GiveWell, Dispensers for Safe Water grant size, costs and room for more funding [September 2025]

	A	B	C	D	E
1	Cost per dispenser per year, during grant
2		Malawi	Uganda	Kenya	Source
3	# of dispensers, 2019	3,743	5,389	18,003	"The average number of dispensers present in 2019 is 18,003 dispensers in Kenya, 5,302 dispensers in Uganda, and 3,728 dispensers in Malawi. These figures vary slightly from the figures we previously reported because they provide a monthly average of the number of dispensers present in 2019 rather than a snapshot of the number of dispensers present in December 2019" Evidence Action staff, email to GiveWell, November 24, 2021
4	Current Dispensers for Safe Water footprint
5	# maintenance years	4	4	3	"The grant covers maintenance of the current footprint for four years in Malawi and Uganda and three years in Kenya" GiveWell, Evidence Action's Dispensers for Safe Water program – General Support (January 2022)
6	Maintenance costs	$6,242,251	$7,600,053	$10,118,022	"Grant size" tab
7	Exit cost	$2,684,593	$3,173,340		"Grant size" tab, "Source: Summary" tab
8	Exit phase, full scale and adherence equivalent dispenser years	1.25	1.25		GiveWell, Copy of DSW expansion model, 2021 (unpublished). Assumes full scale and adherence for the 11 months (when DSW would be discussing alternative water treatment option with the communities served) and then decreased scale/adherence afterwards, as DSW de-installs dispensers. See note for quote.
9	Current footprint, cost per dispenser year	$456	$387		Calc
10
11	New footprint (expansion)
12	# new dispensers per country	12,202	12,514	907	DSW 2023 M&E
13	Scale up cost	$5,266,822	$5,416,885	$0	Source: "Summary" tab. Subtracting $100k from Malawi and Uganda ($200k total) to account for increased management costs needed during the initial grant period to prepare for future scale up. Source: "Is the DSW management/country team as designed set DSW up for 6-10x expansion next year? If not, provide a rough budget for that cost. We think we would need an additional $200k per year for staffing to handle this type of expansion. We’ll likely need added capacity at the country level (e.g. add Deputy Country Directors), MLE (2 additional managers at the regional level)." DSW, Email, Nov. 1, 2021 (unpublished)
14	Scale up phase, full scale and adherence equivalent dispenser/years	0.25	0.20	0	MC_copy of expansion model (unpublished)
15	Maintenance costs	$13,149,095	$12,346,077	$0	"Grant size" tab. Calc. Subtracting $100k from Malawi and Uganda ($200k total) to account for increased management costs needed during the initial grant period to prepare for future scale up. Source: "Is the DSW management/country team as designed set DSW up for 6-10x expansion next year? If not, provide a rough budget for that cost. We think we would need an additional $200k per year for staffing to handle this type of expansion. We’ll likely need added capacity at the country level (e.g. add Deputy Country Directors), MLE (2 additional managers at the regional level)." DSW, Email, Nov. 1, 2021 (unpublished)
16	Exit cost	$5,180,011	$4,862,397	$0	"Grant size" tab
17	Exit phase, full scale and adherence equivalent dispenser years	1.25	1.25	0	MC_copy of expansion model (unpublished). Assumes full scale and adherence for the 11 months (when DSW would be discussing alternative water treatment option with the communities served) and then decreased scale/adherence afterwards, as DSW de-installs dispensers. See note for quote.
18	New dispensers, cost per dispenser year	$352	$332	$0	Calc
19	All dispensers, cost per dispenser year			$178
20
21		Malawi	Uganda	Kenya
22	Cost per dispenser year, current footprint	$456	$387	$178	Calc
23	Cost per dispenser year, new dispensers	$352	$332	0	Calc
24	Evidence Action spending to date, compared to expectations	92%	92%	92%	See this section of our report on the DSW program for more.
25	Cost per dispenser year, current footprint, adjusted	$420	$356	$164	Calc
26	Cost per dispenser year, new dispensers, adjusted	$324	$305	0	Calc
27
28	# old dispensers-years	19,635	28,270	54,009	DSW program and M&E 2021
29	# new dispensers-years	67,100	68,177	0	Calc
30
31	Weighted average (cost per dispenser year)	$345	$320	$164	Calc
32
33	Avg. No. of PEOPLE per Household (including <5 children)	4.71	6.53	4.96	DSW 2023 M&E
34	Avg. No. of Housholds per Dispenser	34.97	37.79	21.1	DSW 2023 M&E
35
36	Average ppl per dispenser	165	247	105	Calc
37	Average cost per person, per year	$2.10	$1.30	$1.57	Calc
38	Short term cost per dispenser per year, as a % of long term costs	113%	114%	104%	Calc
39	Cost per dispenser per year, long term
40		Malawi	Uganda	Kenya
41	Current footprint
42	Maintenance cost, per year	$1,560,563	$1,900,013	$3,458,362	Calc
43	# maintenance years	10	10	10	Subjective guess.
44	Exit cost	$2,684,593	$3,173,340		Calc
45	Exit phase, full scale and adherence equivalent dispenser years	1.25	1.25	1.25	MC_copy of expansion model (unpublished). Assumes full scale and adherence for the 11 months (when DSW would be discussing alternative water treatment option with the communities served) and then decreased scale/adherence afterwards, as DSW de-installs dispensers. See note for quote.
