First international SMART Centre Group meeting.
From 3 up to 6 May representatives from five countries (Malawi, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Zambia) met each other in Tanzania for the first international meeting. The meeting was facilitated by Meta Meta and Aqua for All. Every country has or is about to start a SMART Training Centre. In these centres entrepreneurs will be trained in production of water and sanitation solutions with the goal to stimulate the Self-supply market and make people independent from help from outside. This will help to reach Sustainable Development Goal nr. 6 (water and sanitation) in 2030.
For us (Rik and Dinie) this week was a confirmation that Self-supply works. We were back in the area where we have worked for SHIPO SMART Training Centre (2009-2012). We saw good examples of how the Self-supply approach developed. Since 2012 SHIPO did not implement any sponsored pumps and yet five commercial companies who produce pumps were established. In the video you can see examples of entrepreneurs for water and water for entrepreneurs (E4W &W4E).
