Akvo Foundation

Last updated
Akvo Foundation
FormationOctober 2, 2008;15 years ago (2008-10-02)
Type Nonprofit organisation
Headquarters Amsterdam, Netherlands
Key people
Jeroen van der Sommen, Thomas Bjelkeman-Pettersson, Peter van der Linde, Kathelyne van der Berg
Revenue (2015)
€5.4 million [1]
Staff
95
Website https://akvo.org/

Akvo Foundation is a non-profit focused on internet and software development foundation, headquartered in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The foundation primarily builds and operates data collection and visualization systems to be used in international development and aid activities. The company started as a project under the Netherlands Water Partnership in 2006. [2]

Contents

Akvo operates from eleven offices worldwide, including hub offices in Stockholm, London, Washington, DC, Nairobi, and New Delhi. As of 2017, Akvo operates in 93 countries and works with more than 1,800 organizations around the world (NGOs, national governments and multilateral aid organizations)

Akvo's tools are used to report, publish, monitor and evaluate works. [3] Much of the foundation's work is concentrated within the water and sanitation sector. However, since 2010 it has widened its focus to areas such as health, education, technology, agriculture, and economic development. [4]

History

Thomas Bjelkeman-Pettersson and Jeroen van der Sommen met at the Stockholm World Water Week in 2006. At this time, recognizing the challenges in achieving the Millennium Development Goals, they saw a need for new ideas. This led to the concept of using open-source software and open data in the development sector. [5] Consequently, in 2008, the Akvo Foundation was formed by the Netherlands Water Partnership and several other co founders, including Bjelkeman-Pettersson and van der Sommen as well as Mark Nitzberg, Mark Charmer, Gabriel von Heijne, and Peter van der Linde. The Foundation was co-directed by Thomas and Peter. [6]

Early timeline

September 2006 - Seed funding is provided by the Netherlands Water Partnership (NWP). The partner organizations that participate in brainstorming about what Akvo should become are UNESCO-IHE, IRC International Resource Centre for Water and Sanitation (IRC) and the Movement Design Bureau.

April 2007 – Partners for Water and NWP provide the first batch of funding.

August 2007 – Akvopedia is shown for the first time at World Water Week.

In 2015, Akvo was named as the winner of the Water and Sanitation Award. The award was in recognition of Akvo's innovation within the water and sanitation sector in Latin America. [7] Also, in November 2015, Akvo was awarded the Dutch Water Innovation Prize. Akvo won the award for the development of a irrigation inlet sensor that measures the salinity of surface water. [8]

Projects and Partnerships

Akvopedia expands into Wikiversity: In 2015, Akvopedia begun loading content into Wikiversity. [9] Akvopedia has served as source content for the Wikiversity portal and the Rainwater harvesting portal.

Monitoring water points during drought in Ethiopia: In 2016, Akvo worked with UNICEF to collect data during the drought in over 50 years in Ethiopia. Akvo recorded over 80,000 survey responses which were used to help direct emergency resources to the relevant areas. [3]

Supporting Government disaster planning and response systems: Since 2014, Akvo has worked in Fiji, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands to introduce locally run mobile-based data and asset management tools to improve the quality and availability of data for disaster-related decision-making. For this work Akvo won the innovationXchange award. [10] In 2016, Akvo Flow was used in Fiji to collect data on the damage caused by Cyclone Winston. [11]

Products and services

Akvo designs and builds Software as a Service software and offers services that complement them, such as training and consulting. All Akvo's software is released as open-source software. [12] Akvo's tools are designed to work together at each stage of the monitoring cycle and therefore have three main purposes: first, capture and collect data; second, understand this data and turn it into decisions; and third, share this data. [13] Organ that use Akvo services include UNDP, [14] UNICEF [15] and a number of other NGOs and governments.

