Water for All

Our Project Goals

Access to clean, safe drinking water remains a major challenge for schoolchildren in rural India. The school in Peddapalli, Telangana, lacks basic water infrastructure, forcing students to rely on unsafe sources that threaten their health, education, and future.

Local water sources are contaminated with fluoride, nitrates, bacteria, and heavy metals such as arsenic and lead, all linked to serious health issues. These issues include chronic illness, developmental delays, and waterborne diseases like cholera, typhoid, hepatitis A, and dysentery. These illnesses often keep children out of school for extended periods and some don’t return at all. Girls are especially affected:

• Many leave school after puberty because poor sanitation makes it difficult to manage menstruation safely.
• Some are forced to stay home to fetch water from distant sources while their brothers attend school. Without clean water, they are forced to sacrifice their education and future.

Through Neelu, we’re turning clean water into a tool for education and equality. The school has nearly 400 students aged 5 to 17 and our partner, the local NGO: Women Development Welfare Society (WDWS), will install a sustainable water purification system in the school that provides safe drinking water daily. They will also build a sanitation and hand-washing station to improve hygiene and dignity in everyday school life.

To ensure long-term impact, they will deliver a full awareness program. This includes training on personal hygiene, menstrual health, sanitation practices, and the importance of drinking enough clean water during school hours. Students and staff will also be taught to reuse wastewater for gardening, dishwashing, and toilet flushing, conserving water and replenishing groundwater levels.

They have previously done this for many schools and have sent us the photos attached below for the school in Karimnagar, Telangana, India.

Giving to our project will directly benefit 400 students, school staff, and their families, with a ripple effect throughout the community. It will help reduce dropout rates, improve health, and ensure every child, especially girls, has the chance to grow, learn, and thrive in a healthy, supportive environment.

The Neelu Team and Our Partners

Why Neelu? Neelu means water in Telugu, the language of Telangana.

We are Jaydan, Antonio, Enes, and Maia (from left to right in the photo), students at the University of Geneva’s Faculty of Economics and Management. We created our NGO in September 2024 as part of the Projets Responsables course, under the guidance of our professor, Dr. Samad Laaroussi. Neelu was born from our shared belief that access to clean water should never stand in the way of a child’s education or well-being.

To bring our vision to life, we’ve partnered with Frères de nos Frères (FdnF), a Geneva-based NGO with decades of humanitarian experience. Their ZEWO certification guarantees transparency and efficiency, ensuring that donations are used responsibly and have a lasting impact. All financial and project reports are publicly available on their website.

On the ground in Telangana, India, we work closely with Women Development Welfare Society (WDWS). Their deep local knowledge and dedication to community empowerment help us implement practical, sustainable solutions tailored to the needs of the students in Peddapalli.

In addition to our core team, we’ve also involved high school students from the Ecole Internationale de Genève through their CAS (Creativity, Activity, Service) program. Their participation brings fresh energy and a sense of global solidarity, proving that young people can be powerful agents of change.

Neelu is more than just a student project, it’s a growing collaboration between youth, local communities, and experienced NGOs, united by a shared mission to make clean water accessible to every student.

All funds raised will go directly to Frères de nos Frères to support this project. As students and a nonprofit initiative, we will not receive any personal compensation. You can rest assured that your donation is in trusted hands, and that it will go entirely toward the cause.

Join Our Cause

We need your help to bring clean drinking water and safe sanitation to the school in Peddapalli, India.

We want to make sure every child in Peddapalli can go to school without worrying about dirty water or missing class due to preventable illnesses, where girls no longer have to stay home because of poor hygiene conditions. We can’t look away, so let’s start now, together.

Thanks to our collaboration with trusted and experienced local partners, every donation goes directly where it’s needed most:

💧 10 CHF supports awareness programs on clean water and hygiene.

💧 30 CHF covers two months of upkeep for a water purification system.

💧 50 CHF contributes to sustainable installations like water-saving systems and handwashing stations.

💧 100 CHF funds the operation of safe sanitation facilities for one month.

💧 300 CHF covers 15% of the water purification system.

💧 500 CHF supports 10% of the entire project, including awareness raising programs, water purification system and safe sanitation facilities.

You are free to give the amount that feels right for you. Every Swiss Franc counts, and the more you give, the greater the impact you create.

If we exceed our 5,000 CHF goal, we’ll be able to expand this initiative to other rural schools across Telangana, bringing clean water and better health to even more students. There are currently two other schools waiting for urgent help in Mallapoor and Arnakonda.

Together, we’re not just building infrastructure, we’re supporting these students’ futures.

If you need any further information, we will be happy to answer any questions by email at info@neelu.org or on our social media.