The Stone Family Foundation

We looked for initiatives based in sub-Saharan Africa and South and South-East Asia that are focused on improving drinking water quality, accessibility or availability. Although sanitation and hygiene may make up a component of the initiative, the majority of the work had to focus on drinking water.

Prize criteria

The focus of the Prize was on identifying and supporting interesting and exciting new ways to set up sustainable services to improve drinking water quality, accessibility or availability. Ultimately, the prize-winning initiatives either met or demonstrated the potential to meet the following six criteria:

• Innovation: Initiatives should be fresh and original, and different from other existing approaches and ideas, whether through a new business model, a new use of technology, or a new way of delivering services.

• Entrepreneurial: Initiatives should stand out for their ambition and their entrepreneurial attitude. Applicants must demonstrate a clear understanding of the need they address, the client group they target and the viability of their business model.

• Early-stage: Initiatives should be at an early stage of development, although they must have some evidence that their concept is likely to be successful. Schemes that are well-established will not be considered, nor will completely untested ideas–the applicant must already have some presence in the field. Initiatives should make a coherent case for how the Prize money would help take them to the next stage of their development.

• Effective: Initiatives should be able to demonstrate the potential to deliver promising results and achieve significant social, health and economic benefits for the people they work with.

• Sustainable:Initiatives must have a clear plan for the long-term sustainability of their model: financial, operational and environmental.

• Scalability: Over the medium-to-long-term, initiatives must have the potential to be applied at scale at a national or international level. Applicants must have a clear vision of the financial and delivery model necessary to take the initiative to scale and how they will achieve this.