The Jalabandhu Keep Water Flowing in India

Video and blog by Ned Breslin, Water For People CEO
Read Ned's blog at http://nedbreslin.tap.waterforpeople.org/blog-archives/the-jalabandhu-keep-wa....

The Jalabandhu are an initiative spearheaded by Water For People-India in response to challenges we saw from our monitoring program that suggested that routine maintenance and minor/major repairs of handpumps was not effective when managed by local water committees. The Jalabandhu are a private sector, mobile mechanic response to this programmatic weakness. I have seen the Jalabandhu get stronger each year since they were started in 2009. I think there are also additional challenges they face as they expand their networks and struggle with defaults amongst some communities.

That said, this is a wonderful story about a particularly effective Jalabandhu. Mr Jana historically made ~R2,200 per month but has started to really expand and improve his business. He has grown his customer base from ~50 water points to 165 and his income will rise considerably now as a result. He has increased the numbers of communities he serves by taking over the communities of a failed Jalabandhu mechanic and by winning contracts, as he described to me in South 24 Parganas, West Bengal, India this past week.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• India
• international development
• philanthropy
• Water