Once we final met Sarah Evans and Kathryn Bergmann, they have been within the early days of operating their startup, Effectively Past, which has an app that goals to assist communities in rural East Africa monitor programs, diagnose issues and repair them earlier than they get out of hand. They’d formally launched their firm a few 12 months and a half earlier, in Jan. 2020, however their plans had taken a slight detour for some time, due to the pandemic.

Extra just lately, they’ve been utilizing the app in 75 communities primarily in rural Kenya and Tanzania and are creating software program to assist NGOs effectively undertake the expertise. “We’ve recognized many points that will have been way more costly to repair in any other case,” says Evans. “And communities have way more possession of their programs.”

Upkeep and Diagnostics

Evans and Bergmann initially obtained the thought for the app by way of their work with Effectively Conscious, an Austin-based nonprofit that builds water programs in East Africa. Whereas the programs they’d put in have been all nonetheless functioning, many in different communities weren’t, as a result of poor upkeep. With that in thoughts, they created an app with which communities may monitor programs, diagnose issues and repair them themselves, with distant recommendation from the corporate, and launched an organization to promote it.

Neighborhood members have upkeep checklists that they ship to Effectively Past month-to-month or quarterly by way of the app, relying on the kind of water system they’ve. The app notifies them when it’s time to finish the guidelines, even when they don’t assume there are any issues. Then the corporate’s upkeep crew remotely identifies potential points.

There’s additionally a diagnostic functionality, for occasions when communities encounter an issue in between check-ins. The app offers steps to take, offered in a choice tree, that stroll people by way of the method with footage and movies. “That additionally helps them turn out to be much more educated about their water programs,” says Evans. The app is ready to assist communities resolve issues on their very own about half the time, in keeping with Evans. In any other case, Effectively Past steps in and figures out how one can deal with the difficulty.

Tututha, Kenya

Now Effectively Conscious is utilizing the app in communities the place the nonprofit has put in programs. They usually’ve been in a position to determine and repair a number of issues already.

Just lately, whereas operating by way of their common upkeep guidelines positioned on the major college, neighborhood members in Tututha, Kenya, inhabitants 1,000, observed leaking from pipes and issues with one of many pumps. After reporting that info by way of the app, Effectively Past remotely helped them troubleshoot and restore the difficulty on their very own, with out their having to attend for a technician to reach and repair the issue.

Because of this, they obtained the rainwater and UV filtration system again up and operating in lower than two hours, significantly quicker than the same old two weeks it’d take to resolve such a problem, in keeping with Bergmann.

Dashboard

Evans and Bergmann are additionally placing the ending touches on an administrative dashboard that different NGOs can use to watch and assist troubleshoot issues in real-time with water programs they’ve put in, together with monitoring coaching of neighborhood members and general impression. They hope to start out licensing the software program to organizations throughout the summer season.

The primary customers will probably be NGOs they know nicely and will help with a beta check. After that, they’ll develop outreach to different organizations. In line with Evans, there’s a “wholesome” pipeline of organizations excited by changing into clients.