Helping kids in Cambodia learn by bringing clean water to schools

Using a self-sustaining local entrepreneurial model, 1001fontaines delivers safe drinking water to schools in Cambodia, helping remove a significant barrier to learning for students across the country.

The Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) has supported the Paris-based nonprofit, collaborating with its local partner Teuk Saat 1001, in delivering 101,180 jugs of clean water to 73 schools through July this year, reaching over 23,000 students. Having clean water in a school can help reduce absenteeism by up to 75%, the organization says.

This is part of a broader effort by 1001fontaines that seeks to reach 20% of all students in Cambodia with clean water. In the first half of the year, well over a million jugs reached more than a quarter million kids at over 900 schools.

1001fontaines seeks to support sustainable, distributed water supply systems by recruiting and training local entrepreneurs to run “water kiosks” that filter water from available sources, process it to make it safe to drink, and deliver it to customers—including schools. SNF has also supported the organization’s work in Madagascar.