Launched in June 2025, this partnership between Virridy and Asili — a Congolese social enterprise supported by the Eastern Congo Initiative — maintains and expands clean water services in conflict-affected eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, specifically South Kivu province. Asili operates 69 water stations served by 84 locally employed Water Mamas, delivering 89 million liters of clean water per year to 80,000 current beneficiaries.
The program’s financial innovation is carbon finance: water kiosks eliminate both the fuelwood burned by households that currently boil water, and the “suppressed demand” of the many more who drink contaminated, untreated water because they cannot afford to boil it. Both emission-reduction pathways generate Gold Standard-certified carbon credits. Virridy committed a $1 million advance carbon credit purchase — structured as four milestone-triggered tranches of $250,000 each, totaling 200,000 credits at $5 per credit — to fund Asili’s expansion. Asili has already acquired approximately 40 water systems from Mercy Corps with 1.5 million liters per day combined capacity, to be rehabilitated using tranche disbursements as each milestone is reached.
An initial phase reaches 350,000 people by 2028. A second tranche brings an additional 300,000 new beneficiaries online, reaching 650,000 people by 2029 — eight times the current network, sustained without dependence on humanitarian aid cycles.
Asili — meaning “foundation” in Swahili — was launched in July 2014 in the Kabare region of South Kivu. It emerged from a 2013 human-centered design process by IDEO.org, funded by USAID, with the American Refugee Committee (now Alight) as incubating partner. Seven local mothers “chimed in on everything from the logo to the business plan” during the 12-week co-design process, creating an enterprise shaped by the people it serves.
Rather than a traditional NGO delivering services to passive beneficiaries, Asili is structured as a for-profit social enterprise. Every water kiosk and health clinic must earn the business of every customer, every single day. This model creates genuine accountability: if quality drops, customers go elsewhere. By 2019, the water kiosks had become fully self-reliant. Asili is now led and run entirely by Congolese staff, with Water Mamas, doctors, nurses, and plumbers all hired locally.
In August 2020, Eastern Congo Initiative (ECI) acquired Asili; it now operates as an independently registered local organization. ECI was co-founded by actor and activist Ben Affleck in 2010 to support Congolese-led solutions to the crisis in eastern DRC. Asili has since expanded to 10 service zones across South Kivu, each combining water access, primary healthcare, and agricultural support into a single community hub. In November 2023, ECI joined the Millennium Water Alliance as its 20th member organization.
Eastern DRC has experienced decades of conflict involving more than 100 armed groups. In February 2025, M23 fighters entered Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu, displacing hundreds of thousands of residents. The crisis sent cholera cases spiking and forced families to drink untreated water from Lake Kivu. Asili continued operating through this period — a demonstration of the resilience of a locally owned, self-sustaining enterprise.
"Reliable, high-quality water services are a lifeline for communities in eastern Congo, where instability has made traditional aid approaches unsustainable."
Valéry Namuto, Asili Director — June 2025
"Carbon finance has already proven to be a reliable tool for sustaining safe water programs in Africa."
Evan Thomas, CEO & Founder, Virridy — June 2025
Each water station is operated by a Water Mama — a locally hired woman who manages water sales, customer relationships, and day-to-day kiosk operations. The role creates permanent local employment and ensures every community has a trusted, accountable point of contact for water access.
Members receive five 19-liter jerry cans of clean water per day (95 liters total) plus subsidized clinic and medicine access. Non-members may purchase water individually at higher per-unit rates. Approximately 90–95% of community members can afford the service; a small fund subsidizes those who cannot.
Each Asili “zone” co-locates water kiosks, water fountains, and a health clinic in a single community hub. The zone model creates a local marketplace where residents access water, healthcare, and economic services in one place, maximizing convenience and uptake.
Asili has installed 60 kilometers of pipeline since founding, reaching villages that had never had piped water infrastructure. The 2024 network includes a new 500,000-liter reservoir, a 5,000-liter school tank serving 900 students at Buhimba Primary School, and cross-subsidization from institutional customers in higher-income Mudaka market.
Virridy’s Lume IoT sensors at each water station measure continuous flow and water quality data, transmitting in near-real-time to the cloud. This continuous data enables Gold Standard-certified carbon credit generation without periodic manual surveys — making each liter of safe water delivered directly traceable to a verified emission reduction.
Because Asili is locally owned and commercially self-sustaining, it can continue operating through conflict periods when international organizations evacuate or donor funding pauses. During the February 2025 M23 crisis in Bukavu, Asili’s 400,000-liter reservoir provided water to 120,000 displaced people, with plans to pipe directly into IDP camps.
69 water stations, 10 service zones across South Kivu. Commercially self-sustaining since Q1 2019. Virridy–Asili carbon partnership launched June 10, 2025.
Four milestone-triggered tranches ($250K each) fund rehabilitation of ~40 Mercy Corps water systems (1.5M L/day capacity, ~$950K rehab budget) and new zone construction. Target: 350,000 people served by end of 2028.
An additional 300,000 new beneficiaries brought online, reaching 650,000 people total by 2029. Carbon revenue from Phase 1 credits co-finances Phase 2 infrastructure.