Open source: Akvo.org, a “Wikipedia and eBay for water”

Akvo.org is a project presented at the 2007 Stockholm World Water Week that aims to be an open source wiki and set of collaboration and finance tools that pool existing knowledge on water and sanitation for the poor. A prototype web site has been developed that already has a number of operational elements such as Akvopedia, Akvoblog and Akvo Forum. Initially Akvodepia has drawn most of its material from the publications Smart Water Solutions and Smart Sanitation Solutions.

Akvo was founded by five organisations in the autumn of 2006: GreenOcean, IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre (IRC), Movement Design Bureau, Netherlands Water Partnership (NWP), and UNESCO-IHE. It is in the process of being incorporated in The Netherlands as a non-profit foundation. Akvo has received start-up funding from NWP, Partners voor Water, and IRC, and is currently seeking further funds to develop the project. Pilot projects are planned in India.

There are several existing open source or open design-related initiatives and resources in the water and sanitation sector, mostly related to appropriate technology. These include:

• Appropedia – water portal
• Wikipedia – water portal
• Waterwiki
• WatSan.org
• WatsanWeb
• Lifewater (see online resources)
• Water-e (slow sand filtration)
• CD3WD, an offline wiki for the third world

Contact: Akvo, c/o Peter van der Linde, Netherlands Water Partnership (NWP), akvo@akvo.org, http://www.akvo.org/

Keywords

• Sanitation - On-site sanitation
• Information and communication
• Water supply