Disseminating the SODIS method: Which approach is most effective?

In partnership with selected Asian and African non-governmental organizations (NGOs), solar water disinfection (SODIS) projects were implemented in eight countries. The main aim was to introduce the SODIS method, as an option to treat drinking water at household level, to a large section of the population that have limited access to microbiologically clean drinking water. Following an initial pilot phase, the projects implemented a scaling up phase. Primarily two approaches were used – working with NGOs and working with government agencies – based on the choice of local partner organizations available. To demonstrate these different implementation approaches, two SODIS projects as case examples from Uzbekistan and South India are presented. Although working with government agencies involved more bureaucracy and took longer, this article concludes that working with the government resulted in greater scale and more sustainable results than working with NGOs.