Problem Statement

Some communities at La Guajira, Colombia, lack of potable water. 

Waves For Water Guajira is a community-based initiative of the Barranquilla Hub that aims to provide clean water and basic sanitation to support communities around La Guajira, one of the regions with the highest levels of drought and hunger in Colombia. Given that one of the biggest social and environmental issues in Colombia is the lack of access to clean water, we decided to partner with Waves For Water, an international non-profit organization that works on the front line to provide access to clean water through the distribution of portable water filters, the excavation and renovation of wells and the construction of water collection and storage systems of rainwater in vulnerable communities.

Target group

Vulnerable communities in La Guajira.

Only 4% of the population has access to improved basic sanitation systems in rural areas of La Guajira. La Guajira has the lowest rainfall regimes in the Caribbean, making it one of the driest areas in the country. More than 18,000 children in corregimientos of La Guajira present problems of malnutrition due to the shortage of drinking water. Only 16.3% of the population in La Guajira has access to drinking water. 83.7% of rural communities are supplied from contaminated water sources. Around the world, 3 out of 10 people lack access to safe drinking water services, and 6 out of 10 lack access to sanitation facilities managed safely.

Proposed Solution

Vive Verde (http://globalshapersbarranquilla.org/vive-verde-2/) is a project which consists in delivering a portable filter easy to attach to any bucket with fresh water to be purified and ready for human consumption.

Hub Activities

1. Community visit to educate and empower young people and families to raise awareness about the importance of water and how they can have a more sustainable life

2. Delivery of the water filters

3. Teaching activity to promote the SDGs, with special emphasis on SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation within communities.

 4. Community integration to co-create a cultural exchange between communities and Global Shapers, learning from their amazing indigenous languages and cultural traditions.

Short term goals/results

To provide basic sanitation and clean water trough 100 portable water purification systems to families in communities that are lacking this important and vital resource. 

Long term change

To reduce health problems in children and the community in general. This project was a community-led project with local organizations that work directly with these communities to ensure a sustainable impact and measurable results.

Available metrics

 - 100 filters delivered

- 100 families impacted

- More than 400 people impacted

- 5 shapers involved in the planning and logistics of the project and all Shapers from the Barranquilla hub involved in the execution and events.  

Collaborators 

- Waves 4 Water organization

- Cerrejon

- Brasilia