A Lookback at 2016: Highlights and Learning Outcomes

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2016 flew by in the blink of an eye as it was one of our most exciting and biggest ones yet as we celebrate 10 years of enabling sustainable access to clean water for Asia’s rural poor. Before we get too excited about our plans for the new year, let us look back at the key highlights and learning outcomes of our year.

The Highlights

  1. We enabled more than 100,000 beneficiaries in Cambodia, China and Myanmar to gain better access to clean water.
Wang Bangxian, a villager in Tiantaishan village, China, gains access to clean piped water through the Village Water Management (VWM programme).

Wang Bangxian, a villager in Tiantaishan village, China, gains access to clean piped water through the Village Water Management (VWM) programme.

  1. We launched the #waterisluxury campaign that garnered positive feedback from our partners, fans and strangers.
Guests taste the “luxury” water at our event launch.

Guests taste the “luxury” water at our event launch.

  1. We handed over our pilot project in Tetma village, Myanmar, organised two Community Water Enterprise (CWE) handover ceremonies in Banteay Meanchey province and Siem Reap Province, Cambodia, and a Village Water Management (VWM) programme commendation event in Beijing, China.
A villager carrying a new bottle of clean water purchased at the CWE handover event in Kdul Village, Cambodia.

A villager carrying a new bottle of clean water purchased at the CWE handover event in Kdul Village, Cambodia.

  1. Let’s not forget the hard work our country teams put in. In Cambodia, we expanded the reach of our CWE programme by the appointment of reseller networks so more villagers in neighbouring villages can gain access to clean water. In China, we conducted market research on remote metering to overcome our data collection challenges. We also obtained government endorsement for our new pilot clean water projects that would be implemented in Myanmar in 2017.
Bothingone Village, Labutta Township is one of the new pilot locations that we are looking at in Myanmar.

Bothingone Village, Labutta Township is one of the new pilot locations that we are looking at in Myanmar.

  1. Of course, that would not have been possible without our amazing stakeholders, staff, partners, volunteers, beneficiaries and all of our supporters.
Lien AID staff conducting a field visit in China

Lien AID staff conducting a field visit in China.

The Lessons Learned

In the past year, we also met with many challenges and identified the areas for improvement. These are some of our key learning outcomes for 2016:

  • We need to do more in addressing lifecycle costs, resources and capacities required to sustain our clean water programmes.
  • We hope to address interconnected issues that affect the delivery of WASH services and desired impact.
  • There is always room for improvement on the reliability and sufficiency of data which affects the learning and improvement of our programmes and projects.
  • We have to place more emphasis on programme outcomes and our desired impact rather than on the delivery process.

Our Plans for 2017

In 2017, we hope to address the challenges we faced in 2016 through new initiatives and enhancements to our current programme structures. Our major initiatives for 2017 include exploring the extension of local partnership frameworks to improve programme delivery and cost-efficiency in China and Cambodia, expanding our reach and impact through a new programme framework and projects in Myanmar, as well as some potential pilot CSR projects in Vietnam and/or Indonesia.

It will be an exciting and busy year ahead for us, so stay tuned to our blog, Facebook and LinkedIn pages for the latest updates on our work. Interested in finding more about our initiatives in 2016 and our plans for 2017 and beyond? Get the full scoop in our Annual Report, which will be released in the second quarter of this year!