Akvo Flow (Field Level Operation Watch) allows field surveys to be managed and carried out using mobile phones. It can be used to collect, manage, analyze, and display geographically-referenced monitoring and evaluation data. [16] Flow was originally developed by Water for People. [17] In 2012 Water for People partnered with Akvo to allow for wider use of the system and Akvo took over the development of Flow. [18] Initially Flow was used primarily in water and sanitation projects, [19] but has more recently been used in a variety of fields, including fisheries management, [20] school management [21] and disaster relief. [22] Since 2010, 3.990.763 data points have been captured with Flow. [23]

Akvo RSR (Really Simple Reporting) was launched in September 2008 [24] and was the first product Akvo developed; it is a content management and reporting system for international development projects. There are now over 4000 projects on the platform, with a combined value of over €150 billion. [25]

Akvopedia was created in 2007 and was the first project that Akvo worked on. It is a Web-based, free content, water and sanitation knowledge resource. Akvopedia is written collaboratively by volunteers and specialists, mainly from the water and sanitation sector but anyone can edit and contribute. It is organised within five portals – Water, Sanitation, Finance, Sustainability and Decision & assessment tools. Recently some of this content has been transferred to Wikiversity in the Rainwater Harvesting portal. [26]

Akvo Sites is a WordPress based system for easy creation and maintenance of websites. [27]

Akvo Caddisfly is a water quality and soil quality testing system based on smartphones. Akvo Caddisfly was invented by Ternup Research Labs to detect the precedes of fluoride in drinking water. [28] Ternup joined forces with Akvo in early 2014. [29] The Caddisfly system has been extended to work with strip tests and phone-connected sensors as well as the original colorimetric tests. [30]

Akvo Lumen is a data visualisation platform and is Akvo's latest product. It is developed in the Clojure programming language. [31]

Reception

National Geographic Society reported from World Water Week in Stockholm about the WaterCube: "Man-on-the-street journalism meets wonky water week. Frenetic water cube workers ushered a steady stream of conference attendees into their fishbowl lounge for quick Flip camera interviews. The close-ups may not be flattering, but it is interesting to hear the stream of consciousness that pours from the mouths of the unprepared and unedited. From high-profile corporate and academic leadership to those implementing projects on the ground around the world, the resulting online mosaic of more than 200 interviews collected over the last two years seems to present a near-complete view of the issues covered over six days of workshops, plenary sessions, and panels." [32]

It was described by Giulio Quaggiotto of the World Bank as "Real-time, paper-free, straight from the trenches reporting. If RSR takes off, it could be the killer application of Development 2.0". [33] Also, Bruce Sterling said "It's an open-source sanitation project, and if that isn't weird enough, they've got a Bollywood-parody promotional angle." [34]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sanitation</span> Public health conditions related to clean water and proper excreta and sewage disposal

Sanitation refers to public health conditions related to clean drinking water and treatment and disposal of human excreta and sewage. Preventing human contact with feces is part of sanitation, as is hand washing with soap. Sanitation systems aim to protect human health by providing a clean environment that will stop the transmission of disease, especially through the fecal–oral route. For example, diarrhea, a main cause of malnutrition and stunted growth in children, can be reduced through adequate sanitation. There are many other diseases which are easily transmitted in communities that have low levels of sanitation, such as ascariasis, cholera, hepatitis, polio, schistosomiasis, and trachoma, to name just a few.

Costa Rica has made significant progress in the past decade in expanding access to water supply and sanitation, but the sector faces key challenges in low sanitation connections, poor service quality, and low cost recovery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Water supply and sanitation in Ethiopia</span>

Access to water supply and sanitation in Ethiopia is amongst the lowest in Sub-Saharan Africa and the entire world. While access has increased substantially with funding from foreign aid, much still remains to be done. Some factors inhibiting the achievement of these goals are the limited capacity of water bureaus in the country's nine regions, two city administrations and water desks in the 770 districts of Ethiopia (woredas); insufficient cost recovery for proper operation and maintenance; and different policies and procedures used by various donors, notwithstanding the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Improved water source</span> Water source that is protected from outside contamination

An improved water source is a term used to categorize certain types or levels of water supply for monitoring purposes. It is defined as a type of water source that, by nature of its construction or through active intervention, is likely to be protected from outside contamination, in particular from contamination with fecal matter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Improved sanitation</span> Term used to categorize types or levels of sanitation for monitoring purposes

