Let us imagine this: Free, clean drinking water available for the masses, twenty four hours a day, three hundred and sixty five days a year. Statistics, reports and various articles are constant reminders of how the lack of clean drinking water is pervasive in Bangladesh. Thousands of lives are lost annually as a consequence of water borne diseases like diarrhea and cholera. In Dhaka, this densely populated capital city, hundreds and thousands of people belonging to lower income households have very little or no access to clean drinking water.
Footsteps, a youth empowered social enterprise based in Dhaka, is working with their many youth volunteers and private sector organisations to create a simple platform through which people all over this bustling city can have access to clean drinking water for free.
Project Trishna, a social venture by Footsteps, is a project that creates free access to clean drinking water for the general public by setting up water filters in targeted areas of the city. This is done by privatising the use of water filtration systems and allowing private enterprises to maintain these filters as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The role that these private enterprises play in the success of this project is unparalleled.
Each purchase of Footsteps' cost-effective water filtration systems by a private organisation guarantees the general public - especially those of lower income levels who cannot easily afford to buy mineral water bottles at will -over 22 liters of free, clean, and easily accessible drinking water each day, while simultaneously giving the enterprise immense brand recognition and increased brand awareness amongst the target audiences and other segments.
By placing a sticker on the filter's body, along with the brand's logo, the private owner is accredited for their contribution.
In 2015, Footsteps, with the help of their volunteers, sold and set up over 50 water filtration systems in over 30 locations across Dhaka city. Some of these filters may be found in Dhaka's busiest parts such Banasree, Hatirpool, Rampura and Kakrail, alongside filters in Gulshan, Banani, Uttara and many other locations.
Doing so has allowed Footsteps to deliver over 5,000 liters of clean water to common people every day in 2015, which was one of the hottest years recorded in Bangladesh history.
As global temperatures continue to rise and dehydration becomes a more severe problem, Footsteps plans to set up more filters over this coming year in order to extend their reach across this vibrant city. In doing so, they hope to make free access to clean drinking water what it should be - a basic human right, not a privilege. Â
According to Co-Founder and President Shah Rafayat Chowdhury, "Project Trishna acts as a community development tool by encouraging the private sector corporations to address a major social problem present in our community in a unified effort. Participating organisations like the City Bank Limited are giving effort to make access to clean drinking water a basic human right via Project Trishna".
Footsteps hopes that the involvement of these organisations will help pave the path for other enterprises to join in this cause, and the organisation welcomes all interested parties to join hands with their other Corporate Social Responsibility clients in this movement of creating a more widespread access to clean drinking water for the general public throughout Dhaka, Bangladesh.
The writer is an A level student at Sunbeams School in Dhaka, Bangladesh, sharnilaa@gmail.com