CWR has been a partner of Water 1st for almost ten years, working to give local communities around the world access to fresh water. One place Water 1st is involved is in Honduras partnering with a local organization Cocepradil. Water 1st believes that Cocepradil is one of the most effective partners it has found, and coming from Water 1st this is high praise indeed.
CWR recently visited two villages, San Bartolo and Capuca, in Honduras, that are working with Water 1st and Cocepradil to bring water to their villages. The genius of Cocepradil is that the burden of creating and maintaining the water system rests with the community themselves. Cocepradil is there to help the community, but they believe that if the project is going to have lasting success than the community needs to know that they are capable of doing the work themselves.
This mentality begins immediately; Cocepradil refuses to work with a community until they have identified and purchased a sufficient water source. This demonstrates to both Cocepradil and the community that they are serious about the project and willing to work on it and don’t just want to be given a handout.
In addition it is the community’s job to build both the storage tank and the piping from the water source to the storage tank. The labor provided by the people is incredible! For example, each family carried 20 gallons of sand over 5 miles to build the foundation for the tank. Also, the community members carried 80-90 lb rocks for the storage tank walls from a local quarry site. Men had to get up at 3:00 AM to walk to the work site. Their wives often woke up at 1:00 AM to prepare meals for them before they left.
At the completion of the project Cocepradil and Water 1st have given the communities of San Bartolo and Capuca more than just fresh water (which is extremely important). They have given the communities confidence and pride, to know that they have the right and ability to improve their lives through their own work. This more than anything else is why Cocepradil is praised so highly by Water 1st and why CWR is glad to partner with this organization.
