A year of innovation and rapid growth

2022 has been a year of hard work, innovation, and reach. Now, more than ever, you can learn about anything you want through technology and we are so grateful that it has allowed us to spread our mission further than ever before and make connections with people all over the world that have truly impacted our work. As we continue in the fight for clean water, what we know is that we have really great supporters, clean water is a basic human right and should be treated as such, and our team is mighty. The milestones and achievements we have earned just in this year gives us confirmation that our team, our process, and our technical ability is advancing and the future of clean water for all is looking more and more promising.

Our Project Progress

Well Aware has been hard at work bolstering our project capacity and growing our team so that we can reach more and more communities annually. In the past three years alone, the organization has doubled our funding, more than doubled the team in Kenya, and tripled our number of projects completed per year!

This year, more than 50,000 people in East Africa have gained access to clean water for life. We have actively worked on 38 water projects in 2022, completing 25 new projects – 3 new wells, 13 new rainwater systems, and 9 upgrades and expansions. We have also worked on 13 additional projects, including maintenance on past projects and investigation of new projects for future implementation.

In 2021 and 2022, we added a hydrogeologist, project associate, and operations manager to our team in Kenya. Our team there is now officially bigger than our team in our Austin headquarters! And because of these great achievements, we hit our 100th project in March of this year and are quickly progressing toward 150 projects.

Our Commitment to 100% Success

At the rate that our team and project bandwidth is growing, we are also keenly aware of the need to uphold the integrity of all of our clean water systems so that we can continue to ensure our promise and commitment to 100% success.

That’s where our Well Beyond App comes in – the industry’s first and only patent-pending mobile app for water system maintenance and diagnostics. As we continue to scale, it is critical to further empower local leaders with the tools they need to ensure clean water can flow for decades to come. The Well Beyond App provides that opportunity. Now, communities don’t have to wait days or weeks for repairs without their only source of water. Through the app, community members receive checklists and questionnaires to perform regular maintenance needs and help resolve small issues. They can also chat with our experts in real-time for quick assistance or to discuss larger challenges.

Alongside our busy year implementing more clean water projects, our team has also been hard at work in the field training our partner communities on the technology. We are proud to report that the Well Beyond App is now deployed in over 70 of our partner communities! Already we have seen many problems solved quickly and efficiently, or avoided altogether – lengthening the life of our water systems and saving both time and money.

This app enables our team to constantly keep an eye on all of our projects, run diagnostics, track data for future work, and always stay in communication with our partner communities.

Our Team

Not only have we grown our projects, but we’ve also grown our team significantly. Since our first water well in 2010, we have gone from two volunteers to 14 full-time staff. In the past three years alone, the organization has doubled our funding, more than doubled the team in Kenya, and tripled our number of projects completed per year! All of a sudden we looked up and our once very small, but mighty, team has become a larger, equally as mighty, staff of rockstars who are deeply committed to this work.

Now, as we look to the future, we have big plans to further scale our team to accommodate the growing impact Well Aware is pursuing. Our Executive Director stepped down in November 2022 to make way for a new leadership structure that reflects the vision of our growing global team and allow for even stronger guidance and oversight of our mission in both the Austin and the East Africa offices.

Indeed, 2022 has been a year of growth and changes for our team, and this is only the beginning. We can’t wait to see where we’ll be this time next year.

Our Achievements

With the progress and innovation that has come with 2022, we are thankful to have our efforts recognized by outstanding organizations and awards including Fast Company’s 2022 World Changing Ideas, Classy’s Award in Social Innovation, Austin Woman’s Way Business Award, and Top 100 Innovators and Entrepreneurs.

Our work has also been featured in Forbes, Apple News, Lifewire and more…

In addition to the awards and recognition Well Aware received, we also got to recognize some pretty outstanding people in our own community who are paving the way for clean water work through our 5th Annual Impact Awards.

Looking Ahead

This year has of course been nothing shy of its difficulties, but the work that has been done and the lives that have been transformed are why we keep on going year after year.

As 2022 comes to a close, we want to say thank you to everyone who continues to support our mission, our team, and most importantly, our partner communities in East Africa. It’s by spreading the word, getting involved, and truly caring about the people we seek to help, that lives are transformed forever. We look forward to changing even more futures with you in 2023.