5.2.2 Exchange of Material Resources
The study results show that there is exchange of material resources in the VIA
Water-supported partnerships. Material resources exchanged in the ICT-WIPs by
partnering organisations include the provision of ICTs themselves, licence fees and
other costs charged. For example, in the partnership between Delft University
of Technology, Severe Weather Consult and TAHMO
7 to implement the Storm
forecasts for Musanze in Rwanda – TAHMO covers the costs of weather stations as
resource contribution to the project. In other partnerships, companies contributed
office space (and associated equipment and services) to host the projects, access to
already existing technologies developed by one partnering organisations and so
on. For instance, in the TAP21 Purified Water distribution in the twenty-first
century in Kenya, Akvo (one of the partners) availed its FLOW
8 technology to
the partnership – FLOW is supposed to be integrated with the “Susteq” electronic
payment system to collect real-time data. In many cases, the implementing partners
contributed financial resources – although a big portion of the required budget to
implement the projects is provided by VIA Water.
It is important to emphasise the use of networks (of partner organisations) as a
mechanism to exchange material and immaterial resources in the partnerships
analysed in this study [58, 62]. Our study results show that, in many of the cases,
partners’ networks enabled access to information and other resources through
personal referrals, for instance; lead innovators decided to partner with specific
organisations because they wanted to make use of their strong network of relationships in the local operating environment. This is notably the case in the partnerships
where the lead innovator is a foreign organisation with limited local footing. In the
App service for faecal sludge management (PULA) project in Mozambique, the BoP
Innovation Center teamed up with Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP)
partly because the latter could offer its strong relationships with public and private
actors responsible for faecal sludge management in targeted cities in Mozambique,
while the former could offer its connections in the Netherlands. In a similar vein, in
the GARV smart public toilets in Ghana, SnapEX Overseas partnered with M4
Group (a Ghanaian company) to benefit from its strong network. The M4 Group
supposedly provides sales and distribution support for scaling up of GARV Toilets –
notably by helping SnapEX Overseas to acquire required government approvals,
land for toilets construction and access to corporate partnerships. SnapEX Overseas
also partners in this project with IRC Ghana who provides support pro bono through
its network of partners.
Our research found that provision of access to networks (e.g. potential business
partners and customers) is a core activity of the VIA Water programme and that
this occurs through a variety of mechanisms. The programme has established an
7 TAHMO (Trans-African Hydro-Meteorological Observatory)
8 FLOW is an open-source mapping software used for data collection and monitoring of the
functionality of water access points.
Promoting Smart Water Systems in Developing Countries Through. . .
191
The study results show that there is exchange of material resources in the VIA
Water-supported partnerships. Material resources exchanged in the ICT-WIPs by
partnering organisations include the provision of ICTs themselves, licence fees and
other costs charged. For example, in the partnership between Delft University
of Technology, Severe Weather Consult and TAHMO
7 to implement the Storm
forecasts for Musanze in Rwanda – TAHMO covers the costs of weather stations as
resource contribution to the project. In other partnerships, companies contributed
office space (and associated equipment and services) to host the projects, access to
already existing technologies developed by one partnering organisations and so
on. For instance, in the TAP21 Purified Water distribution in the twenty-first
century in Kenya, Akvo (one of the partners) availed its FLOW
8 technology to
the partnership – FLOW is supposed to be integrated with the “Susteq” electronic
payment system to collect real-time data. In many cases, the implementing partners
contributed financial resources – although a big portion of the required budget to
implement the projects is provided by VIA Water.
It is important to emphasise the use of networks (of partner organisations) as a
mechanism to exchange material and immaterial resources in the partnerships
analysed in this study [58, 62]. Our study results show that, in many of the cases,
partners’ networks enabled access to information and other resources through
personal referrals, for instance; lead innovators decided to partner with specific
organisations because they wanted to make use of their strong network of relationships in the local operating environment. This is notably the case in the partnerships
where the lead innovator is a foreign organisation with limited local footing. In the
App service for faecal sludge management (PULA) project in Mozambique, the BoP
Innovation Center teamed up with Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP)
partly because the latter could offer its strong relationships with public and private
actors responsible for faecal sludge management in targeted cities in Mozambique,
while the former could offer its connections in the Netherlands. In a similar vein, in
the GARV smart public toilets in Ghana, SnapEX Overseas partnered with M4
Group (a Ghanaian company) to benefit from its strong network. The M4 Group
supposedly provides sales and distribution support for scaling up of GARV Toilets –
notably by helping SnapEX Overseas to acquire required government approvals,
land for toilets construction and access to corporate partnerships. SnapEX Overseas
also partners in this project with IRC Ghana who provides support pro bono through
its network of partners.
Our research found that provision of access to networks (e.g. potential business
partners and customers) is a core activity of the VIA Water programme and that
this occurs through a variety of mechanisms. The programme has established an
7 TAHMO (Trans-African Hydro-Meteorological Observatory)
8 FLOW is an open-source mapping software used for data collection and monitoring of the
functionality of water access points.
Promoting Smart Water Systems in Developing Countries Through. . .
191