sustainability and autonomy of their activity. Entrepreneurs enter the program when they reached breakeven, which is about 3 to 4 months after the Water kiosk launching. The Water In School program represents 20% of their turnover. In October 2019, 1001fontaines obtained the “Efficient Solution” label by the Solar Impulse Foundation, which rewards the 1,000 solutions that reconcile economic and environmental issues to change the world. As innovation is at the heart of our action, we are continuously looking to improve our project through capacity building initiatives: - The "Social Entrepreneur Academy", a dedicated training program, was developed with the support of Accenture in 2012: training is provided by the staff of Teuk Saat 1001, our local partner in Cambodia, through workshops and individual sessions on site to ensure that the program is adapted to each entrepreneur’s learning curve. After its optimization in Cambodia, the program was replicated in Madagascar in 2016, as well as Vietnam and Myanmar in 2019. - Innovative social marketing programs, supported by the Stone Family Foundation, are set up to ensure increased buy in from local populations: working through resellers, sharing best practices between entrepreneurs. - IT program, developed with Google, helped us develop a digital approach to help our entrepreneurs to follow sales activities.