We aim to reduce exposure to water-borne disease through safe drinking water. Safe drinking water is critical to preventing diarrhea and malnutrition which are particularly harmful to children.

The Dispensers for Safe Water Program, a flagship initiative of Evidence Action, works closely with local authorities and trained staff to manufacture, install, and maintain chlorine dispensers in rural districts of Kenya, Malawi, and Uganda. In each community, a local promoter is selected to take care of the dispenser, educate families on its use, and monitor usage. More than 4.65 million people now have access to chlorine dispensers in their communities, with over 27,000 dispensers installed to date across Kenya, Malawi, and Uganda. Preliminary estimates suggest that, at scale, the full cost of the chlorine dispensers system could be as low as $0.50 per person per year, which is much cheaper than home delivery (or retail sale) of individual chlorine bottles. This cost includes both hardware and the recurring costs of chlorine refills, dispenser management, and maintenance, making the dispenser highly cost-effective.

Dispensers for Safe Water is based on a series of randomized evaluations by Harvard and UC Berkeley researchers who tested chlorine dispensers in Kenya against a variety of other options. They found: 1) chlorine dispensers had a much higher usage rate and 2) use remained high over time. Several systematic reviews similarly demonstrate the effectiveness of point-of-use water quality interventions. 3ie conducted a review of 65 rigorous impact evaluations of WASH interventions on diarrhea morbidity, covering 71 interventions in 35 developing countries over 3 decades. It concludes that point-of-use interventions appear to be highly effective – and more effective than water supply or source treatment. The adoption rate is an important measure of success to help understand the number of people who are actively using the installed chlorine dispensers. Adoption rates have consistently been above 50%, attesting to the continued success.

Our strategy for expansion involves fostering partnerships with corporates, users and governments, developing our technical assistance model and increasing our policy capacity. Next steps also include reducing costs and bringing in more revenues and to develop our partnership strategy. And consider all options, from a franchise model to consulting, whereby we would transfer our knowledge and expertise to implementing partners, while maintaining the rigor of the approach through licensing etc.