Innovations for Poverty Action

Filing Period

Jan 1, 2012 to Dec 31, 2012

Signed

Nov 12, 2013

Return Version

2012v2.1

Gross Receipts

$36,729,606

Mission

Major Activities

Activity 2

Chlorine is a safe, effective, and inexpensive way to treat contaminated water and make it safe to drink, but few poor families susceptible to water-borne illness use it. In western kenya we found that installing a chlorine dispenser system at the water source in a community led to a six-fold increase in the number of households treating their drinking water. Based on this evidence, ipa created the dispensers for safe water program in 2010 to provide safe water in communities. Dispensers for safe water has worked to build chlorine dispenser system programs around the world in countries like kenya and uganda. As of 2012, we have partnered to provide more than 650,000 people with safe drinking water. Usage remains high even as scale has grown; in the communities with chlorine dispensers, 43% of households use them. Wash benefits is one of the largest and most ambitious projects in ipa's ten-year history. Its purpose is to find the most effective approaches to preventing diarrheal disease through improvements in water quality, sanitation, and hygiene. Wash benefits grew out of previous ipa research in kenya that aimed to increase the number of people treating their water with chlorine, an effective and safe way to kill the pathogens that cause disease. Chlorine is inexpensive and readily available in western kenya, yet ipa researchers michael kremer and edward miguel, together with jessica leino and alix zwane, found that only eight percent of surveyed households had detectable chlorine in their water. By installing chlorine dispensers near water collection sites, the researchers were able to increase the percentage of households with chlorine-treated water to 61 percent-a greater than 600 percent increase that resulted in less disease.chlorine treatment is important, but it is not the only option. Other research has shown that sanitation and hygiene can prevent post-treatment contamination of water, and that children under two years of age further benefit from nutritional supplements. These approaches raise questions about which intervention is the most effective, and what happens when they are combined. The wash benefits project will produce answers in a five-year study in western kenya that involves more than 100,000 people in 1,000 communities. Launched in 2011, the project will assess the individual and combined impact of six interventions, including the use of chlorine dispensers and other sanitation and hygiene programs. Some participants will also receive nutritional supplements to help small children get the nutrients they need. Researchers will measure a broad suite of outcomes, and use the results to help steer government and private resources to the most promising programs.

Activity 3

The graduation model is designed to give the ultra poor the "breathing space" they need from immediate challenges of providing food and shelter so they can focus on improving their welfare over the long term. It includes a carefully sequenced set of services including consumption support, productive asset transfer (such as goats or chickens), livelihood training, savings services, and healthcare. Each component is tailored to fit the country context while maintaining the model's core components. Ipa is conducting randomized evaluations of the graduation pilots in india, pakistan, honduras, peru, ethiopia, yemen, and ghana. In ghana, ipa is implementing the pilot (with our partner pas) as well as evaluating the model.early results are very promising. Three of four pilots have increased household consumption at endline, between 11 and 17 percent. Two of the pilots reduced extreme poverty by up to 30%.

Filer

EIN

06-1660068