Tell us about the community that you engage? eg. economic conditions, political structures, norms and values, demographic trends, history, and experience with engagement efforts.
In rural Cambodia, water and sanitation coverage is very low. Approximately 6.5 million people – nearly half of the population – do not have access to potable water. Groundwater sources are known to contain high levels of arsenic and magnesium, and surface water sources tend to be of very poor quality.
Lack of sanitation infrastructure, coupled with poor sanitation practices, contributes to the contamination of drinking water sources and act as a major source of disease transmission. Only 23% of rural Cambodians have access to improved sanitation. The World Bank’s Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) found that poor sanitation in Cambodia was responsible for roughly 9.4 million cases of diarrheal disease in 2005 and that economic losses of USD$450 million, or 7.2 percent of GDP.
To date, efforts to improve the water, sanitation and hygiene conditions have had limited success. NGO water, sanitation, and hygiene (WSH) projects have tended to provide subsidized hardware, such as free latrines and community water systems. This approach has often resulted in a lack of maintenance and eventual failure of the hardware provided, preference to wait for subsidized products, and elite capture of benefits. The ‘Hands-Off" approach avoids these pitfalls by empowering the consumer rather than treating him/her as a beneficiary.
Early assessments reveal that demand for WSH products exists but is constrained by preferences for expensive, high-end designs, and by the limited capacity of local supply chains to provide attractive, affordable options. To this end, WaterSHED seeks to strengthen local supply chains and to use proven, market-based principles to promote a range of attractive low-cost WSH technologies for consumers to choose based on their income level and need.
Share the story of the founder and what inspired the founder to start this project
Mr. AUN Hengly is the Executive Director of WaterSHED-Cambodia and the driving force behind WaterSHED’s ‘Hands-Off’ sanitation marketing project. He grew up in Cambodia in the immediate post-Khmer Rouge era in which education, security, health, and other services were very low. However, from a young entrepreneurial start, Hengly realized that many Cambodians like him could achieve significant results in line with the development of their country based on their resourcefulness, tenacity, and dedication to the continual improvement of their well-being.
Hengly brings to the project a strong emphasis on creating a viable business environment for WSH products and services. Hengly believes that consumers at all levels make investment decisions according to their circumstances and that improving access to sanitation relies on understanding the existing barriers and the motivators for prioritizing household purchases.
Hengly has over 5 years of experience in the Water and Sanitation sector in Cambodia. Graduating in Computer Science Engineering in 2006, Hengly found an opportunity leading an innovative local organization working on rainwater harvesting. Hengly soon realized that his strengths lay in entrepreneurial development. He embarked on an MBA program and through this has been able to bring his business acumen to what has been up until now an aid-based sector.
Hengly has been featured in a documentary to be released later this year focusing on young entrepreneurs in Cambodia. He has also been interviewed on Cambodia Television Network and Radio Free Asia.