FairWater FoundationThe idea of FairWater and the BluePump started in 2003 in Kenya when Paul van Beers was the managing director of the Rural Water Development Project (RWD) in Kisii. The RWD project was one of the largest and most successful water projects in Kenya at that time and provided over 1.500 water points (dug wells, boreholes, rainwater harvesting systems and spring protections) and about 16.000 sanitation slabs in a period of about 15 years. Although RWD was a succesful project at the time, sustainability was an upcoming problem. This became painfully clear when a similar large rural water project that installed 1.000 handpumps in Western Kenya was evaluated and it was found that most of these handpumps were not functioning anymore. There was already growing international concern about the accountability and effectiveness of Development Aid and the issue of more cost-effective and sustainable development aid was put on the international agenda. Unfortunately, especially water projects could not deliver and were urged to perform better to avoid that more funding is wasted. However, it became clear that this was easier said than done. The public started to be aware that "Development Aid" was becoming a flourishing and profitable activity for a select group of people and that the original idea of "sustainable development" to create better conditions for the poor was getting lost. The result is that today, most water projects are more "charity" oriented with a short term focus. The key question is therefore, "how long can this go on and what to do about this? FairWater has the alternative. FairWater promotes effective solutions To stop the wasting of funds, FairWater developed several simple but effective alternative solutions & products for the WatSan sector (Water & Sanitation), especially for rural areas. The BluePump, a very reliable low-maintenance handpump and more cost-effective compared with the handpumps that water projects have been using so far. The BluePumps has a higher water output, pumps lighter, which is important for children, has no need for spare parts to function and can pump water from depths up to 100m. Low-cost water filters for households, schools and rural hospitals; such as the Kisii bucket filter for households, the improved BioSand filter and the condominium water filter. FairWater is a registered foundation (NL-34316771) based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Published in FairWater Foundation |
Süreyya Gök
Süreyya Gök is the Co-Founder and Director of FairWater. Apart from her professional career as the senior Financial Specialist of the European Branch of an international company in Amsterdam, she has a passion for social work. Since 2006 she is also a municipal councillor for the Social Democratic Party (PvdA), first in the city Almere and presently in Amsterdam in The Netherlands, with a special focus on how to contribute to better conditions for children and elderly people. Sureyya has been also active in the Multi Ethnical Network for Women (MEV) to empower women with ethnical background.Sureyya pairs a Turkish cultural background with an international orientation in a Dutch setting and she utilizes her keen observational skills and passion for people to write short stories in English, Dutch and Turkish about social issues and lifestyle experiences.
Paul van Beers
Paul van Beers, the initiator of FairWater is the program manager of the FairWater Trust Fund Projects, he holds a M.Sc. in Environmental Hydrology & Hydrogeology and has a vast international background and professional contacts based on 30 years of research and project management in Rural & Peri-Urban Water Supply, Hydrology and Environmental projects in Burkina Faso, Mauretania, Mozambique, Kenya, Angola, Benin, Chad, Niger, Mali, Senegal, Gambia, Ghana, Cameroon, South Africa, Namibia, Ethiopia, Malawi, Swaziland, Zambia, Tanzania, Brazil and Oman. After completing his studies in Geographical Hydrology, Remote Sensing and Geophysics, he started his professional career in Portugal (Hydro-geological studies in coastal aquifers 1980 - 1984). In 1985 he moved to Africa, Burkina Faso & Mauretania, mainly working in Rural Water Supply, and part-time bush pilot and flying instructor. To keep in touch with the new developments in The Netherlands, he returned in 1994 to work as project manager in environmental projects. In 1996 he signed up as Country Director Mozambique for the Dutch NGO SaWa. To see and learn more of the water projects in other African countries, he worked from 1998 to 2001 as individual consultant all over Africa until he was asked to lead the RWD program, one of the largest rural water projects in Kisii, western Kenya. His last long term assignment was in Angola, as WatSan Advisor to the Government up to 2006. Since 2007 he has been fully committed to develop the BluePump concept and to start with the FairWater Foundation with his partner Sureyya Gok, in order to improve the sustainability of handpump water projects in Africa. He is a member of the Dutch NEDWORC ''Consultants for Development Foundation'' and also a founding board member of Global Rainwater Harvesting Collective and has worked for Universities, Consultancy firms, The World Bank and National and International NGOs. |
