Malawi Water Project

What Malawi Water Project does

Malawi Water Project is a Canadian Registered Charity (operating under the legal name Healthy Lives International Society, CRA registration BN78417 3890 RR0001) that delivers clean water, sanitation training, and borehole repair services to rural communities in Malawi. Founded in 2011 and incorporated as an independent charity in January 2017, the organization runs three regional project areas across northern, central, and southern Malawi, executed in-country through agency agreements with the Anglican Diocese of Northern Malawi and Anglican Diocese of Southern Malawi. Beneficiaries are rural village families — primarily mothers and children — living on roughly US$1/day and reliant on contaminated surface water; the project provides them with household biosand water filters, sanitation and hygiene education through Community Health Promoters, and borehole repair services.

The core product is the household Biosand Water Filter, a slow sand filtration device developed by Dr. David Manz at the University of Calgary and disseminated via CAWST. The filter is constructed locally in Malawi from concrete, sand, and gravel sourced within the country, requires no electricity or chemicals to operate, and is documented to remove up to 98% of disease-causing pathogens from contaminated water. A dedicated filter factory was completed in Chikwawa in 2017, co-located with a training room, kitchen, and office. Field operations are monitored through Kobo Toolbox (a Harvard-developed mobile data collection platform deployed on Samsung tablets) that captures GPS coordinates, filter functioning data, and household health information for every installation, supporting follow-up visits at 7 days, 30 days, 90 days, and one year.

The organization has no commercial revenue model. All program funding comes from charitable donations, gift catalogue contributions, securities donations, annual fundraising events, Facebook birthday pledge campaigns, and grants — totaling an annual budget of approximately CAD 130,000, of which only ~CAD 1,260 covers Canadian administration. The Canadian management team, board, and Country Director are unpaid volunteers; field staff in Malawi (approximately 22 people, all CAWST-certified as Biosand Implementers or Community Health Promoters) are paid through the diocesan partners. A small beneficiary contribution of 500-800 kwacha (~US$2.50-3.00) per filter and an emerging full-price self-pay channel represent the only program-side cost recovery, with the latter explicitly framed as a step toward long-term sustainability.

Name

Malawi Water Project

Legal name

Healthy Lives International Society

Website

https://malawiwaterproject.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Malawi Water Project is a Canadian Registered Charity that installs locally constructed biosand water filters, delivers sanitation training, and repairs boreholes for rural village families in Malawi, executed through Anglican Diocese partners and funded entirely by charitable donations on a ~CAD 130,000 annual budget.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Clean Water and Sanitation Services

NAICS

Water Supply and Irrigation Systems (22131), Water, Sewage and Other Systems (2213)

SIC

Water Supply (4941), Sanitary Services (4950)

akta.pro primary industry

Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH) (BPAGABAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

WASH (Water, Sanitation & Hygiene) Organizations (HLAJAKAI), Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH) Solutions (BPAGALAI)

Keywords

• Clean water access
• Biosand water filters
• Water sanitation hygiene
• Borehole well repair
• Rural water solutions

Headquarters

HQ city

Calgary

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices7 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Supply Chain, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Charitable Donations: The primary revenue source is charitable donations from individual donors, primarily in Canada. Donations are solicited through the organization's website, direct mail, fundraising events, Facebook birthday pledges, and corporate matching programs. A 20% matching donation is available through ATB Financial's ATB Cares platform for many donations.
2. Gift Catalogue Purchases: The organization offers a Gift Catalogue where donors can purchase specific items (filters, borehole repairs, training, bicycles, etc.) as charitable gifts. Proceeds go toward areas of need in the project.
3. Securities Donations: Donors can give appreciated securities directly; since capital gains taxes do not apply to charitable donations of securities, donors can give more and get more. Donations are processed through CanadaHelps.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Malawi Water Project trains and supports local Malawians to provide rural villagers with household biosand water filters that remove up to 98% of pathogens from drinking water. The organization also delivers sanitation and hygiene training programs and repairs broken water well pumps (boreholes) in rural communities across Malawi.

Product overview

Malawi Water Project is a Canadian Registered Charity operated by Healthy Lives International Society that provides clean water solutions to rural communities in Malawi, Africa. The organization operates two main product/service lines: (1) the Biosand Water Filter - a household water treatment technology that removes pathogens using slow sand filtration with a biolayer, developed by Dr. David Manz at the University of Calgary, and (2) complementary services including Sanitation and Hygiene Training programs delivered by Community Health Promoters and Water Well (Borehole) Repair services. The organization runs factories in Malawi producing filters and trains local staff as Biosand Implementers and Community Health Promoters. The portfolio is unified around the core mission of improving health through clean water access.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Biosand Water Filter Household biosand water filter that removes up to 98% of pathogens from drinking water using biological and physical processes in a sand column covered with a biolayer. Developed by Dr. David Manz at the University of Calgary, requires no electricity or chemicals, and constructed locally from materials found within Malawi. Provided to rural village families as the primary clean water solution.
• Sanitation and Hygiene Training Training program delivered by Community Health Promoters teaching proper sanitation and hygiene practices to rural Malawian communities, including hand washing, latrine construction, and health education. Community Health Clubs use songs, dances, skits, and slogans to promote behavior change, particularly empowering women to improve family health.
• Water Well (Borehole) Repair Repair service for broken water well pumps and boreholes to provide easier access to better quality water for rural villages in Malawi. Addresses the common problem of NGOs drilling boreholes without allocating funds for long-term maintenance.

