Improving Capacity of a Community-Led Water Desalination Business to Provide Sustainable Clean Drinking Water

Bali is facing water scarcity due to massive demand from the tourism industry, particularly at hotels and resorts. This situation has made water access more difficult for many communities. Located off the southeast coast of Bali, Nusa Penida is facing the same problem. The situation is worsened by the fact that Nusa Penida is a coral reef island, which causes the groundwater to become brackish. To fulfill their water needs, people in Nusa Penida collect and boil rainwater, however, this method is not always reliable given infrequent rainfall.

Supported by the Canadian government, through the Waste for Water project, Kopernik has built a seawater desalination plant in Nusa Penida to provide clean water for local residents. The desalination plant is managed by local community group Banjar Angkal as a community-led business. The group’s business management team has received training on establishing a businesses’ early stages.

Drawing from the Waste for Water end-line survey, Kopernik found that the business management team is still in need of further support to increase business transactions. The income generated is still low and the business has not reached all households in the Banjar Angkal area. The lack of access to capital and finance is one of the main problems. This situation is restricting the business management team from innovating and taking risks in trying creative entrepreneurial activities.

As the desalination plant is proven to be effective in providing accessible clean drinking water to the community, it is important to keep the business going sustainably.

To ensure a sustainable community-led water desalination business, we aim to strengthen the capacity of the management team through a series of business training sessions.

A series of business training sessions will be arranged for each member of the business management team. The training will cover substantial knowledge in business aspects such as access to capital and finance, legal business permits, accounting, sales and marketing, human resource and management, as well as product development. Additional materials will be adjusted based on the needs and aspirations of the business management team.

We will work closely with the community-led business practitioners to develop and deliver suitable training materials in the context of community-led business in rural coastal areas. Further, we will engage a local partner as a mentor to guide the formulation of business plans and encourage the management team to take follow-up actions.

To increase the community’s ownership of the business, we will conduct a participatory discussion with the community to determine targets and output for the business to achieve by the end of the project. 

The immediate result of this project is to leverage the knowledge of the management team in running a sustainable community-led water desalination business, which will then increase income.

A series of training sessions will help the community-led business management team build entrepreneurial orientation such as autonomy, risk-taking, ingenuity, and competitiveness, as well as strengthen its capacity in conducting entrepreneurial activities.

By the end of the project, we will have developed a business framework for a community-led water desalination business to be replicated in other coastal villages in Indonesia.

FUNDING INFORMATION