Sophie Lehideux

Kynarou is a development association working to generate sustainable access to drinking water, sanitation and waste management in underprivileged communities in southern India in particular.

Kynarou’s initiative generates a virtuous cycle, because access to drinking water significantly improves day-to-day living conditions. Once the water is available, the communities are able to use the communal sanitary facilities (equipped with wastewater treatment systems) that Kynarou also builds in parallel. Wastewater management is the final step in its sanitation activities, and the last stage in the initiatives currently being developed. These initiatives include agro-ecology, which enables women to better feed their families, creating pesticide- and chemical-free organic gardens, restoring soil quality, developing a village-based farming economy, and reusing wastewater from sanitary facilities. Kynarou is thus improving living conditions for local communities while raising awareness about environmental factors and establishing good management practices for the facilities they build. It also fosters environmental protection via its agro-ecology scheme.