CEO and Founder of Water Heroes:

As the water situation throughout the Palestinian territories including the West Bank and Gaza continues to decline due to a lack of access and control over limited water supplies alternative solutions aimed at water conservation must be identified. Lamis Qdemat a graduate of Water and Environmental studies noticed the lack of awareness and sensitivity regarding water conservation amongst Palestinian youth.

As a result, Lamis took an innovative approach to bring raise awareness about water conservation starting with Palestinian children in primary schools, including governmental, private as well as UN schools. Lamis developed Water Heroes, a creative and innovative program which works to solve the current water crises affecting millions of Palestinians to create awareness and promote water conservation.

The Water Heroes team consists of a programmer, branding specialist, game designer, as well as a game developer who are dedicated to developing a product that has the potential to achieve the greatest impact. Attending international as well as local workshops, Lamis managed to translate Water Heroes, a program which fuses social and environmental education into a sustainable business project. However, Lamis recalls that despite the difficulties she faced in translating Water Heroes into a reality, it was important for her to find a strong network of support amongst like-minded environmentalists and tech developers, “it is important to be in touch with the startup community it helps not only with networking but to continue to learn and produce the best work possible.”

Lamis’s passion for the environment and her work towards water conservation inspired her to take a stand and make a change. As a result, Water Heroes was created as an interactive program designed to educate and inspire primary school students to become more conscious about the way they use water, Lamis explains, “I developed this game to help raise awareness amongst Palestinian youth about the growing water issues facing Palestinian communities today, so that children can begin to use water more responsibly and care about their environment.”

With over a ninety percent approval rating tested amongst families and youth, the prototype of Water Heroes is set to elevate environmental issues to the forefront especially water conservation. Lamis explains that awareness campaigns are an essential component to water heroes, “Raising awareness is an important aspect to Water Heroes, by inspiring a new generation of Palestinians to care about their environment and conserve water, we can sustainably use and preserve our resources.”

By the end of 2018 Water Heroes is set to launch in at least one public school and afterwards expand to additional Palestinian primary schools. With further funding Lamis aims to expand the scope of Water Heroes, to incorporate other environmental issues such as sanitation, hygiene and waste, to preserve the environmental landscape and natural resources of Palestine.

Water Heroes has the potential to positively affect communities throughout the MENA region that suffer from water shortages by inspiring a new generation of youth to become mindful of the way they use resources. Finally, Lamis explains what Water Heroes means to her, “You have to pursue or create something you are passionate about to effect real meaningful change that helps communities, which is what I hope to do with Water Heroes.”