#archgrp

Access to clean water is the most significant barrier to development. The Archimedes Project leverages technology, ideas and capacity to build lean, scalable water and sanitation enterprises worldwide.  1 billion people lack access to clean water. 2.5 billion lack access to sanitation. Every year, this shortfall in infrastructure causes millions of deaths, and billions of dollars in lost economic productivity.  Many organizations have attempted to solve this problem using heavy top-down approaches that ignore local capacity. We are building the next generation of water organizations. Organizations that are designed using the lessons learned and best practices from the efforts that preceded it.  We believe that leveraging existing water and sanitation technology, tested business models and local expertise, in combination with a relentless focus on scale, is the solution to water and sanitation for the world.  To that end, we collect the best technology and case studies of the most effective solutions. Using this information and a cadre of local partners, we incubate revenue generating social enterprises that will build large scale water or sanitation solutions for the bottom of the pyramid. As a co-founder, we connect that organization with partners and supporters and help then measure their impact.

This summer, we are launching Community Chlorinators in Haiti. Over the last four months, this enterprise has grown from an idea on paper to a reality that will be launched on the ground this summer. We have helped the entrepreneur design an evaluation program and get grants and fellowships including an invitation to be a commitment maker at Clinton Global Initiative University.