dig deep impact report 2013

Dig Deep Impact Report 2012-13

www.digdeep.org.uk

Letter from the Chairman of the Board of Trustees

Thank you for taking the time to look at our Impact Report 2012/13. Peter Fitzsimmons

is Chairman of Dig Deep’s Board of Trustees. Peter co-founded the charity with Jo

Zeevi in 2007 and both remain actively engaged on the Board having overseen the

rapid increase in the impact of Dig Deep in alleviating water poverty in Kenya.

“When we first conceived of Dig Deep in 2007, Jo

and I were still students. We were introduced to

an inspirational woman Agnes Pareyio, the first

ever female Maasai councillor and UN Person of

the Year in 2005, and set out to raise £50,000

for our first project providing sustainable water

supplies to the community of Sakutiek. We did

this in 2008 and the project continues to provide

clean water to thousands of people.

From those early days, we have come on leaps

and bounds. That we have seen our income grow

from £64,000 to £319,000 during this period

with just a single member of sta in the UK, Ben

Skelton, is a testament to his dedication and the

marvellous support of our volunteers. Their

generosity of time and expertise combined with

the support of several partner organisations has

allowed us to grow during this dicult period for

charities across the sector. In particular the

engagement of over 200 UK students as Dig

Deep ambassadors has proved an innovative

approach to fundraising and proved to be a

mutually rewarding activity for those involved.

In Kenya the dedication of our fundraisers has

manifested itself in an unprecedented impact on a

whole host of dierent projects this year, some of

which are described in the following pages. They

have been conducted in the same spirit of

partnership as our first with Agnes and have been

expertly overseen by Anna Banyard, a talented

engineer and former volunteer who has joined our

team.

This year I had the privilege of accompanying the

Trustees on a visit. The highlight was undoubtedly

the community’s response at Kagasek where a

thousand community members assembled for the

opening ceremony of the rainwater harvesting

projects at the local schools. Everything I saw in

Kenya arms the direction Dig Deep is taking

and the high esteem in which our community led

model is held by the beneficiaries we work with.

When we look back on 2012/13 I have no doubt

we will see it as Dig Deep’s take-o year. The

progress organisationally and operationally has

been exponential.”

“My sincere thanks goes out to all of our

supporters and volunteers, whose gift of

time enhances everything that we do”

Our year in 30 seconds

INTRODUCTION- PAGE TWO

We created clean water supplies for

the communities of 10,000 people

We created clean water supplies for

over 2,000 school children

We continued to support the communities

of over 18,000 people in maintaining their

water supply

Over 300 volunteers supported our

work

3,155,769 steps were taken up

Kilimanjaro by our sponsored fundraisers

Rekero is a typical Maasai community in the

South-West of Kenya, with a rich cultural

tradition which revolves around caring for their

cattle.

Day to day life can be challenging because the

community have no choice but to collect water

from puddles when it rains or a contaminated

river during the dry season. This causes serious

health risks, especially for young children.

Across the world a child dies every 21 seconds

from a water related disease simply because

communities like Rekero don’t have access to

clean water and basic sanitation.

This is why Dig Deep works with schools like

Rekero Primary to ensure that their students no

longer have to be threatened by water borne

diseases when studying for their exams. Over

the last year we have been able to help Rekero’s

school management to install rainwater

catchment and storage on the school’s main

building. This system hygienically collects rain

falling onto the school’s roof and stores this in

nearby water tanks.

The rain water harvesting system has made a

vast improvement to the school’s water supply

and – crucially – the school will be able to

maintain it in the long term. Over the next year

Dig Deep will be working with the school to help

upgrade their toilet facilities and to develop a

plan to supply clean water to the wider

community.

Clean Water for Mara Students.

Rekero Primary School

“Life has improved greatly…I can

say I am very much happy and

thankful for the project” Josh

Omnega – Headteacher, Rekero

Primary School

DIG DEEP IMPACT REPORT 2012/13

At Dig Deep we know how important it is that

our projects are led by those that benefit from

them – the local community. We also know that

for a project to be successful, women must have

at least an equal role to men in making it

happen.

