The Pimpri Project

In early 2014 The Rotary Foundation approved a global grant application to fund a project that addressed several key Rotary areas of focus, particularly disease prevention, clean water, sanitation and public health. The objective of the project was the construction of 200 toilets and the installation of an overhead tank and 14 water filtration units in Ambi village, India, to prevent the contamination of the water source.

The filtration units in buildings of the NGO Janaseva Foundation Complex would provide safe clean water for hospital staff, patients and residents of the old age homes, the nursing school and hostel as well as visitors to the Complex. In addition, training was to be undertaken to provide villagers with knowledge of good hygienic habits and practices to help minimize exposure to water borne diseases.

Approximately 1,700 people would benefit from the provision of toilets [instead of using open fields] and a population of about 50,000 in and around Ambi village, who use the facilities of the Janaseva Complex, would be able to access purified water for drinking and cooking etc.

The project was jointly initiated by the host Rotary Club of Pimpri, India, [D3131] and the Rotary Club of Durham North Carolina [D7710], in partnership with the Rotary Clubs of Bhubaneswar Heritage, India, [D3262] and our Club. The project budget totalled $52,000 which covered materials and construction costs. Our Club’s contribution was $1,200 or £732, which was in turn matched by District 1030. The chart below shows how the project was funded.

Contributions from the four Rotary Clubs totalled $9,034 which then secured matched DDF funding of $19,225 from the four Districts concerned. Added to that was another $23,741 matched funding from The Rotary Foundation's World Fund.

Once again, this demonstrates how even a small number of Rotary Clubs can form an effective partnership to finance a substantial project for the benefit of so many people by achieving total matched Foundation funding of $42,966 from cash contributions totalling $9,034 from only four Rotary Clubs.

The length of the project was estimated to be one year. We have now heard from the President of Rotary Club of Pimpri that it was with great pride that the completed 204 toilet project was inaugurated by RI President K R "Ravi" Ravindran on 3 August 2015.

Thanks to Jim Greensmith and Laurie Turner for this report.

Some of the 204 toilets provide by the project.
I guess we would call these "netties" in our part of the world!

Ravi Ravindran (centre), RI President, with members of the Pimpri Club on the completion of the project.

... and he unveiled a plaque to commemorate the occasion.