Quantifiable outcome

• Up to 98% of disease-causing pathogens removed from drinking water by the biosand filter
• +6 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Anglican Diocese of Northern MalawicoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe primary Malawian operating agent for the North and Central project areas. A registered charity in Malawi that handles all payroll and statutory matters for Malawian employees including payroll processing, pension administration, labour code compliance, and governmental requirements. Pays a 7% admin fee based on MWP-related operating costs. Has in-house knowledge and skills to continue operations if MWP withdraws.
• Anglican Diocese of Southern MalawicoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe primary Malawian operating agent for the South project area including the Chikwawa factory. A registered charity in Malawi sharing MWP's goals. Handles payroll, statutory compliance, and employee administration for Malawian staff. Pays a 7% admin fee on MWP-related costs.
• Luke International (Taiwan)coreGTM or Marketing PartnerAn international NGO working alongside MWP in Malawi. Has committed to funding construction and delivery of 30 biosand filters in the Kawanga lake community. Helps distribute filters and follow up on installations by boat in lakeside communities.
• CAWST (Center for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHeadquartered in Calgary, CAWST developed and provides training on the Biosand Water Filter technology. Provides funding for staff training through its Water Expertise and Training (WET) Centre in Zambia. Sponsored the Quality Assurance Workshop for biosand filter construction and installation. Provided grant funding ($25,000 from Alberta Community Initiatives International Development Grant passed through to MWP).
• St. John's InternationalminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerProduced a training manual on proper sanitation and hygiene with MWP. Team members from St. John's have taught MWP staff new skills including borehole repair.
• National Cheng Kung University (Taiwan)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerIn 2017, a group of students from National Cheng Kung University came to MWP to learn how to construct and install biosand filters, and also funded construction of 8 MWP filters.
• ATB Financial (ATB Cares)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerATB Financial's ATB Cares platform hosts MWP's donation page and provides a 20% matching donation for many donations made through the platform.
• All Canadian Printing of CalgaryminorGTM or Marketing PartnerGenerously donated laminated instruction sheets with colorful pictures describing how beneficiaries should care for their filters. These are distributed with each filter installation.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• WaterAid: WaterAid is a major international WASH-focused NGO working across Africa and Asia on household water access, sanitation, and hygiene — the same mission category as MWP, but at vastly larger scale and geographic footprint.
• Water.org: Water.org works on sustainable safe water and sanitation access in developing regions through financing and partnerships. It is a broad incumbent in the same WASH category but focuses on household financing rather than household filter hardware distribution.
• charity: water: charity: water funds clean water projects in developing countries including Sub-Saharan Africa, with a donor-driven funding model and emphasis on transparency through GPS-tracked project monitoring — highly analogous to MWP's donor base, mission, and monitoring approach.
• Samaritan's Purse (WASH): Samaritan's Purse runs WASH programs including borehole repair and household water filters across multiple African countries. Broad incumbent in the same WASH category with overlapping activity in Malawi and similar beneficiary profiles.

Direct peers

• Wells Bring Hope: Wells Bring Hope drills wells and supports WASH programs in rural sub-Saharan Africa, primarily Niger. A small direct peer WASH-focused charity with similar rural village beneficiary model and donor-driven funding.
• Pure Water for the World: Pure Water for the World implements household water filters and hygiene education in Central America and Africa. Closely comparable model — small NGO distributing household water treatment hardware and sanitation training to rural villages.
• WaterAid Canada (formerly WaterCan): WaterAid Canada is a Canadian WASH-focused NGO operating in the same donor geography as MWP, funding WASH programs in Africa and Asia. Closely comparable as a Canadian-registered WASH charity with similar donor acquisition motion.
• CAWST (Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology): CAWST developed the biosand filter technology MWP deploys, provides training and quality assurance to MWP staff, and channels grant funding (e.g., Alberta Community Initiatives grant) to MWP. Operates in the same WASH category and is headquartered in the same city as MWP.
• Lifewater International: Lifewater International is a Christian WASH-focused nonprofit drilling wells and training communities in sanitation and hygiene across Africa and Asia. Directly comparable mission and rural village beneficiary model to MWP.

Emerging players

• Engineers Without Borders (Water Program): Engineers Without Borders works on WASH and rural infrastructure projects in Sub-Saharan Africa including Malawi. Comparable as a small-to-mid scale WASH implementing organization active in similar geographies.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/malawiwaterproject
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/malawi-water-project

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Malawi Water Project