2018 .eu Web Awards Gala

On 21^st November 2018, EURid for the 5^th year running, held their .eu Web Awards which attracted 5 categories namely –

• The Laurels – won by Fetfx.eu
• The Leaders – won by Sorbum.eu
• Rising Star – won by Naturalself.eu
• Better World – won by Stardustproject.eu
• House of .eu – won by Socialeurope.eu

with a couple of Special Commendations to Macty.eu and Dodoni.eu.

The 2018 .eu Web Awards competition recorded over 200 nominations with close to 10 000 votes during the nomination and voting period. The winners were announced at the 2018 gala, which took place in Brussels, Belgium at the Theatre du Vaudeville on 21 November 2018. The gala also hosted spectacular performances from the London based band, Blue, in addition to Hungarian pianist and composer, Balázs Havasi.

Co2balance that presented the award for Better World was represented by Grace Ayoo (Project Development Coordinator), Lucas Emmerson (Programme Manager) and James Walker (Carbon Projects Officer).

EURid through its Going Green programme supports borehole rehabilitation projects in Uganda with a focus on the Districts of Dokolo, Otuke and Alebtong .Through co2balance, their goal in the Ugandan Borehole project is to support Ugandan communities to repair and maintain broken boreholes in order to restore access to clean, safe drinking water.

On behalf of everyone at co2balance, a big thank you to the EURid team and congratulations to the incredible winners in the 5 different categories.

The Web Awards Gala in pictures

 

Kenya Boreholes Project: Local Stakeholder Consultation

At the end of October, I travelled to Kenya to host a local stakeholder meeting for new borehole projects located on the coast in Kilifi County.

The coastal county is largely rural and is frequented by tourists during the dry seasons for its white sandy beaches stretching 265km along the Kenyan coastline. Its main economic activities are tourism and fishing, however, I was there for a different reason which was to address the lack of safe water sources for the local residents.

I visited Kilifi County once before in April 2018 and found that nearly every community borehole had been chained up by the county government due to the borehole either being broken or producing unsafe water for consumption. The boreholes had remained locked up due to a lack of funds to fix them so the communities had to resort to unsafe water sources such as open wells to collect their water.

Locked up borehole in Kilifi County

Broken borehole in Kilifi County

The months before my next visit in October were spent by local field staff identifying broken boreholes to be rehabilitated.

In late October we organised to hold a Gender Sensitive Local Stakeholder Consultation meeting which took place in a community hall in Kilifi South sub-county. Up to 50 people attended the meeting which welcomed county government officials, community members, local NGO representatives and borehole managers.

Pictures from the local stakeholder consultation in Kilifi County

Pictures from the local stakeholder consultation in Kilifi County

Pictures from the local stakeholder consultation in Kilifi County

During this meeting, we collected everyone’s views and feedback on the borehole project to ensure the project is designed in a way that benefits the users of the boreholes. Overall the feedback from the meeting was very positive with stakeholders urging the start of the project.

The rehabilitation of the boreholes is to begin in December 2018 when they will start crediting. The people of Kilifi county will have a reliable safe water source close to their homesteads reducing their time collecting water and also firewood previously used to boil unsafe water. CO2balance will monitor the projects annually to measure the health benefits to the communities and gender impacts of the project. This project contributes positively to the following SDG’s:

A visit with clients to the Pearl of Africa – Lango sub-region, Uganda

In October I travelled to Uganda to meet with the CO2balance Uganda team, partner NGOs and local officials.

Welcoming assembly

The trip included visiting our borehole projects in Kaliro and Lango. It was great to meet our committed and knowledgeable team and partners, who do a wonderful job in implementing the projects. Each borehole is managed by a Water Resource Committee, made up of local borehole users who ensure the borehole is kept clean and functioning. The Committees are trained to be “gender sensitive” and each have a gender balance of 50/50.

The main purpose of the trip was to host clients who were visiting a corporate social responsibility (CSR) project that they had funded in addition to offsetting their CO2 emissions through the Lango Safe Water Project. The CSR project worked in 2 primary schools: rehabilitating rainwater harvesting systems in both, and fixing a borehole in one and building a new pit latrine in the other.

The new pit latrine at one primary school makes people jump for joy!

The impact of this project was fantastic. The new pit latrine gave girls a safe, hygienic and private place to use the toilet and change. This is particularly important for those in their monthly menstrual cycle. The Head Teacher said that it has reduced absenteeism and has a huge positive impact on education. The rehabilitated borehole on the school grounds gives pupils a source of clean water, without which they had to walk for many kilometres to fetch water. Again, this impacts upon education as pupils no longer tire themselves by walk to and carrying heavy loads of water. The rainwater harvesting systems capture rainwater and store it in the 16,000 litres tanks. This can be used for washing hands, cooking, cleaning and drinking.

Pupils now have a water source on the school grounds

It was wonderful to see the impacts these projects are having on the pupils and their communities. The visit gave the clients the opportunity to see their work first-hand and meet the people who are benefiting from the projects. Because of the stories, songs, dances and messages of thanks they received, as well as observing the projects in action, they were able to take these stories back to their company, family and friends to spread the message of sustainability. As a gesture of thanks from the schools, they received traditional water containers, brushes, 3 chickens, 2 doves and a sheep.