Launched in 2009 by the Institut de France and Fondation SUEZ, the SUEZ–Institut de France Award rewards projects and innovations that improve access to essential services (water, sanitation and waste management) in developing countries. Jean-Louis Chaussade, Chief Executive Officer of SUEZ, and Xavier Darcos, chancellor of the Institut de France, today named two winners among the 37 projects received.
These projects had to prove their usefulness, feasibility and sustainability, to demonstrate that they could benefit as many people as possible. Their replicability is also a selection criterion.
THE AWARD FOR « ACCESS TO ESSENTIAL SERVICES » for an amount of €50,000, rewards an innovation developed by a not-for-profit organisation. This year, it was awarded to the Moroccan association Dar Si Hmad for Development, Education and Culture for its water fog harvesting project. Aimed at improving access to drinking water, this project relies on a new technology, CloudFishers©, which collects water from fog, stores and filters it to provide drinking water to water-stressed villages located in the High Atlas region in southwestern Morocco.
The project includes training inhabitants and sharing expertise in supply distribution and net installation. Nearly 1200 people already have access to water and daily consumption per person has increased from 7 to 26 litres.
This system allows women to be freed from water fetching and save them 3.5 hours per day. Some of them are able to benefit from training in the maintenance of collection and distribution infrastructures.
THE « SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP » AWARD, also of 50 000€, rewards a project using an entrepreneurial approach to ensure economic sustainability and promote social or environmental progress. The Franco-Ivorian grouping of start-ups C+PROPRE-COLIBA won this prize by showcasing a “digital project for 100% mobile household waste management”. Residents of Abidjan order on a mobile application, specific and identifiable bags to better collect and sort certain types of waste. The project stimulates sorting and recycling by households through a reward system (phone credits, basic products, beauty products, etc.). The application also integrates a geo-localisation service that helps to optimise collection, developed by individuals from the informal sector.
Innovation is essential to meet the challenges of access to essential services in developing countries. It is a determining factor in more quickly achieving the Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations, which the Fondation SUEZ works to reach. Together with the Institut de France, we wanted to reward and promote open initiatives in favour of access to essential services that can be replicated in other developing countries. For this edition, we were delighted by the spirit of innovation shown by the associations and NGOs we have the pleasure of supporting.
Jean-Louis Chaussade , Chief Executive Officer of SUEZ