Bangladesh: addressing health and water quality issues

About 25 million people in Bangladesh do not have access to clean drinking water and 40% of the population is affected by health issues caused by dirty water while it is the first cause of death among children. The village of Goaldihi experiences a similar situation to the rest of the country with a stressed water situation and a population suffering from many illnesses such as diarrhea assumed to be linked to poor quality water consumption and even leading to some deaths.

Pre-study

Previous tests in the village revealed the presence of a coliform bacteria E-coli in the wells confirming that water is the rooting cause of the health issues that also increase significantly during the monsoon as mosquitos and other bacteria thrive in these conditions. With a lack of knowledge of the current water situation in the village, further information was required to be able to address the health and water quality issues in the best way for the population.

Between 2020-2023 EWB-SWE conducted a pre-study to find the main issues of water contamination and to find potential solutions for the problems in hand. After months of planning, water quality tests, surveys and more, the project team has now been able to point out the main issues to the water contamination and sanitation issues as well, and suggest solutions that are economically feasible to increase the quality of the drinking water.

Issues and solutions

One of the first causes to water contamination identified is animal waste runoffs as the terrain is flat and part of riverine is flood plains. Another cause is the proximity of the tube wells next to pit latrines. Our survey data also shows a very high-water table of 2.5 meters. This is disadvantageous as the minimum vertical distance between the bottom of latrine pits and the water table should be at least 2 meters.

Based on this analysis, the project team has evaluated and proposed two different solutions for safe drinking water (raised deep tube wells which can be powered by solar cells and ceramic filtration which is an old but effective to purify water), two solutions for safe sanitation (composting toilets and elevated pit latrines), together with a sludge management solution (biogas).

Next step

Based on the survey done by our local partner BRIF with the village as their preferred solution, we will implement the solution consisting of raised deep tube wells with solar cells to supply the village with safe drinking water in the comin months.

We are grateful to our supporters for their funding in this key phase of our project: Vatten och Miljökonsulterna AB, HVR Water purification AB as well as everyone that participated in Marcus Nilsson´s fundraising campaign. We  also extend a special thanks to all the volunteers donating their time and expertise toward this project.

Openhack - Coding for Humanity joins EWB-SWE´s venture

EWB-SWE is pleased to announce the takeover of openhack to further invest in and develop socially sustainable solutions with humanitarian benefits.

Founded in 2015 as a project under Engineers Without Borders Sweden to answer pressing societal and humanitarian challenges through open source development, openhack grew into a subsidiary in the following years. In line with our digitalization strategy, EWB-SWE is now fully taking over the social company and collaborative community with one purpose: continue to solve challenges related to the Global Goals and Agenda 2030 through innovation.

- There are many good ideas, a strong will for innovation and a great entrepreneurial spirit in Sweden that we must cultivate and create conditions for. This is an important investment in our digitization strategy to be able to influence around the world. It is essential that we work together for social impact and increase collaborations in order to reach the Global Goals and create a better and more sustainable world, says Caroline Edelstam, Secretary General of EWB-SWE.

15 events and 10,000 participants

openhack is Sweden's hackathon pioneer and has won the CIO Awards as Digital Inspirer of the Year. To date, it has organized 15 successful hackathons on a physical, digital and hybrid basis in the last years, bringing together over 10,000 participants taking over 60 different humanitarian and social impact-oriented challenges.

Among these events, Hack the Crisis Sweden organized in 2020 during the pandemic broke record numbers with 7,500 people participating in the event, 160 partner organizations joining and supporting the initiative, leading to 530 solutions to different societal challenges. Just Arrived, BrightAct and VoiceMed, among others, are some of the startups that were successfully launched from the ideas. 

Welcome on board openhack!

- This is the beginning of an important collaboration where we have the opportunity to influence in a larger, international context. With EWB-SWE’s national and international network and unique engineering expertise, we can broaden our operations. Openhack has a large potential and we get a greater opportunity to create humanitarian benefits through innovation and social impact together, says Lukas Scheffer Leander, co-founder and CEO of Openhack.

We look forward to taking the next step in bringing together organizations and tech-volunteers to meet and exchange ideas and knowledge to advance humanity.

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For more information on the venture, you can read our press release here (in Swedish) and reach out to Caroline Edelstam, caroline.edelstam@ewb-swe.org.

For more information on openhack, visit their website.

New Secretary General: Welcome Caroline Edelstam

We are very pleased to announce that Caroline is joining EWB-SWE from May 2nd and warmly welcome her to the team! 
Caroline joins us from Adréasson Public Relations in her role as Senior PR & Communications Consultant and has previous experience from the business world as well as from NGOs working with Human Rights and International Affairs as Secretary General at Amref Sweden, Director of Fundraising at Ersta Diakoni, and Co-founder and President of Edelstam Foundation.

“I’m delighted with this opportunity to become part of the important work of EWB-SWE, contributing to sustainable, global development with the organization’s great efforts in strengthening communities worldwide. I hope my previous experiences can contribute to the growth of the organization and I’m looking much forward to working with the Board, EWB-SWE’s management team and all our active volunteers throughout Sweden engaging in our projects”

- Caroline Edelstam

Run for a good cause!

Join Team EWB-SWE and take on Göteborgsvarvet to fundraise for safe health care in Tanzania!

As a registered runner of Göteborgsvarvet 2023, you can choose to run for a good cause and make a difference. We are calling all runners to support EWB-SWE and help fundraise to improve the quality of healthcare for thousands of families in Tanzania.

For safe health care

Access to a safe and adequate health care system makes a huge difference in people's lives.In Tanzania, EWB-SWE aims to support hospitals facing infrastructural challenges limiting them to provide safe health care. By implementing sustainable and effective technical solutions, we increase access to satisfactory healthcare and reduce mortality. 

Why run for EWB-SWE?

• For over 15 years, we've been driven by a single goal - build a sustainable future for communities around the world.

• Your fundraising means we can mobilize our engineering expertise to provide lasting solutions and engage in the long term - empowering communities today and ensuring their resilience tomorrow.

• No matter how much you raise, your fundraising will have an impact and help us engage where the needs are the greatest to engineer even more sustainable change.

On your marks …

Get set, launch your campaign and rally your family and friends to join you in your goal to raise funds for improved quality of healthcare in Tanzania!

Not ready to run yourself? Support our campaigners and make a donation - every step matters!