Improved sanitation is a term used to categorize types of sanitation for monitoring purposes. It refers to the management of human feces at the household level. The term was coined by the Joint Monitoring Program (JMP) for Water Supply and Sanitation of UNICEF and WHO in 2002 to help monitor the progress towards Goal Number 7 of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The opposite of "improved sanitation" has been termed "unimproved sanitation" in the JMP definitions. The same terms are used to monitor progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 6 from 2015 onwards. Here, they are a component of the definition for "safely managed sanitation service".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Water supply and sanitation in Ghana</span> Overview of water supply and sanitation in Ghana

The water supply and sanitation sector in Ghana is a sector that is in charge of the supply of healthy water and also improves the sanitation of water bodies in the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Water supply and sanitation in Bangladesh</span>

Bangladesh is faced with multiple water quality and quantity problems along with regular natural disasters, such as cyclones and floods. Available options for providing safe drinking water include tubewells, traditionally dug wells, treatment of surface water, desalination of groundwater with high salinity levels and rainwater harvesting.

Drinking water supply and sanitation in Pakistan is characterized by some achievements and many challenges. In 2020, 68% Pakistanis, 72% Indians, 54% Bangladeshi had access to the basic sanitation facilities. Despite high population growth the country has increased the share of the population with access to an improved water source from 85% in 1990 to 92% in 2010, although this does not necessarily mean that the water from these sources is safe to drink. The share with access to improved sanitation increased from 27% to 38% during the same period, according to the Joint Monitoring Program for Water Supply and Sanitation. There has also been considerable innovation at the grass-root level, in particular concerning sanitation. The Orangi Pilot Project in Karachi and community-led total sanitation in rural areas are two examples of such innovation.

The Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for Water Supply and Sanitation by WHO and UNICEF is the official United Nations mechanism tasked with monitoring progress towards the Sustainable Development Goal Number 6 since 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Water For People</span> American non-profit aid organization

Water For People was founded in 1991 by the American Water Works Association (AWWA) as a response to the increasing water scarcity in developing countries. It is a nonprofit international development organization that helps people in rural parts of developing countries achieve greater access to drinkable and potable water and sanitation facilities. It works to accomplish the United Nations' 6th Sustainable Development Goal: availability of clean water and sanitation and comprehensive monitoring of freshwater facilities for the progression of human health. They seek to address the issue of nonexistent and suboptimal water and sanitation facilities across less-developed countries. With developing locally sustainable drinking water resources and sanitation facilities, Water For People also works to bring health and hygiene education programs to local districts. The non-governmental organization also works to empower and involve local governments, corporations, schools, homes, and individuals in the construction, financing, and maintenance of the water infrastructure. Water For People has established a year-round presence in 30 districts of nine developing countries, including Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Peru, India, Rwanda, Uganda and Malawi. In totality, Water For People reaches 4 million people.

Water resources management in Belize is carried out by the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) in most cases. One of the primary challenges the country is facing with regard to water resources management, however, is the lack of coordinated and comprehensive policies and institutions. Furthermore, there are various areas of water management that are not well addressed at all such as groundwater data and provision of supply. Data on irrigation and drainage is not adequately available either. Demand on water resources is growing as the population increases, new economic opportunities are created, and the agriculture sector expands. This increased demand is placing new threats on the quality and quantity of freshwater resources. Other constant challenge for management entities are the constant threat of floods from tropical storms and hurricanes. The Belize National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO) is charged with flood management as they occur but it is unclear what institution has responsibility for stormwater infrastructures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Water supply and sanitation in Kenya</span>

Water supply and sanitation in Kenya is characterised by low levels of access to water and sanitation, in particular in urban slums and in rural areas, as well as poor service quality in the form of intermittent water supply. Seasonal and regional water scarcity in Kenya exacerbates the difficulty to improve water supply.