The Alton Maasai project is a community based

organisation which was started by a group of

women living in the remote Maasai community

of Oldanyati. They had a simple aim - to provide

their children with the education that they never

had. The local school was too far away for their

youngest children to walk to so there was only

one solution – they had to build their own pre-

school.

After years of hard work they were able to see

their dream realised with the construction of

their first classroom. This incredible achievement

took years of fundraising and months of back

breaking work during the construction process,

with the women carrying water over 7km to the

construction site from the nearest river. Within

the first month of opening the school had

enrolled 150 students – however, there were no

funds left to build toilets for the school. This was

a serious health risk that threatened to undo

everything that the women had worked so hard

to accomplish.

Dig Deep is assisting the Alton Maasai Project to

construct latrines for the students and sta. We

are now working to improve the school’s water

supply to ensure that the community have

everything they need to provide their children

with the education they had dreamed of.

Supporting mothers building a school

The Alton Maasai Project

PROJECT REPORT- PAGE FOUR

"The Alton Masaai Project is an incredible

initiative. The positivity and drive of the

local community has been inspiring to

see and the work that Dig Deep have

done in meeting the needs of the

community simply and eectively has

been exemplary. As the first project of its

kind in the local area its impact will

extend beyond the walls of the school

and out into the wider community." Liam

Garcia – Director—Long Well Walk

The Ndanai water project began with the aim of

getting clean water access to the ‘Small Home’ –

a centre for children with disabilities. The home

was reliant on water being carried from a local

contaminated

dam and was

in desperate

need of a clean

supply so that

the sta could

properly care

for the

children.

The project

was planned

with the local water committee – a group of

dedicated volunteers elected to manage the

community’s water resources. The project

initially involved the drilling of a deep well and

the construction of a solar powered pump, which

now supplies water to the Small Home, as well

as two local primary schools and community

water kiosks around Ndanai town.

The project was designed so that it can be

expanded in years to come, and the water

committee have already begun this task. They

are currently planning to install connections to

local businesses, five other schools and

additional community water Kiosks. Expanding

the project in this way will mean that even more

of the community will get access to clean water

and that, through selling the water at an

aordable rate, the water committee will raise

enough money to maintain the project in the

long term.

Dig Deep continues to support the water

committee by providing ongoing advice and

training, and we are also working together to

plan more projects in the area.

Community takes ownership.

The Ndanai water committee

“To us getting clean and safe water was a

nightmare, finally it has come to a reality.

We had suered needlessly without

access to clean and safe water. Children’s

academic performance was low as they

dealt with stomach ache, typhoid and

diarrhoea. Getting clean water will return

health and children will grow up healthy”

Justice – Director, Ndanai ‘Small Home’


Water and sanitation projects are about more

than just building infrastructure. If local

communities don’t have the knowledge and

skills needed to use the projects then the impact

will be limited and whatever gets built won’t be

maintained.

A key part of this is promoting hygienic

practices. In the community of Male (pronounced

Maalay) Dig Deep worked with the local water

committee to install a solar powered water

distribution system for their primary and

secondary schools. At the same time as

undertaking this work, we invested in hygiene

promotion training for the committee, which

communicated the need to treat water to make

sure it’s safe as well as the importance of

washing hands with soap.

This training session led to the committee

starting an education campaign in the school as

well as the wider community. As you can see in

the picture above, they installed model hand

washing stations so that students could practice

using soap. They also colour coded the taps at

the community water kiosk so people could

easily see which one dispenses water which has

been filtered and is safe to drink and which

should be used for other purposes like cleaning

and feeding livestock. These seemingly small

steps will make a huge dierence to cutting the

rate of water borne diseases.

It’s about more than building stu.

Male Community Hygiene Promotion

PROJECT REPORT - PAGE SIX

"The message that I would like to

send to Dig Deep's supporters is that

what they are doing is changing

people's lives, especially the next

generation’s who are coming up" –

Charles – Male Community Leader

Kagasek Girls school in Western Kenya was

set up to address the fact that in their

community education is still perceived as a

luxury for young women and girls. Almost all

schools in Kenya have to charge for

education in order to survive, but Kagasek

deliberately kept their school’s fees very low

to ensure that girls from the most deprived

backgrounds could attend.

