Social Impact Project for From Projects to Scale: Building Drop of Water’s Flagship WASH Model

Project Description and Impact

Drop of Water (DoW) is a local nonprofit based in Ethiopia, founded by young leaders passionate about solving the water and sanitation crisis in rural communities. Over the past decade, we have successfully implemented projects such as well construction, solar-powered water systems, and hygiene promotion, directly improving the lives of thousands of people. We have benefited more than 80,000 rural beneficiaries in Ethiopia with access to basic WASH services.

However, as we seek to grow and attract long-term investment, we face a critical challenge: our impact is often perceived as “small-scale” because we lack a clearly defined, research-backed solution package that funders and partners recognize as scalable. During global convenings such as UNGA Week, we observed a striking gap between the language of the philanthropic world (localization, systems change, innovation) and the way local nonprofits like ours currently frame their work.

Our projects deliver real impact, but without structured pathways for product-market fit, impact measurement, and scalable business modeling, we risk remaining invisible in the global funding landscape.

This project will help us define our core solution package, test its scalability, and align our positioning with funder expectations. With this support, Drop of Water will be able to move beyond project-by-project implementation toward becoming a recognized social enterprise driving systemic WASH solutions in Ethiopia.

Learning Opportunity

What the experteer can learn by working with Drop of Water:

1. Community-Centered WASH Delivery: Gain firsthand experience in designing and implementing water, sanitation, and hygiene programs in rural Ethiopian contexts, including solar-powered systems and youth-led initiatives.

2. Bridging Local Impact and Global Systems: Understand the challenges local NGOs face in translating grassroots impact into research-backed, scalable solutions that resonate with international funders and investors.

3. Innovation in Resource-Limited Settings: Learn how to ideate, pilot, and adapt solutions in low-resource contexts, balancing cost-effectiveness, community needs, and long-term sustainability.

4. Stakeholder Engagement & Partnership Development: Observe and participate in strategies to work with local governments, communities, and private partners to implement systemic change.

5. Scaling Social Impact: Explore the process of defining a solution package, measuring outcomes, and positioning a social enterprise for replication and investment.