Water supply and sanitation in Lebanon is characterized by a number of achievements and challenges. The achievements include the reconstruction of infrastructure after the 1975–90 Civil War and the 2006 war with Israel, as well as the reform of the water and sanitation sector through a water law passed in 2000. The law created four Regional Water Establishments to consolidate numerous smaller utilities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WASH</span> Water, sanitation and hygiene services

WASH is a sector in development cooperation or within local governments that provides water, sanitation, and hygiene services to people. The main purposes of providing access to WASH services include achieving public health gains, implementing the human right to water and sanitation, reducing the burden of collecting drinking water for women, and improving education and health outcomes at schools and health facilities. Access to WASH services is also an important component of water security. Universal, affordable, and sustainable access to WASH is a key issue within international development and is the focus of the first two targets of Sustainable Development Goal 6. Targets 6.1 and 6.2 aim for equitable and accessible water and sanitation for all. In 2017, it was estimated that 2.3 billion people live without basic sanitation facilities, and 844 million people live without access to safe and clean drinking water. The acronym WASH is used widely by non-governmental organizations and aid agencies in developing countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Water resource policy</span>

Water resource policy, sometimes called water resource management or water management, encompasses the policy-making processes and legislation that affect the collection, preparation, use, disposal, and protection of water resources. The long-term viability of water supply systems poses a significant challenge as a result of water resource depletion, climate change, and population expansion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sustainable Development Goals</span> United Nations goals for people for 2030

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations members in 2015, created 17 world Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). They were created with the aim of "peace and prosperity for people and the planet..." – while tackling climate change and working to preserve oceans and forests. The SDGs highlight the connections between the environmental, social and economic aspects of sustainable development. Sustainability is at the center of the SDGs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Open defecation</span> Humans defecating outside (in the open environment) rather than into a toilet

Open defecation is the human practice of defecating outside rather than into a toilet. People may choose fields, bushes, forests, ditches, streets, canals, or other open spaces for defecation. They do so either because they do not have a toilet readily accessible or due to archaic traditional cultural practices. The practice is common where sanitation infrastructure and services are not available. Even if toilets are available, behavior change efforts may still be needed to promote the use of toilets. 'Open defecation free' (ODF) is a term used to describe communities that have shifted to using toilets instead of open defecation. This can happen, for example, after community-led total sanitation programs have been implemented.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Water crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo</span> Water crisis

Although the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has Africa's largest freshwater resources, it is suffering from an acute drinking water supply crisis. The DRC has one of the lowest rates of access to clean drinking water in Sub-Saharan Africa and the world. Only 46 percent of the population had access to an improved drinking water source in 2012. Furthermore, the sanitation coverage was estimated at only 31 percent in 2012. Up to date and accurate information on water supply and sanitation services in the DRC is scarce. As a result of inadequate water supply and sanitation services, many inhabitants are suffering from waterborne diseases, including diarrhoea, typhoid, and cholera.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sustainable Development Goal 6</span> Global goal to achieve clean water and sanitation for all people by 2030

Sustainable Development Goal 6 declares the importance of achieving "clean water and sanitation for all". It is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations General Assembly to succeed the former Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). According to the United Nations, the overall goal is to: "Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all." The goal has eight targets to be achieved by 2030 covering the main areas of water supply and sanitation and sustainable water resource management. Progress toward the targets will be measured by using eleven indicators.