Since 2010 the school has provided an

education to 50 girls who could not

otherwise aord to attend class. However,

lack of funding meant that the school’s only

reliable sources of water were contaminated

dams shared with livestock. To make

matters worse, these dams were located on

private land and so the girls could be denied

access to even these sources at any time.

As a result the girls’ education suered due

to both the time lost collecting water and the

inevitable impact of water borne diseases.

Also, many girls who could aord to attend

the school chose not to because of the risks

involved and social stigma attached to using

these water sources.

Dig Deep and the school worked hard to

change this by installing a simple rainwater

harvesting system. The impact on the school

was dramatic – enrolment went up from 50

to over 150 girls in just two months. The

wider community also made their feelings

about the project evident with over 1,000

people attending the project’s opening

ceremony to celebrate. Over the next year

Dig Deep plan to work with the school to

help them improve sanitation facilities for

the girls as well as arranging locally

instructed hygiene workshops.

Water securing education for young women and girls.

Kagasek Girl’s School

“The enrolment has gone up. In fact

there are so many girls who have

joined us so now from the 50 girls

we had we have 150” – Katherine

Kauria, Principal of Kagasik Girls’

Secondary School


2012 saw over 100 participants take on

international challenges such as climbing

Kilimanjaro, Mt Toubkal and trekking the

Great Wall of China in aid of Dig Deep.

The challenges programme galvanises a

section of the population that are

regarded as typically under engaged with

charitable giving. Our experiences

fundraising with students has proved that

they are imaginative, creative and very

passionate about the challenges people

face in the developing world.

The highlight of this year was the media

frenzy caused by Julia McGill’s innovative

use of Ebay and social media. Having

listed an empty Evian bottle with all

‘proceeds’ going to Dig Deep and raising

the princely sum of £2 she proceeded to

list a cardboard iphone cut out and to

write a product description bristling with

wit and humour. A retweet from Stephen

Fry later and the charity was busy dealing

with press enquiries from around the

world. The bidding got up to over

£200,000 before Ebay removed the

listing but the value in exposure to the

charity was invaluable. Julia also received

many donations for her sponsorship from

those she had brought a smile to.

Raising awareness of Dig Deep and

water poverty amongst students in the

UK is one of the most rewarding aspects

of the programme. The funds raised by

their hard work have formed the bedrock

of our expenditure plans. We thank them

for their contribution and dedication to

Dig Deep.

OUR SUPPORTERS - PAGE EIGHT

OUR SUPPORTERS: International Challenges

OUR SUPPORTERS: Partner Organisations

A Better World Canada

A Better World Canada are an international

development charity who have been investing in

projects in Kenya for over 20 years. We have been

working together since 2011 and have so far completed

large scale water and sanitation projects in three

communities, including the Ndanai and Male

communities mentioned in previous pages. We are

currently in the process of planning more community

projects for completion over the coming year.

The AV Foundation

The AV Foundation was set up in 1994 with the aim of

increasing the quality of education in the communities

served by AV volunteers. Their focus is on educational

infrastructure such as the building of classrooms,

libraries, dormitories, washrooms and water provision.

It was thanks to a grant from the AV Foundation that

Dig Deep was able to complete the Kagasek Girl’s

school project described in this report, as well as an

equally worthwhile project in the community’s primary

school. This is the second time that the AV Foundation

have been able to support our projects and we hope to

continue to work with them in years to come.

The Long Well Walk

The Long Well Walk is a small, volunteer run charity

working since 2012 to create sustainable water projects

in eleven countries across Southern and Eastern Africa.

As part of this they are attempting a world record

10,000 mile walk from Sheeld to Cape Town, to raise

awareness of the problems faced by communities en

route, between March 2014 and October 2015.

Over the last year The Long Well Walk introduced Dig

Deep to the Alton Maasai Project, worked with us to

plan the project there and awarded Dig Deep with the

funding to make it happen. Over the next year we look

forward to working closely with the Long Well Walk on

future collaborations.


OUR PARTNERS: Case Study

Local Partnerships: The Olare Orok Motorogi Trust

Dig Deep was founded by two UK students working in partnership with Agnes Paryio (Maasai

Women’s rights activist and UN Person of the year) and our projects continue to be led by

local leaders and organisations that live and work in the communities we serve.

