08 June 2023 at 07:00PM
Wells Bring Hope
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Wells Bring Hope is an all-volunteer nonprofit and so volunteers are the lifeblood of our organization. They hold positions at all levels with varying levels of responsibility and involvement. You can choose one that’s right for you. The best part is that you can make a difference from anywhere – our volunteers span the globe and most do their work remotely, connecting with team members online!
View and apply for our current open positions on Volunteer Match or email ida@wellsbringhope.org for information on other mays you might volunteer with us.
Ida Beal Harding has been a volunteer with the PMI-LA chapter since 1993. She has held virtually every position that exists in the chapter, as well as numerous positions in PMI Global. But she has also helped found another organization named Wells Bring Hope and has volunteered with the organization ever since – now more than 15 years.
Along with six other LA women, she helped found this organization in 2008 after seeing a slide presentation by Gil Garcetti (father of our former Mayor Eric Garcetti). They were overwhelmingly touched by the women & girls in Niger, West Africa, having to spend all their time walking miles to get water for their families & the fact that girls are not being allowed to go to school -- particularly because this water they work so hard to get is CONTAMINATED. It consistently causes disease & even death. Currently 1 out of 7 babies die before they are 5 years old!
Wells Bring Hope (WBH) partners with World Vision & does fundraising to drill wells in villages in Niger, West Africa, consistently the poorest country in the world. World Vision does the actual “boots-on-the-ground” work there. 100% of all donations to Wells Bring Hope go towards wells, a claim few other nonprofits can make. Every donor receives a report about the village they’ve helped drill a well in. It shows the date the well was drilled, the name of the village, its location on the map of Niger, its GPS Coordinates, its population, & how deep the well is.
The WBH model is different from that of other nonprofits. Having traveled throughout Africa, Ida has seen many abandoned wells drilled by well-meaning groups across the world. Many wells are abandoned because the local villagers feel the well belongs to those outside groups, and they have no way to contact them when something goes wrong with the well.
Unlike other organizations, WBH requires the village to 1) contribute a small amount of money (to feel a sense of ownership) & 2) create a maintenance committee of 7or 9 people (half women) whom they train in how to maintain the well & also in sanitation/hygiene & how to build latrines. These committee members train the rest of the village.
After a well is drilled, World Vision provides microfinance programs for the women of the village. They give each group a metal lock box with a small notebook for each woman. They meet with the group weekly for several weeks and train the women to write their names and numbers in the notebook. Women use the lockbox as their bank and write in their notebook when they put money into the box. Meanwhile, they discuss ideas for small businesses they can start. When the box has enough money, the group provides a small interest free loan to a woman to start her business.
As of June 15, 2023, the organization has drilled 776 wells, improving lives of over 777,770 people immediately & for generations to come.
Ida Harding is on the Board of Directors and acts as Director of Volunteer Management. She works approximately 700 hours per year for the organization, as she has for the past 15 years. In those years when she travels to Niger (to interview women about the need for clean water and take more photographs and videos for the website), the time is obviously much greater.
Her team of 4 volunteers writes job descriptions & posts them on Volunteer Match.org. Ida trains & oversees team managers in how to manage their volunteers (because managing volunteers is different from managing paid employees). They have 50-60 volunteers at any one time, as well as advisors in different areas who help when called upon. They also have one time volunteers at fundraisers. They focus on retention of volunteers by 1) doing check-in calls with each volunteer to see how he/she is enjoying the volunteer role & 2) by publishing a monthly volunteer newsletter.
Ida feels that working with Wells Bring Hope has changed her life. She has an emotional connection with the cause and gets a strong sense of purpose from her volunteer work. She enjoys the types of tasks she does such as interviewing nominees & finding just the right position for each one. She also enjoys writing and editing articles, motivating & leading her team of volunteer coordinators & encouraging team managers on how to better lead their teams. She has made lasting friendships with other BOD members & volunteers & donors.
In March 2020, Ida published a paper (by request of the editor) in the PMI World Journal entitled “Using Project Management Skills to Provide Safe Water to Villages in Niger” (https://pmworldlibrary.net/authors/ida-b-harding/ ). She was awarded the 2020 Editor’s Choice Award for the paper.
For more information about Wells Bring Hope or to make a donation, go to www.wellsbringhope.org.
Ida has created a Water Circle for the chapter where we can track the donations made just by PMI-LA chapter members. To donate go to https://wellsbringhope.networkforgood.com/projects/94368-pmi-los-angeles-chapter-s-fundraiser.
Nagode! (Thank You!)
PMI-LA Volunteers Needed
The next event for WBH will be the afternoon of October 1, 2023 at the home of Gil Garcetti in Brentwood. About 25 volunteers will be needed. If interested, please contact Ida Harding at ida@wellsbringhope.org.
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