46	Current footprint, cost per dispenser/year	$435	$366	$171	Calc
47
48	New footprint
49	Scale up cost	$5,266,822	$5,416,885		Calc. Subtracting $100k from Malawi and Uganda ($200k total) to account for increased management costs needed during the initial grant period to prepare for future scale up. Source: "Is the DSW management/country team as designed set DSW up for 6-10x expansion next year? If not, provide a rough budget for that cost. We think we would need an additional $200k per year for staffing to handle this type of expansion. We’ll likely need added capacity at the country level (e.g. add Deputy Country Directors), MLE (2 additional managers at the regional level)." DSW, Email, Nov. 1, 2021 (unpublished)
50	Scale up phase, full scale and adherence equivalent dispenser years	0.25	0.20		MC_copy of expansion model (unpublished)
51	Maintenance cost, per year	$3,187,274	$2,986,519		Calc. Subtracting $100k from Malawi and Uganda ($200k total) to account for increased management costs needed during the initial grant period to prepare for future scale up. Source: "Is the DSW management/country team as designed set DSW up for 6-10x expansion next year? If not, provide a rough budget for that cost. We think we would need an additional $200k per year for staffing to handle this type of expansion. We’ll likely need added capacity at the country level (e.g. add Deputy Country Directors), MLE (2 additional managers at the regional level)." DSW, Email, Nov. 1, 2021 (unpublished)
52	# maintenance years	10	10		Subjective guess
53	Exit cost	$5,180,011	$4,862,397		Calc
54	Exit phase, full scale and adherence equivalent dispenser years	1.25	1.25		MC_copy of expansion model (unpublished). Assumes full scale and adherence for the 11 months (when DSW would be discussing alternative water treatment option with the communities served) and then decreased scale/adherence afterwards, as DSW de-installs dispensers. See note for quote.
55	New dispensers, cost per dispenser/year	$302	$280		Calc
56
57		Malawi	Uganda	Kenya
58	Cost per dispenser year, current footprint	$435	$366	$171	Calc
59	Cost per dispenser year, new dispensers	$302	$280	0	Calc
60	Evidence Action spending to date, compared to expectations	92%	92%	92%	See table of spending to date in this section of our report on DSW.
61	Cost per dispenser year, current footprint, adjusted	$400	$337	$157	Calc
62	Cost per dispenser year, new dispensers, adjusted	$277	$258	0	Calc
63
64	# old dispenser-years	41,924	59,625	202,459	DSW program and M&E 2021
65	# new dispenser-years	140,312	143,261	0	Calc
66
67	Cost per dispenser year, weighted average	$306	$281	$157	Calc
68	Average cost per person, per year	$1.86	$1.14	$1.50	Calc
69
70	Ministries of Health (MoH) costs
71	MoH costs, per year, per country	$150,035.00	$45,374.00	$0.00	"(i) Using a valuation approach alone, we would estimate the in-kind contribution of health workers in Malawi to be up to $138,701 annually. (ii) Using primarily a valuation approach we would estimate the in-kind contribution of chlorine storage in Uganda and Malawi to be up to $45,374 annually for Uganda and up to $11,334 annually for Malawi." (unpublished source)
72	Government costs, per person, per year	$0.24	$0.03	$0.00	Calc
73
74	Recurring vs. one-off costs
75	Recurring costs per person/year (maintenance)	$1.80	$1.10	$1.84	Calc
76	One off costs per person (set up and exit)	$5.20	$3.33	$4.26	Calc
77
78	Cost per dispenser per year, beginning of grant through 2023, GiveWell's best guesses as of 2025
79	Pre expansion footprint
80	# of dispensers maintained as of the beginning of the grant	3,743	5,389	18,003	Note that we use the number of dispensers maintained in 2019 as a proxy for the number maintained at the beginning of GiveWell's grant, because Evidence Action did not expand the program between 2019 and 2022
81	Number of years dispensers were maintained from the beginning of the grant through the end of 2023	2	2	2	January 2022 to December 2023
82	Expansion footprint
83	# new dispensers per country	12,202	12,514	907	DSW 2023 M&E
84	Scale up phase, full scale and adherence equivalent dispenser/years	0.25	0.20	0	This parameter accounts for the time it took Evidence Action to install new dispensers. At the time we made the grant, Evidence Action projected installations would be completed by May 2023. In fact, installations were completed in June 2023. Because this difference is so small, we have not updated these calculations since the point we made the initial grant.
85	Maintenance phase, equivalent dispenser years	0.5	0.5	0.5	Evidence Action completed installations in June 2023. We therefore account for a half year of dispensers operating at full scale, from July to December 2023
86	Totals
87	Total dispenser years provided from the beginning of the grant through the end of 2023	16,677	19,566	36,460	Calculation
88	Total costs incurred	$11,409,736	$12,019,292	$6,579,522	Source: Evidence Action, DSW Annual GiveWell report (2023). Available here
89	Cost per dispenser per year	$684	$614	$180	Calculation
90	Average people served per dispenser	165	247	105	Source: DSW 2023 M&E
91	Average cost per person, per year	$4.15	$2.49	$1.72	Calculation
92
93	Cost per dispenser per year, beginning of grant through 2023, GiveWell's best guesses at the point we made the grant
94	Pre expansion footprint
95	# of dispensers maintained as of the beginning of the grant	3,743	5,389	18,003	Note that we use the number of dispensers maintained in 2019 as a proxy for the number maintained at the beginning of GiveWell's grant, because Evidence Action did not expand the program between 2019 and 2022
96	Number of years dispensers were maintained from the beginning of the grant through the end of 2023	2	2	2	January 2022 to December 2023
97	Expansion footprint
98	# new dispensers per country	12,000	12,000		"Source: Summary" tab
99	Scale up phase, full scale and adherence equivalent dispenser/years	0.25	0.20	0	MC_copy of expansion model (unpublished)
100	Maintenance phase, equivalent dispenser years	0.58	0.58	0.58	Evidence Action planned to complete installations in May 2023. We therefore account for 7 months of dispensers operating at full scale, from June to December 2023