One of these partnerships is with the Olare Orok Motorogi Trust (OOMT). The vision of

OOMT is to ensure the long-term conservation of the Maasai Mara ecosystem through

empowering periphery communities to gain significant and tangible benefits from

conservation.

Over the last three years we have worked with OOMT to support and improve existing

community water projects and install rainwater harvesting in schools. We have also just

provided funding for OOMT to employ a new member of sta - a local Maasai lady called

Evelyn Lasoi. Evelyn works as a hygiene campaign ocer, which involves visiting schools and

members of the local community to promote safe hygiene practices such as building pit

latrines.

Working with partners like OOMT is vital to the success of our projects. Not only do their sta

and volunteers speak the local language and understand the community, they also bring

other specialist knowledge to the table. For example, OOMT are able to advise us on the best

locations for new water projects to reduce human wildlife conflict by ensuring that herdsmen

no longer have to take their cattle to water sources that are in areas inhabited by endangered

animals such as lions and elephants.

OUR SUPPORTERS - PAGE TEN

OOMT Community Meeting

FINANCIAL REPORT: Overview

During this period Dig Deep raised £319,137 in income available to the

charity from the general public and grant-making bodies (2012 - £63,929).

This substantial growth in income was due to a wider engagement of young people with our

overseas projects and events as well as increased support from international grant-making

bodies.

One of the charity’s key sources of income is generated through Challenge Events, such as

Climbing Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. Depending on the event in question around 25-50% of the

funds raised by participants go towards the costs of the event, with all remaining fundraising

income available to the charity. A substantial proportion of the funds raised for the cost of the

event are contributed by the challenge participants themselves and connected persons.

Members of the public are made fully aware when they choose to make contributions to the

costs of an event.

The income and expenditure for the charity for this period, net of the income and costs of

Challenge Events, were as shown opposite.

Over this period the trustees chose to increase resources for fundraising and governance

activities. Given that the charity has been able to increase its income by 500% and has made

substantial improvements to the organisation’s governance structures, the trustees feel that

this has been a sound investment. It has meant that Dig Deep has been able to expand its

project programme to meet the needs of thousands more beneficiaries and has safeguarded

the sustainability of the organisation, allowing the charity to develop long term partnerships

in the field.

These partnerships have allowed the charity to build up a considerable project pipeline.

Although the charity held a significant surplus of funding at the end of this period, the vast

majority has been allocated to projects scheduled for implementation in the second half of

2013.


Male Primary School Project

2012

Income and expenditure for the charity for this period, less costs of

Challenge Events

GRAPH: Income and Expenditure

OUR ACCOUNTS - PAGE TWELVE

FINANCIAL REPORT: Accounts



17/12/2013

OUR ACCOUNTS - PAGE FOURTEEN


OUR ACCOUNTS - PAGE SIXTEEN


OUR ACCOUNTS - PAGE EIGHTEEN


OUR ACCOUNTS - PAGE TWENTY

“I think the Dig Deep concept is the way to improve the world….working on supplying key infrastructure for energy and water. Face it, without these two elements there can be no improved living conditions, and no economic activity.”

Jon Bohmer – CEO Kyoto Energy: Winner of the Financial Times Climate Change Challenge Award

“We have partnered with Dig Deep in drilling a borehole in Maasai-land in Kenya and we appreciate their cooperation and innovativeness and their ability to listen to the community and other stake-holders…coming up with better and sustainable solutions on getting accessible and clean water for domestic use.

The co-founders, Jo and Peter, might not be heroes and heroines in the UK but here they are celebrated for having brightened up the faces of many women who walk long distances before (almost ten hours) to look for this precious commodity.”

James Sakuda – Program Manager: World Concern International

TESTIMONIALS


CONTACT US

[email protected]

www.digdeep.org.uk

tel: +44 (0)114 360 0040

www.facebook.com/digdeepafrica

CONTACT US - PAGE TWENTY TWO

dig deep impact report 2013

Documents

impact of dig

clean water supplies

water supply

sustainable water supplies

deep impact report

alleviating water poverty

community members

community of sakutiek