Project Stats
Start Date
2012
Scale & Scope
2,000 Sites
Target Population
420,000 children
2016 Budget
$498,111
2017 Budget
$484,088
Estimated Completion
2020
Current Progress
12%
Strategic Exit
2023
India
Nowhere in the world is there more explosive urban growth than in India. In fact, the country is on track to add 530 million people to its cities between 2010 and 2050—the equivalent of adding every resident of the US and Russia to India's urban centers!
Population
1,339,000,000
Percent of World
17.7%
The urban density of Kolkata has exceeded more than 3 times that of New York City.
The Goal
Every Public School in Kolkata with safe water, clean hands and FUNctional toilets
Kolkata
Metro Population
14,112,536
Metro Pop. Density
63,000/sq mi
The question of where to focus within India was difficult. We considered many options. The most daunting of these options was Kolkata (Calcutta), and this is why we chose it. Splash wants to prove scale in the most difficult settings—rather than easier ones—to show that solutions are not only possible, but replicable. In Kolkata, water is widely available. But it is typically contaminated. This is where Splash works best: with high volume of unclean water in dense, urban settings. What is more, WASH (Water, Sanitation & Hygiene) in Schools programs are key to governmental success in education and vital to long-term health outcomes for children. Essential to Splash’s strategic focus in Kolkata is this: It is one of the few, large cities where success can catalyze replication in other large cities country wide. For all these reasons, we are centered in Kolkata; intent on proving scale in 2,000 schools serving 420,000 of the city's most impoverished kids; and eager to see this solution taken to national scale by others.
Strategy
The unrelenting vision of Splash in India is to secure clean water, at point-of-use, in 2,000 schools (500,000 kids) and 1,000 child-serving institutions- orphanages, hospitals, and shelters (250,000 kids). Thanks to great organizational learning through our work in Nepal, Splash has entered India with bold goals and having avoided significant operational and programmatic barriers we would have faced otherwise.
While Splash's core strengths lie in our water and hygiene work, our sanitation endeavours require partnering with outstanding local organizations who build at, and maintain our, quality standards.
Splash is starting in public schools across 143 wards. We believe this is the fastest and most internally consistent platform for rollout within the larger, poor communities. The relevant government offices overseeing education and orphan care, within Kolkata, have endorsed our broader vision and approach. This makes the conditions for success look promising—including the opportunity to reset the standards of quality expected for water nationally.
Partners
“We see this as a beginning of a long term partnership towards ensuring the basic rights of children in accessing safe drinking water, proper sanitation and better hygiene practices.
The Splash input will strengthen the efforts of the Sarva Shiksha Mission in providing clean drinking water, proper sanitation and a child friendly environment at schools as mandated through the Right to Education Act.”
Sr. Kartick Chandra Manna
Chairman
Sarva Shiksha Mission (SSM), Kolkata
did you know?
20% of schoolchildren in Kolkata live in slums.