Episode 146 – Project Spotlight – Water Access Rwanda

The podcast by project managers for project managers. Listen in to an inspiring project story about eradicating water scarcity, while creating jobs for young people on the Water Access Rwanda project. Hear about solutions that intersect the impact on planet and profit, and the importance of listening to the community and local stakeholders.



Table of Contents



03:20 … Water Access Rwanda Project04:18 … Christelle’s Story08:59 … Importance of Sustainable Solutions15:10 … The INUMA Solution17:35 … AMAZI, VOMA, and UHIRA Solutions22:47 … Funding the Project26:29 … The Impact in the Community32:23 … Lessons Learned34:52 … Black Female-Founded Organizations36:10 … Get in Touch with Christelle38:14 … Closing



CHRISTELLE KWIZERA: So I think one of the biggest lessons is there’s a lot passion and drive can do.  There’s a lot money can do.  But it really all comes down to the people you have.  And I learned that not very quickly, but within a year I kind of had figured out that if we’re going to scale and do more work, that I really need good people by my side. 



WENDY GROUNDS:  Welcome to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  I’m Wendy Grounds, and here in the studio with me is Bill Yates.  We like to bring you stories about projects.  Sometimes we find people who are doing incredible things and who are managing amazing projects.  And that is the person that we’re talking to today.



I found Christelle Kwizera on PMI’s Future 50 2021 Honorees, and she has just a remarkable story of how she founded a project called Water Access Rwanda.  And it’s a company that works in response to the dangerous conditions that Rwandans face when they collect water from rivers and dams.  She’ll go into that in a lot of detail.  She really tells us her story.



And she talks about how people would have to walk, I think it took an hour a day just to get water.  They would have to go to crocodile-infested and disease-ridden water to get their daily supply of water.  And it’s just remarkable what she has done.  She’s been awarded the Cisco Youth Leadership Award, the Global Citizen Prize.  She also came in third position at the inaugural Africa Business Heroes Awards by Jack Ma.  That’s just some of what she has accomplished.



BILL YATES:  She’s so impressive.  And this is such a personal podcast for me.  Just talking about access to water is so important.  For years we’ve been involved with a group called Engage Burkina.  Burkina Faso has the same issue that Rwanda does of looking for solutions for those who need access to clean water.  And Engage Burkina has dug over 1,000 wells in just a short amount of time to help transform communities.



We’re going to go deeper.  This isn’t just about digging wells.  We’ll find this out as we unpack the story with Christelle.  But she looked at, beyond wells, how do you sustain those wells?  What if something breaks?  What if people want something more than just well water?  So this will be a very interesting conversation.  And one thing we just have to remember, when Christelle had this challenge that she rose up and created an organization, she was a university student.  She was 19, 20 years old when this idea first sparked her imagination and got her involved with her home in Rwanda.



WENDY GROUNDS:  Yeah.  And another thing, Christelle is talking to us from Kigali, Rwanda.  And sometimes the audio’s not quite that clear.  We would rather bring you her whole story than not.  And so if some of the audio is not quite clear, please remember that we do have a complete transcript of all that is said on the show.  Just go onto the website and download the transcript, and you can follow along with everything that’s been said.



Hi, Christelle.  Welcome to Manage This.  We’re so glad you’re with us today.



CHRISTELLE KWIZERA:  Hi, Wendy.  Thank you for having me.



Water Access Rwanda Project



WENDY GROUNDS:  We are so excited to hear about the work that you’re doing a...