1. What is Community Choices How does it work?
The Community Choices prototype is an online water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) sector decision-making support system that makes available trapped knowledge, helping communities, governments, donors, and service providers identify technical and financial options for meeting their water supply needs.
2. What is the goal of the Community Choices phase that you’re currently in?
The goal of the two-year Implementation Phase of the Community Choices Project is to collaboratively design and develop a WASH sector decision support system that provides West African WASH practitioners, community members, NGOs, donor organizations, and local governments with accessible, dynamic, and comprehensive information on appropriate and available technologies and solutions to WASH sector problems.
3. Is Community Choices a 501c3 nonprofit?
No. Community Choices is a project of the Pacific Institute in Oakland, CA that is a 501c3.
4. Who is the intended WASH Choices audience?
NGOs, community based organizations, local governments and those who serve communities are the intended audiences.
5. How do you intend to pilot Community Choices?
We will pilot WASH Choices by developing a testable alpha version, and working with key partners in West Africa to assist a community in making decisions about appropriate water or sanitation facilities and financing options.
6. Is Community Choices an open source project?
Yes, we intend for Community Choices to be an open source project. Currently, it’s in a prototype pilot phase.
7. Who are your partners for the pilot?
We are working with several NGOs in West Africa, including CREPA (Burkina Faso), ProNet North (Ghana), World Vision, NewEnergy (Northern Region) (Ghana).
8. Who are your funders for Community Choices Tool and how much has been raised to date?
The Hilton Foundation is our seed funder and has provided $300k over 2010-2012.
9. What does Pacific Institute expect to learn from the pilot?
Pacific Institute and Hilton Foundation, our funder, are hoping to learn:
- If this technology solution is needed in communities, Ghana in particular.
- If non-expert users can identify the most appropriate technologies, approaches and their cost to meet their unique WASH needs.
- If there are elements that worked well in the pilot and what can be improved upon or used in collaboration with partners for future phases.
- How can PI can provide information and resources to communities in ways that empower them to solve their own water and sanitation challenges (instead of waiting for external assistance or top down decisions on the technologies).
10. How do you intend to scale Community Choices and gain widespread traffic and adoption?
Our plan: In Spring 2012, Pacific Institute is planning to pilot Community Choices in Ghana. The prototype system will focus on water access solutions.
Our vision: We believe that an effective decision-making support tool should account for regional variations, such as soil composition, temperature, institutional landscape, social structure, cultural practices, and other regional characteristics which can help determine successful WASH solutions and avoid the selection of inappropriate technologies. At the same time, we recognize that there are numerous, region-specific technologies and practices, and that sharing these between different regions of the world has potential to meet some current needs. To this end we are looking at other regions where WC can be developed.
11. I’m interested in learning more and want to discuss partnering opportunities. Whom should I contact?
Please email Project Manager Dr. John Akudago (jakudago@pacinst.org) with questions or suggestions for the Community Choices team.