References

  1. ↑ "Annual reports". Akvo Foundation. Archived from the original on 14 February 2017. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  2. ↑ dutchwatersector.com. "Because big challenges need joint solutions". Dutch Water Sector. Retrieved 2017-05-05.[ permanent dead link ]
  3. 1 2 [ dead link ]
  4. ↑ Akvo Foundation (1981-11-19). "Akvo Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)". Akvo.org. Archived from the original on 2017-05-06. Retrieved 2017-05-05.
  5. ↑ "Because big challenges need joint solutions". Dutch Water Sector. Retrieved 2017-05-05.[ permanent dead link ]
  6. ↑ "Thomas Bjelkeman-Pettersson - Vrij Nederland". Vn.nl. 2007-10-27. Retrieved 2017-05-05.
  7. ↑ "El BID y Fundación FEMSA premian la innovación en agua y saneamiento | IADB".
  8. ↑ "Waterinnovatieprijs 2015 uitgereikt -". Archived from the original on 2017-03-24. Retrieved 2017-05-30.
  9. ↑ "SuSanA Forum". Forum.susana.org. 17 September 2015. Retrieved 2017-05-05.
  10. ↑ "Innovators - InnovationXchange". Pacifichumanitarianchallenge.org. 2014-06-20. Retrieved 2017-05-05.
  11. ↑ "Cyclone Winston : Fiji : UNICEF Report" (PDF). Unicef.org. Retrieved 2017-05-05.
  12. ↑ "Akvo Foundation on GitHub". GitHub . Retrieved 2017-05-10.
  13. ↑ "» Smart Solutions for Water and Climate". Afrialliance.org. 2017-03-24. Retrieved 2017-05-05.[ permanent dead link ]
  14. ↑ "Training the trainers with our DIY survey app. What happens next? | UNDP in Indonesia". Id.undp.org. Retrieved 2017-05-05.
  15. ↑ "UNICEF Pacific Island Countries - Latest stories - UNICEF Pacific works with Ministry of Health & Medical Services, towards increasing capacity for monitoring of WASH activities". Unicef.org. 2015-01-27. Retrieved 2017-05-05.
  16. ↑ "Akvo FLOW: SMART technology for SMART Development | SNV World". Snv.org. Retrieved 2017-05-05.
  17. ↑ Banks, Ken (2012-01-24). "The Cellphone that Keeps the Water, and Data, Flowing – National Geographic Society (blogs)". Voices.nationalgeographic.com. Archived from the original on November 4, 2014. Retrieved 2017-05-05.
  18. ↑ "Akvo and Water For People sign FLOW agreement". Akvo.org. 6 March 2012. Retrieved 2017-05-05.
  19. ↑ Knight, Matthew (2012-03-23). "Going with the 'FLOW' towards better sanitation - CNN.com". Edition.cnn.com. Retrieved 2017-05-05.
  20. ↑ "Living in Indonesia's marine protected areas - in pictures | Environment". The Guardian . Retrieved 2017-05-05.
  21. ↑ "Pacific Island Countries: Champions for healthy schools". Unicefpacific.blogspot.se. 2015-09-01. Retrieved 2017-05-05.
  22. ↑ "BBC World Service - Click, Rebuilding Vanuatu with Smartphones". Bbc.co.uk. 2015-05-06. Retrieved 2017-05-05.
  23. ↑ "See it happen". Akvo.org. 1981-11-19. Retrieved 2017-05-05.
  24. ↑ "Donor programmes: Sponsors can now view benefits online". Financial Times. 28 May 2009. Retrieved 2017-05-05.
  25. ↑ "Akvo RSR: Supporting use of Open Data | International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI)". Aidtransparency.net. 2015-09-22. Retrieved 2017-05-05.
  26. ↑ "Rainwater harvesting - Wikiversity". En.wikiversity.org. Retrieved 2017-05-05.
  27. ↑ Akvo Foundation (1981-11-19). "Akvo Sites". Akvo.org. Retrieved 2017-05-05.
  28. ↑ Levin, Saurabh (2016). "Monitoring of fluoride in water samples using a smartphone". Science of the Total Environment. 551–552: 101–107. Bibcode:2016ScTEn.551..101L. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.01.156 . PMID   26874766.
  29. ↑ "Partnering with Akvo | Caddisfly". Caddisfly.ternup.com. 2015-01-05. Archived from the original on 2017-03-21. Retrieved 2017-05-05.
  30. ↑ "Akvo Caddisfly". Akvo.org. 1981-11-19. Archived from the original on 2017-04-29. Retrieved 2017-05-05.
  31. ↑ "JUXT Blog: Clojure in Europe: Akvo". Juxt.pro. 2016-05-23. Retrieved 2017-05-05.
  32. ↑ Maxwell, David (2010-09-09). "World Water Week: Best in Design – National Geographic Society (blogs)". Voices.nationalgeographic.com. Retrieved 2017-05-05.[ dead link ]
  33. ↑ "Forget RSS: is Real Simple Reporting the killer Development 2.0 application? | Private Sector Development". Blogs.worldbank.org. Retrieved 2017-05-05.
  34. ↑ TV (2008-06-25). "Akvo's Bollywood Angle". WIRED. Retrieved 2017-05-05.
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