NGO in Bacolod wins int'l award for pioneering renewable energy

BY CHRYSEE SAMILLANO

Technology perfected in Negros Occidental that has brought clean water to 15,000 people in 68 remote hillside villages in the Philippines, and is being replicated in other parts of the world, has won a local foundation an international green energy award to be presented by former US Vice President Al Gore on June 21.

The Alternative Indigenous Development Foundation Inc. based in Barangay Mansilingan, Bacolod City, is one of 10 renewable energy pioneers from across the globe who have qualified for the Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy and who have won 10,000 pounds each, Aladino Moraca, AIDFI executive director, told the DAILY STAR yesterday.

The AIDFI will compete with the nine other groups from Bangladesh, China, Ghana, India, Laos, Nepal, Peru and Tanzania for five top awards that will earn the winners an additional 30,000 pounds each to help project expansion and replication in other communities, he said.

The AIDFI hopes to use its price money to replicate its award winning ram pump technology in Laos, Indonesia and Thailand, Moraca said.

Gore, who will present the prizes at the Ashden Awards ceremony held at the Royal Geographical Society in London on June 21, said, "The Ashden Awards are a powerful reminder that well designed and managed local sustainable energy initiatives can tackle climate change while meeting the needs of local communities. Tackling these issues simultaneously - in both rich and poor countries - is critical to addressing the twin planetary challenges of climate change and sustainable development."

AIDFI has been selected as one of the world's 10 renewable energy pioneers for its specially designed ram pumps, Moraca said.

'NO ELECTRICITY NEEDED'

Ram pump technology was developed 300 years ago but AIDFI has enhanced the technology using cheap locally available materials, such as door hinges, that allows the transfer of water up to 200 meters, he said.

Our installations have no operation cost since they have no need for electricity or fuel, they work on a 24-hour basis, last long and part replacement is cheap, he said.

Many people living in hillsides do not have easy access to fresh water and have to make difficult journeys down steep slopes to collect what they require for their basic needs from rivers and springs, said Auke Idzenga, a Dutch development worker who has lived in the Philippines for 16 years and heads the AIDFI's Appropriate Technology Department, said.

Lack of water leads to poor hygiene and sanitation and limits agricultural activities, he said in his presentation before the Ashden Awards screening committee.

With AIDFI's ram pumps remote villages now have ample water supply, around 200 to 1,000 litres/day for each household, which is used for washing, sanitation and irrigating crops.

IT'S SUSTAINABLE

By developing a new and improved ram pump design and involving communities in installation and maintenance, AIDFI has avoided the pitfalls that other ram pump projects encountered which made them ultimately unsustainable, Idzenga said.

With the support of the community, AIDFI pumps can last at least 20 years. The success of the scheme has also changed the mindset of local people who now see renewable energy as the best option for them, he said.

There is a huge need for this type of technology in areas where there is no immediate access to clean running water, he said.

Our ram pumps can use the power of water flowing in the rivers to lift a small fraction of water over 100 meters vertically and sometimes pump it over a kilometer where it is needed, he said.
Government bodies, NGOs, and development agencies pay for the installations but local people are trained as technicians to maintain the pumps and villagers pay for the maintenance themselves, he said.

"When a ram pump is installed, the local people benefit from having sufficient water for personal hygiene, sanitation and washing clothes rather than just enough for eating and drinking," Idzenga said.

They also have a surplus for growing more food that can significantly increase their income, he said.

For many people, the most important benefit of the ram pump is having adequate safe water supply for the first time, Idzenga said.

SHARED DREAMS

Leonidas Baterna, a committed Negrense union organizer since the 70s, had shared his ideas and dreams for an integral and liberating development with Idzenga, Moraca said.

In 1991 the two together with several development workers with grassroots work experience founded AIDFI to develop technology systems that exists in harmony with nature and provide sustainable development for the poor, Moraca said.

It was registered as an NGO in 1992 and now employs 21 people.

Aside from ram pumps, AIDFI has been working to provide poor communities with micro-hydro for battery charging, biogas plants, hand and foot pumps, solar water heating and micro wind power.

Moraca said that, so far, their ram pumps have also been introduced to training centers in Japan and Malaysia and to a refugee camp in Thailand.

SERVING NEGROS

In Negros Occidental their ramp pumps are now serving 47 villages, he said.
In Sitio Bagacay, Barangay Inapoy, Kabankalan City, villagers for years had to walk a kilometer down a steep area to a spring for their daily water needs until June 2006 when AIDFI technology came to their village.

Today two ram pumps deliver 28,000 liters of drinking water a day from the spring to the center Sitio Bagacay for the 100 households in the area, Moraca said.

In Barangay Maquiling, Sagay City, the village had to pay for the running of an electric driven pump to bring water to homes from a distant spring.

Today with their ram pump they do not have to pay for electricity to bring 11,000 liters of drinking water a day to 120 households, he said.

In Sitio Tara, Barangay Carabalan, Himamaylan, meanwhile, six ram pumps draw water from a river to irrigate about 30 hectares of rice and vegetables and feed the livestock of 40 small farmers, Moraca said.

WIDER AWARENESS

Moraca said that, more than the prize money they won that will enable them to bring their technology to more villages, they are hoping that the recognition will bring wider awareness of what they are doing.

When we first introduced our ram pumps people would not believe that the technology worked until they saw it in the villages where they had been installed, he said.

It was like shouting in the desert. With the international recognition given to AIDFI, we hope it will spur more local governments and groups to use our green technology to help more rural villages, he said.*CPG