Mohannad Hesham
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Evidence

The evidence record

Where each figure comes from, which evaluations the work has been part of, and what independent partners did on the strength of the results. Every number on this site traces to a dated source.

1,005,072peopleReached by the programmes
3,105interventionsAcross 259 villages in 8 governorates of Egypt
79stationsTreatment stations built, plus 30 wells and 19 river-bank filtration wells
2,466connectionsHousehold water connections, and 28.6 km of mains

From pilot to second phase

The Sawiris Foundation and Schneider Electric sign the partnership
The Sawiris Foundation and Schneider Electric sign the partnership that takes Water is Life into its second phase, Cairo
  1. PilotLife From Water ran the pilot phase of Water is Life for the Sawiris Foundation.
  2. EvaluatedJ-PAL MENA evaluated the pilot.
  3. ScaledThe Foundation and Schneider Electric signed a second phase: solar power and remote monitoring on around fifty community treatment units, for more than twenty-five thousand families in Minya, Assiut, Sohag and Qena.
  4. SignedBy Naguib Sawiris and Schneider Electric’s regional president, witnessed by the French ambassador to Egypt.

Where the evidence work meets government

HAPIE — the Hub of Advanced Policy Innovation for the Environment — launched at Egypt’s National Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development on 18 June 2025. It is part of J-PAL’s Air and Water Labs with Community Jameel, which pair government agencies with researchers on air and water problems. Life From Water signed as one of the founding partners.

The other founding partners are the Specialised Egyptian Federation for Water and Wastewater — which he co-founded and sits on the board of — Hassan Allam Holding, the Egyptian Biodynamic Association and Schneider Electric. Dr. Sherif Kamel, Dean of the Onsi Sawiris School of Business at the American University in Cairo, and Dr. Ahmed El-Sayed, Executive Director of J-PAL MENA, spoke at the launch.

Signing the HAPIE memorandum
Signing the HAPIE memorandum with Dr. Sherifa Sherif, Executive Director of the National Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development, Cairo

Evaluations

Life From Water is the implementing partner. The principal investigators design the studies and publish the results.

  1. 2023 – 25

    Household water treatment, randomised controlled trial

    Brown University and Universidad de San Andrés, with J-PAL and the Sawiris Foundation

    Published as “Familiar Taste, Safer Choices” (Buccione and Rossi, CEMFI working paper, 2025). Filtered water that keeps the taste of local water reached 91% adoption, against a ceiling of about 50% documented for chlorinated water, and people were willing to pay 61% more for it. The paper thanks Life From Water, and Mohannad Hesham by name, for implementing the study. Read the paper

    Implementing partnerTrial registration, AEA RCT Registry
  2. Since 2023

    Climate adaptation in agriculture, randomised controlled trial with 1,500 wheat and maize farmers

    CERDI and CNRS in France, the University of Antwerp, J-PAL, Egypt’s Ministry of Agriculture and its Central Administration for Agricultural Extension, and the National Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development

    Ongoing. Life From Water built the climate-resilient farming course and trained the extension agents who teach it to farmers in Assiut. Results are not yet published.

    Implementing partner
  3. 2025 – 26

    Health effects of safe water, impact evaluation

    Stanford University

    In progress. Results are not yet published.

    In progress

Publications and reports

Where a piece can be read, the title links to it. The paper on WaterEye is still being written. The policy paper and the baseline study for CARE Egypt and the PepsiCo Foundation were commissioned and are not public, so they are described rather than linked.

  1. 2025

    Familiar Taste, Safer Choices: Sensory Heuristics and the Adoption of Clean Water

    Giulia Buccione and Martín Rossi, CEMFI working paper · Implementing partner

  2. In progress

    A paper on WaterEye, the gauge-reading tool

    Supported by the Access to Knowledge for Development Center at the American University in Cairo, under the MENA Observatory on Responsible AI · Author

  3. 2025

    Smart Irrigation Practices in Minya Governorate

    Policy paper for the She Feeds the World programme of CARE Egypt and the PepsiCo Foundation. Recommendations for decision makers on moving smallholder farms to modern irrigation. · Co-author, with Life From Water’s team. Commissioned, not public.

  4. 2025

    Baseline study on agricultural practices

    CARE Egypt and the PepsiCo Foundation · Consulting work

  5. 2024

    Elevating Evidence on the Climate–Poverty Nexus

    Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, with the Sawiris Foundation · Contributing expert

  6. 2023

    Can Atmospheric Water Generators Resolve Egypt’s Water Crisis?

    EcoMENA · Co-author

  7. 2023

    20 for 20: Life From Water’s evidence-based journey in Egypt

    J-PAL MENA · Author

  8. Undated

    Water is Life: interventions to support healthy water practices

    Sawiris Foundation · Co-author

The field record

A finished borehole running for the first time

The wells are the part hardest to picture from a number. This is one of them on the day it started producing, with the pipe still open and the ground still being cut back.

22 seconds, no sound.

  • Filling containers at a village water point
    Filling containers at a village water point
  • Inside a finished village treatment station
    Inside a finished village treatment station
  • Solar panels powering a village water station
    Solar panels powering a village water station
  • A farmer in her field
    A farmer in her field
  • A borehole being drilled at a village site
    A borehole being drilled at a village site
  • What it looks like before: carrying the day’s water home
    What it looks like before: carrying the day’s water home
  • Cutting the trench down a village street
    Cutting the trench down a village street
  • Filtration and storage, after commissioning
    Filtration and storage, after commissioning
  • The first water out of a new line
    The first water out of a new line
  • Where it ends up: one household tap
    Where it ends up: one household tap

Send an enquiry

Choose a subject and the email opens with a few questions that help him reply usefully. Formal proposals and concept notes are welcome as attachments.

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