Village People Project
Grant
Improving the life of women and children in rural China
We help villages in remote parts of North Western China install public and private bathrooms. After speaking extensively with village leaders and health professional in the area we realised that this was the single most important thing we could do to improve the health and quality of life of the women, children and old people, who live there.
Summary
Village People Project began as an idea ten years ago. We had witnessed how women in hard-to-reach parts of Gansu and Shaanxi provinces in northwestern China, were not benefitting greatly from the explosion in the country’s prosperity. They often felt isolated. They lacked strong social networks. They frequently suffered chronic low-level gynecological problems associated with a lack of public or private bathing facilities, no established habit of regular bathing practices, and all exacerbated by problems with decent water supplies.
Social Impact
We visited many villages. We spoke with local doctors and village leaders. We spoke with dozens of women to find out about their lives. Their aspirations. Their dreams.
And we kept hearing one dream again and again. “I love feeling clean. But there are no facilities for washing properly. There is only cold water from the standpipe: in winter it freezes up. We can’t get washed.”
Our solution? The Village People Project bathhouse.
Ten years on, we have successfully established four VPP bathhouses, four sustainable social enterprises. We serve a population of 15,000. Tens of thousand of showers have taken place in VPP bathhouses. One in five is free or subsidized so no one need miss out.
Our VPP bathhouses are sustainable projects that improve daily life for women and their families. Our method? “Venture philanthropy”, mixing charity and social enterprise. We provide donations for the capital expenditure, but expect the operations to deliver social benefits as well as profits that are recycled.
How you can help
We are now fundraising for solar bathrooms for individual houses in four Tibetan villages in Hualong County, Qinghai Province PRC. The villagers currently have no hot water or bathing facilities, leading to serious health problems from poor hygiene, and from the effects of fumes caused by heating water over wood fires.
Our partner is locally based Lotus Charity Association, who have an impressive track record with similar projects in the area. We have already raised funds to start work in the first two villages.
You can help by donating money which can be used to fund the building of a new bath house.
Village life in China is changing dramatically as most able bodied adults leave their homes to work as migrant workers in far distant areas, leaving behind their parents and small children. These are the two groups that our schemes benefit.
The Schools Scheme is operating in 3 of our villages. This scheme provides a monthly shower to all local students and creates a good habit of personal hygiene which can be extended to the entire family.
The Aged Scheme benefits everyone over 50- the official retirement age in China. There is no habit of regular bathing amongst older people in the villages and this scheme encourages this healthy habit to develop as well as providing the opportunity for social interaction.
We are currently developing plans for 4 more bath houses in a new area which is more remote and has no public bathing facilities and very limited private facilities. You can make a donation which will be used to fund construction and development of these new bath houses.
For more information please visit www.villagepeopleproject.org
Funding for this project via SharedImpact
is in the form of grants.
There is no financial return.
