UNICEF taps Biolan for development project

Finnish ecological farming and green area management company Biolan will develop taps that will be tested in Mozambique until 2019. The goal is to verify the functioning of the tap in developing-country conditions, which require durability and a long working life.

“We, at Biolan, see the growth potential in developing-country markets and believe that the elephant tap will play a vital part in the development of ecological sanitation,” says Biolan CEO Teppo Rantanen.

Supporting hand washing in developing countries is an effective way to mitigate and prevent diseases resulting from bad hygiene, including diarrhoea.

However, it’s not just the market potential that has driven the company’s interest in the region and product development: “It is also important for us to bear our global responsibility, which is why we want to utilise our knowhow for the betterment of the world’s children, in cooperation with UNICEF,” Rantanen continues.

The Biolan group’s Novarbo has also participated in promoting sustainable farming solutions globally.

The elephant tap has been developed since 2014, as part of the UniWASH project, which aims to promote innovative solutions to water, sanitation and hygiene-related problems. In addition to the technical innovations, the project itself is a progressive and scalable model for cooperation in other sectors as well, as executive director of the Finnish National Committee for UNICEF, Marja-Riitta Ketola elaborates: “In order to secure clean water and proper hygiene for children and their families all over the world, the cooperation of different development actors is needed.”

The cooperation between Biolan and UNICEF is related to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 6, which aims to ensure access to water and sanitation in a sustainable way.