Bak USA Wins $2M Bid to Support the One WaSH National Programme in Ethiopia
The WaSH Programme aims to improve the health and well-being of communities by increasing equitable and sustainable access to water supply and sanitation.
BUFFALO, N.Y., May 24, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The One Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WaSH) National Programme in Ethiopia has selected Bak USA, a social enterprise that builds mobile computers in Buffalo, New York, to provide rugged tablets for data collection in urban and rural communities throughout the region.
The $2 million (USD) contract—sponsored by the African Development Bank—will allow the WaSH Coordination Office to conduct field surveys that strengthen the service delivery and ensure the sustainability of the service. The data will also enable WaSH to reduce the incidence of water and sanitation-related diseases—such as trachoma and Guinea worm—through safe water and the adoption of good hygiene practices.
WaSH is led by four key government ministries, including the Ministry of Water, Irrigation, and Electricity, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Cooperation. A key feature of Bak USA's proposal is that it provides WaSH with a comprehensive capacity-building program on the use of geospatial technology and local tablet operation and management—streamlining deployment for thousands of end-users and strengthening accountability with modern, practical tools to track progress toward goals.
"The One WaSH National Programme is one of the world's largest nationwide approaches to water, sanitation, and hygiene," said J.P. Bak, chairman & CEO of Bak USA. "Working with the One WaSH Programme enables us to make a real-world impact in local communities, both from the standpoint of capacity-building with local government and job creation to support local families. This is an opportunity to see our mission to empower people and change lives become reality."
Bak USA will deploy 4,000 rugged Seal tablets, equipped with 8GB RAM, up to 256GB storage, and Windows 10 OS. Bak USA will work with GeoSaS, a local consulting agency in Ethiopia, to provide hardware and software training to WaSH staff across various ministries, enabling them to operate and perform basic maintenance on the tablets.
About Bak USA
Bak USA (@bakusabuffalo) is a social enterprise that builds mobile computers in downtown Buffalo, New York. Committed to building computers, empowering people, and changing lives, Bak USA is reinventing what it means to make it in America. Powered by Microsoft. Intel Inside®. Bak USA: Born in Buffalo. Built for the world.® Learn more at bakusa.com.
SOURCE Bak USA
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