Arriving in the Kigali airport, the ICT4Agri Conference poster and other social media posters set the tone: Rwanda welcomes technology.

I was on my way to meet with Living Water International, partners with Portland State University’s Sustainable Water Energy and Environment Technology Labs (The SWEETLab) for the kick-off of their MECS grant programme. Joined by Leanne Jones from the UK Government, there was an extra element of excitement seeing the UK Government –funded MECS grantees taking their first steps.

The SWEETLab team will equip 200 of Living Water’s hand pumps across the country with sensors that can tell them if the pump is functional and how much water is pumped out. The sensor sits inside the pump head, out of sight, while it constantly measures pump-head pressure and the volume of water flowing.  An MTN SIM card embedded in the sensor will transmit this information a few times a day over the GSM network to databases and dashboards. The instant alert will allow Living Water to develop a more targeted and immediate maintenance programme, replacing expensive road trips searching the country for broken water pumps.

Adding to this opportunity is Living Water’s simultaneous development of a training facility. It will provide the setting to train hand pump mechanics stationed around the country, and also demonstrate their use of mobile technology in the sensors as well as their field reporting, sharing these approaches and lessons with other water organisations around the continent.

This project is actually the second time this sensor technology is being put to work for the underserved in Rwanda.  Evan Thomas, founder of the SWEETLab is also the Chief Operating Officer and Principal Investigator for DelAgua Health, which develops and implements programmes for distributing environmental health products, as well as training and monitoring around proper usage.  Through their national programme in Rwanda, DelAgua distributes clean cook stoves and water filters to the poorest households and uses the sensors to verify actual use. Firstly, this offers incredible insight into uptake, given that the actual health impact of these household items can be very complex to quantify.  Secondly, it’s allowing DelAgua to finance the stoves and filters through CDM carbon credits, which requires rigid verification that the sensors can provide.

Above: photo of the water filter and clean cookstove with the sensor attached, in the village shown on the left. Note that the units with sensors are swapped into households occasionally to measure usage, while the households regular stove and filter are temporarily locked for use.

The really exciting part of all this is the buy-in from Rwandan private sector and the Government. This MECS project features the support of MTN Rwanda (as does the Mobisol Rwanda programme which is also funded through MECS), offering a tremendous opportunity to learn about the potential benefits of these services to mobile operators.

The Rwandan Government’s NGO policies mean that NGOs operate in-line with ministry strategies. Thus, the Natural Resources Authority will share in using the SWEETLab sensor data to inform groundwater abstraction and water access policies. They’ll also have a front seat to the sensor programme operations to consider future internal adoption. The paradigm shift they’re already anticipating was evident in a meeting filled by their questions about what else could be measured and monitored with these sensors.

On the way out of the Kigali airport, another set of advertisements (at the immigration desk no less!) leave you with the parting reminder that Rwanda embraces technology:

Photo: Advertisements on the wall at the immigration desk of Kigali Airport departures.