Archimedes Project Launches Social Enterprise Community Chlorinators in Haiti

July 1, 2014 - PRLog -- The Archimedes Project has launched its first social enterprise in Haiti, called Community Chlorinators, or Kouzin Dlo in Haitian Creole. The mission of Kouzin Dlo is to train and deploy a team of Haitian entrepreneurs (Machans) to bring clean water knowledge and technology to their communities to prevent cholera. Community Chlorinators brings an effective and scalable solution to help Haitians access clean water using their spirit of entrepreneurship and their existing networks, while providing direly needed economic opportunities.

Co-founders Faith Wallace-Gadsden and Jessica LaPorte arrived in Haiti in mid-June with a team of summer fellows and immediately began meetings with local partners and community members. These conversations informed their modifications to the business plan to ensure the program best meets the needs of the entrepreneurs and the households they will serve. They have already trained the community hub staff (Jerans) and completed the first entrepreneur training of seven Machans. They learned about the importance of clean water, chlorine use, safe water storage and more. As these trainings proceed and as the Machans begin their outreach, the Kouzin Dlo team on the ground will continue to incorporate feedback to refine the project.

Community Chlorinators was developed during an intensive brainstorming event hosted by the Archimedes Project in November in Boston. This event brought together a group with diverse backgrounds and talents but with a shared passion for bringing a new approach to international development, specifically to prevent cholera in Haiti. In the six months since, the Archimedes Project has worked with Community Chlorinators co-founder Jess Laporte to refine the business plan, build local partnerships, build a launch team, fundraise and now launch. With strong leadership in place and a growing team of passionate Machans and Jerans on the ground, Community Chlorinators is at an exciting early stage: launching its project in the first community with plans to bring this life-saving cholera prevention across Haiti.

More about Community Chlorinators:

Community Chlorinators uses a proven model of local entrepreneurship, strategic partnerships and affordable purification technology to provide clean water to communities in Haiti. By recruiting and training local entrepreneurs to sell chlorine to friends and neighbors, Community Chlorinators (or “Kouzin Dlo” in Haitian Creole) will use existing social networks to help end Haiti’s cholera crisis. Community Chlorinators is the first social enterprise launched by the Archimedes Project, which is dedicated to bringing a new approach to international aid.

To learn more, visit http://archimedesproject.com/Haiti and follow the Archimedes Project on Facebook/Twitter: @archgrp