News

Gasification - vehicle on wood gas (July 2008)Stripped Command Car being rebuilt
BushProof has started construction of a biomass gasifier in order to run a demonstration vehicle on producer gas. The gasifier will be installed on a vintage 4x4x Command Car, which is currently being rebuilt by Jaap Dijkstra (of Moyo Mundo). The vehicle will be operational in September 2008. Later on, the truck will be drive from Diego Suarez in the very north of Madagascar all the way down to Fort Dauphin in order to raise awareness for this forgotten technology, which was used extensively during the Second World War, when over 1 million vehicles ran on wood gas. Subsequently, a follow-up project is planned which aims to use agricultural waste material as a fuel for rural transport vehicles, as well as rural electricity generation using gasifier-powered generators.

BushProof at Aid & Trade 2008 (January 2008)
BushProof was present as an exhibitor at the Aid & Trade 2008 in Geneva, Switzerland from 29-30 January 2008. The event allowed interaction between NGOs and companies, and we had quite a lot of interest in our hands-on training and consultancies, as well as for the household handwashing dispenser.

Training in Household Biosand Filtration re-launched (October 2007)
BushProof has re-launched its first training in household biosand filtration since 2005. The training was given in September in Machakos, Kenya, the site of an ongoing successful biosand filter project, where 5 participants attended from various NGOs including Action Against Hunger and Tearfund. BushProof aims to carry out 4 such trainings annually.

International WatSan training completed (September 2007)
6 participants from agencies such as Concern and Oxfam attended the BushProof training in Water & Sanitation for Development & Emergencies held in Madagascar. Participants really appreciated the practical sessions which have been increased in number since the last training, making the BushProof training one of the most hands-on trainings available.

Durapipe UK wins top industry accolade due to BushProof project (May 2007)
Durapipe UK have won a top industry accolade at this year’s Water Industry Achievement Awards. Despite stiff competition, they won the Water Industry Achievement Awards for Sustainable Development for their collaboration with BushProof  in Madagascar, which involved setting up handpump fabrication and the very rapid production of 150 jetted wells in a coastal area. More information is available on their website.

International WatSan training completed (February 2007)
7 participants from agencies such as Unicef, UN-Habitat, CRS and GAA attended the BushProof training in Water & Sanitation for Development & Emergencies held in Madagascar. Practical sessions included the construction of a hand-dug well, jetting, low-tech drilling, machine drilling and sand filter construction.

International WatSan training completed (August 2006)
Participants from ICRC, Unicef and AMREF participated in a 2-week training on Water & Sanitation for Development and Emergencies. Organised by BushProof in Fort Dauphin, Southern Madagascar, the participants gained professional knowledge and practical expertise through a variety of classroom lessons, case studies and field trips, before returning to their country assignments in Congo, Zimbabwe and Uganda.

BushProof wins Global Social Benefit Incubator (August 2006)
The GSBI provides an intensive two-week residential program at Santa Clara University in California that enables successful technology innovators to scale their endeavors and achieve sustainability. Presented by the University’s Center for Science, Technology, and Society and the Leavey School of Business Administration, the GSBI offers the unique context of a Jesuit university dedicated to social justice combined with leading resources of Silicon Valley. [More...]

PriceWaterhouseCoopers support BushProof (July 2006)
A volunter team of 3 senior PriceWaterhouseCoopers partners from the USA, Switzerland and Malaysia are spending the months of July and August with BushProof in Madagascar. Grant Hellwarth, Stefan Raebsamen and Rani Sakaya are providing key support on business planning and marketing research, in preparation of our new initiative on the creation of 'base of the pyramid' markets (BOP) for affordable drinking water and renewable energy.

BushProof again qualifies as a World Bank Development Marketplace Finalist (May 2006)
A proposal from the Dutch Foundation LEF, written in partnership with BushProof, has been selected out of more than 3000 submission by the World Bank for the Finalist Round of the 2006 Global Development Marketplace competition. This concerns an innovative renewable energy project. A BushProof and LEF representative travelled to Washington for the event, which was attended by 118 other Finalists. While our project was not selected for funding, our Finalist status confirms the high quality of our initiatives - following closely on last year's participation when BushProof did become a DM winner.

