How we work
Our ultimate goal is to create a thriving water and sanitation economy that enables innovation, supports sustainability and promotes inclusion.
To achieve this, Aqua for All has a threefold approach:
- Fostering innovation and scalability of ideas, business solutions and small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Consequently, they become viable and eligible for funding.
- Using grants to attract public and private funds. Together, we identify innovative and the most appropiate facilities to finance viable innovations and SMEs.
- Bringing together key public and private stakeholders to create an enabling environment for scaling up innovations and attracting private capital.
How do we support innovation?
Aqua for All identified three levels of required action in the pathway to scale:
- Innovation: Supporting innovative ideas or concepts to transform into a solution that has reached the “proof-of-concept” stage. This requires a lot of testing to prove that the idea (or concept) works on a small scale. This level builds on the experience and best practices of the VIA Water programme – Phase 1.
- Scale: Supporting solutions or SMEs that are already at the proof-of-concept stage or beyond. This level requires the replication and adaptation of a solution to reach more people and/or new geographical settings and therefore increase impact. It also calls for identifying the key actors needed to create an enabling innovation ecosystem.
- Partnerships with funds: Using grant money to facilitate and de-risk investments in water and sanitation initiatives or SMEs.
At every level, we take a long-term, bottom-up approach and promote local entrepreneurship.