Note: This competition entry is fictitious and is posted to provide an example only.

1. Descriptive name of the initiative: Pyaas: a low-cost water filtration system

2. Description of your products or services:
   This new program of the "Healthy Lives" NGO revolves around access to clean drinking water in rural India. Currently, 85% of all disease in India is water or soil transmitted, and 16 million people do not have access to an improved water source. Through low-cost water filtration systems, this program allows rural people the opportunity to lead healthier lives, empowers women and generates incomes locally. Current water filtration systems in India are expensive, require a power source, costly filters every three months, and waste twice as much water as they deliver. The existing systems are popular among the upper and middle classes, and in areas with running water, but this neglects a great deal of the Indian population. The Pyaas filtration system is an adaptation of the popular bottle top filters used by outdoor enthusiasts in the Western world.

3. Description of the operational model:
   The water filtration systems are produced in a centralized facility near Ootacamund. Production takes place under strict ISO 14001 guidelines, and the two stage copper-zinc/ carbon block filters have an industry standard 0.25 micron pore size, which eliminate chemical and biological pollutants. We maintain quality control with help from the ABC Company, a consumer product company, which designed our production facility, and periodically tests products for effectiveness. To ensure that the filters reach rural communities, we are distributing the filtration systems through the networks of our volunteers. Each of them has created a number of self help groups (SHGs) in their communities, promoting hygiene while encouraging savings. The most entrepreneurial women from the groups are chosen to be wholesalers and retailers, and earn a commission based upon the number of systems sold. The filters are marketed via the SHGs, as well as through radio programs and street plays. The distribution mechanism allows women in rural communities to earn to support their families, brings needed water purification technology to low income citizens, reducing illness and improving health, and helps to fund additional programs of "Healthy Lives."

4. Description of the financial model:
   We have begun this initiative through a grant from UNICEF. The system is purchased by low-income rural individuals in India. The price is determined by the SHG, which has the liberty to create a financing mechanism for clients if they choose, at their risk. Our organization is ensured a fixed price for each unit sold, the entrepreneur earns on a commission basis, and if the SHG prices and finances the products well, it may also earn for the group's projects. The initiative is still in the start-up stage, and is currently being funded via the grant, but we hope that it will generate funds for the other programs of our organization very soon. This initiative will be self-sustaining after 2,000 units are sold, and will bring in 15—25 % of our operational budget when it goes to scale.

5. Key operational partnerships:
   The production training was developed in conjunction with a university, which did not charge for their services. We have favorable relationships with materials suppliers, who give us wholesale prices, and have a relationship with the ABC Company for quality control, which is a part of their corporate social responsibility agenda. These relationships have helped make this project a fast success. It has been challenging to recruit enough SHGs to distribute this vital product, simply because we do not have the field staff at this moment to reach out to them. We are optimistic that this will change in the near future.

6. Current outreach:
   • The initiative is in the start-up stage, as the first purification systems were only complete in January
   • We currently serve 500 families in Karnataka.
   • Thus far, 70% of our clients fall below the poverty line.
   • 16 million people in India are unable to reach an improved water source, and millions more cannot afford to purify the source they do have access to. Problems of fatal childhood diarrhea are present all over India and in all other developing countries. Our systems could be used worldwide.

7. Scale-up strategy:
   Over the next few years, we will open more production facilities, in various Indian states. We intend to partner with other NGOs and tap into their networks for distribution, marketing and sales, but we will maintain production capabilities whenever we are able. We are willing to train others and replicate our process for NGOs around the world. The importance of clean, potable water has been reinforced by the Millennium Development Goals of the UN, and other NGOs can partner with local businesses for the start-up funding they will need. In 3 years, we hope at least 20,000 families will be benefiting from the water systems sold by SHGs in our network, and hundreds of thousands more worldwide.

8. The organization:
   The Healthy Lives mission is to promote increased quality of life through better lifestyle choices. Our numerous programs range from teaching children and adults about good hygiene practices, to promoting nutritious food choices, to running four clinics which reach out to people at high risk of sexually transmitted disease, and offer confidential testing and treatment. The Pyaas project will support our nutrition and hygiene initiatives, create jobs and income for the producers and distributors of the filtration systems, and alleviate some of our financial concerns. It began after many of our volunteers expressed frustration that while they recommended that all water be filtered or boiled before it was used, women were still unwilling to use their fuel for this purpose.

9. On the mosaic diagram:
   • Different needs of low income citizens
   • Leverage local assets.

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