BushProof helps Tearfund start bio-sand filter project (june 2006)
Tearfund has introduced bio-sand filters in Uvira, Democratic Republic of Congo, following a 5-day training organised by BushProof. Cholera is a serious problem in the area, as well as other water-related diseases, and it is hoped that these filters will provide a real health improvement to local people. The filters are being sold and it is hoped that sustainability will be achieved through sufficient local demand. More information is available here.

Jetting feasibility study (june 2006)
BushProof has carried out a nationwide study in Madagascar to map areas suitable for jetting. The result showed that 10% of the population of Madagascar live in potential jettable areas, which equates to about 20% of the land area. As such, the potential of jetting to massively contribute towards the Millenium Development Goals for Madagascar is huge. Click here to download the study (French).

Conference proceedings online (june 2006)
The paper on ultra-rapid well construction that was presented by BushProof in 2005 at the 31st WEDC International Conference in Kampala, Uganda, is now available online here.

Changemakers Innovation Awards (feb 2006)
BushProof was recently selected as Finalist in the Ashoka/Changemakers Innovation Awards competition titled: "Meeting Disaster - How to Prepare and Respond". Our entry "Well Jetting as Cyclone Mitigation" was selected from numerous entries throughout the world.

The Changemakers Innovation Awards are based on a unique “open source” format where participants compete by entering the best solutions to pressing social issues while collaborating to advance current initiatives. Changemakers is building the first global online "open source" community that competes to surface the best social solutions, and then collaborates to refine, enrich, and implement those solutions.

BushProof wins World Bank competition! (july 2005)
BushProof has been selected as a winner of the World Bank sponsored Global Development Marketplace competition. With a project titled ‘Jetting for health: rapid drinking water provision using innovative technologies’, BushProof aims to prove that it is indeed possible to rapidly scale up rural water supply in Madagascar. This will be done by constructing 150 jetted wells equipped with Canzee hand pumps within a matter of months only, together with local NGO partner SAF/FJKM. In addition, BushProof will set up production of the Canzee hand pump in Madagascar, in partnership with the current UK manufacturer SWS Filtration.

This year, more than 2700 proposals were submitted to the DM competition. Only 30 organisations (1%) received funding, indicating an intense level of competition and high quality of the winning proposals.

For more information visit: www.developmentmarketplace.org.

Rapid drinking water supply for tsunami victims using jetting (january 2005)
BushProof successfully adapted water jetting in the tsunami-affected east coast of Sri Lanka, thereby providing emergency drinking water supplies for groups of displaced people. BushProof assisted the international NGO Medair to install nine drinking water supplies systems in displaced camps.

The jetted tubewells provide access to safe drinking water from unconsolidated shallow aquifers. The construction of a jetted well takes only minutes and is likely to be much more cost-effective than other solutions. A fully functioning pumped and chlorinated water supply can be realised within a few hours only. Jetting can be successfully applied in many other tsunami-affected areas where shallow alluvial groundwater is available.

Jetting and Canzee pumps in Madagascar (2004)
Technical experts from BushProof assisted Medair, a Swiss based NGO, with the rapid construction of 50 new water points within only one week in the remote Maroantsetra region in north-east Madagascar, as part of a cyclone response project funded by ECHO.

The area was hit by an intense cyclone earlier this year, which caused extensive flooding that contaminated most open wells. An outbreak of cholera, which followed flooding during previous years, was prevented through the rapid disinfection of thousands of wells and the distribution of chlorine solution by Medair. In order to avoid future contamination and to provide a permanent safe water supply to the population, Medair engaged BushProof to assist with the installation of 150 new water points. Using jetting as a drilling technique, permanent wells are constructed within a very short time, after which they are equiped with Canzee hand pumps that are partially fabricated in Madagascar itself. The construction of another 100 wells is planned for the next few weeks.

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