Hi All,

It's been a while, and I know you will appreciate a quick update on how your generous donations have helped to support the Smart Handpumps project over the past few months.

As you know, we have been working with Global Initiative to rebuild the digital infrastructure that supports the Smart Handpumps project. We have now created the database and interface for all the data we receive from the pumps. This allows users to monitor each pump in their network, view problems at a glance, and delve into details such as usage rate for specific pumps. As of this week, we have a working version of this new system. This will allow Fundifix to now test the system in Kenya, and we hope to go live with it early in the New Year.

Your support has enabled much more than we initially hoped: the crowdfunding made us eligible for additional funding from the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF), which means we will have an additional £60,000 to develop the system further: to make more pumps smart, and enable mechanics and NGOs to get more data to their computer, and eventually to an app on their phone. We could not have done this without you. Believe me; I have been trying for six years!

Thank you so much for your support for this project.Patrick

I wanted to take the opportunity to give an update on progress on the project.

All your pledges have now worked their way through the system to us, along with the Global Challenges Research Fund matching. This has enabled us to get moving with the IT system development and at the end of July we contracted Global Initiative https://www.global-initiative.com/ to work with us to rebuild the digital infrastructure the supports that Smart Handpumps project.

Global Initiative worked on Greater Change, a previous OxReach crowdfunded project, and being based in Oxford allows us to have weekly face-to-face discussions, rather than passing long specification documents back and forth by email. The means we can iterate the design faster and quickly deal with the issues and queries that inevitably come up during this process.

We are currently working on including the additional features and functionality in the new system, based on our experience over the last few years, and designing an improved interface to give the FundiFix team the information they need to manage and maintain their fleet of handpumps.

We will to review progress in September with Jacob when the design has firmed up.

Thanks again for your support!

Best wishes, Patrick

Over 200 people have donated to the project and helped us reach our goal. With the Global Challenges Research Fund matching your contributions, the total came to £50,231. A huge thank you to all of you, from the people who got us off the ground at the start of June to those who helped push us over the line on Monday evening!

Thank you again for your support in making this happen. It is heartening and humbling that so many people share our desire to fix handpumps faster and provide rural communities with the reliable water services they deserve. We will now getting cracking with project.

We will be providing periodic updates, including letting you know where we are with the rewards.

Patrick

We have just over £6,000 left to raise as we go into the final weekend of the campaign. We are doing well but need a final push in the last few days. No matter how close we get, if we don’t make it to £50,000 we get nothing.

So please keep sharing this with your friends and family, work colleagues, gym buddies or just random people you meet at the pub this weekend...

With your help we can make this happen, and keep more handpumps working so more people have a source of drinking water that they can rely on.

Thank you - Patrick

We have got to 75% of our goal, so thank you very much indeed to everybody who has pledged so far! This is fantastic new and a testament to the support from all of you, both in terms of giving but just as importantly in terms of spreading the word about the campaign. We also got a great boost when BBC South Today covered the project last week and we had a few extremely generous donations following that.

The scale of the problem is certainly huge: hundreds of millions of people are living without something we take for granted and get at the turn of a tap. But I believe that the positive aspect to this resonates with people just as much. This is not a not a sticky plaster solution. In Jacob and the rest of the FundiFix team we have a dedicated professional outfit keeping pumps working, with Smart Handpumps helping them do their job more quickly and efficiently. This is a scalable model, with this crowdfunding campaign a key building block to make that happen.We are now in the final week so please keep spreading the word and help us get this campaign over the line. We want to keep more pumps working and ensure more rural households an can get on with their lives without having to worry about their water supply.Very best wishes, Patrick