Sustainability:

BT’s central tenet is that if we start work in a project area, then we are there for the long haul, decades in some places. This, combined with our strategy of working in clusters, ensures that a critical mass of water sources can be built up to provide comprehensive coverage. It also allows us to ensure high levels of water source functionality. The greatest testament to this approach is that our very first source, constructed in 1984, is still pumping safe water 27 years later. One of our strategic aims is to achieve 100% functionality for our sources, rehabilitating any that have stopped working. Anything less is a disservice to the communities who put their faith in us.

Cost effective & transparent:

We are a service provider. We are not a middle man between the donor and the work. We do the work. As such we can guarantee that your donations actually go straight to implementing work on the ground. We have overheads, as every organisation does and these are included in our pricing strategy. However, they are minimal; our office is free of charge, our skeleton UK staff work very hard on comparatively low wages and even this website is designed to be cost effective to maintain. You can see all our accounts and expenditure on the Charity Commission website (and compare us to others).

Integration of Water, Sanitation & Hygiene:

We have always informally combined WASH in our programmes. However, over the last 6 years, on the initiative of the local programme staff we have evolved to a point where we now carry out a CLTS programme in every village and a HIC in 1 village in every cluster of 5. HICs have reaped dramatic results, including increased levels of sanitation, over time, from 27% to 94%. We never construct a village water source until the sanitation coverage reaches as close to 100% as possible.

Community Participation: 

Communities decide through group consensus where to locate their water source, elect their own Water Users Committee and are required to contribute in-kind and financially towards the cost of any projects and its ongoing maintenance. This ensures that they feel a sense of ownership toward the pump or latrines and, through the elected and trained Water Users Committee, are more likely to maintain it.