The Target 6.1 Map
The difference between a water project that fails and one that lasts is rarely the pump: it is the data behind it. Digital infrastructure makes water governable. The Target 6.1 Map makes it governed.
The Target 6.1 digital system is licensed by our partner, Clean Water for All Pty Ltd.
The information gap.
The world cannot see who has water. At a global scale, the water challenges of many communities are simply unknown: measure access at the basic level and the picture looks almost complete, measure what actually keeps people safe, and the unknown grows to billions.
The gap is widest in sub-Saharan Africa, home to the largest share of people living without basic access or safely managed drinking water. It is also the region with the highest water poverty and the highest rate of water project failure. In Nigeria, for example, it is estimated that over 40 million people have no access to safe drinking water, yet no one knows exactly where they live. Without a centralised data management system to show who has access and who does not, aid arrives uncoordinated, efforts overlap, and sustainable water projects pay the price.
Built to solve water poverty.
To solve water poverty, you must know where the people who need help live, understand the challenges they face, and work with them on a sustainable solution. Locally led solutions are vital, but even a locally led solution can only succeed when the challenge itself is understood. The Target 6.1 Map solves this challenge, and many more. What the Map lets us achieve is listed below.
Comprehensive project management
Tracks every water project from inception to completion, with every detail accounted for.
Centralised mapping system
One live overview of water infrastructure functionality, for sharper planning and response.
Aid coordination
Prevents overlapping efforts by NGOs and governments, so resources are distributed equitably.
Interagency collaboration platform
Gives NGOs, governments and stakeholders one place to cooperate efficiently.
Transparency and accountability
Public access to project data keeps every project real, verifiable and sustainable.
Priority and beneficiary analysis
Identifies the communities most in need, so resources land where they matter most.
Location viability rating
Evaluates and ranks project sites for long-term success and sustainability.
Cost analysis
Detailed cost assessments for planning and budgeting.
Operation and maintenance management
Supports the operation, maintenance and repair of new and existing water projects.
Public engagement tools
Keeps communities informed and engaged throughout the project lifecycle.
Post-construction metrics
Tracks long-term sustainability through detailed reporting on outcomes. Download a sample report.
Real-time monitoring
Tracks infrastructure functionality live, enabling immediate response to issues.
Understanding the challenge in mapped communities.
Donors and partners see at a glance where help is needed and where water is already running. The first 1,700+ communities, mapped across Oyo, Osun and Ekiti, were the pilot that built this capacity. In 2026 alone, an improved mapping approach evaluated a further 1,903 communities and 5,956 public water sources across Oyo State, deepening the data that trains our predictive models. The Map below shows the initial 1,700+ communities; an improved map for the ongoing mapping project is underway.
The Abeku case study.
A longitudinal case study of the Abeku Smart Water Kiosk, built on more than 1,700 days of live operational data: operational, financial, user-behaviour and water quality metrics, tracked continuously to close the gap between construction and sustained access to clean water.
Abeku Community Smart Water Kiosk
View the live recordRecorded by our founder: watch the full presentation to understand the metrics we track, and how they enable proactive management and early risk detection.
Questions funders ask us.
A centralised, transparent digital system that maps communities living in water poverty, predicts a water project's sustainability before construction, and monitors every system live after construction, in support of UN Sustainable Development Goal 6.1. It runs across Nigeria today and is designed to be adopted in other regions.
You cannot design a lasting solution for a community you cannot see. When infrastructure is planned without knowing where people live and the interrelated challenges they face, it is poorly matched to the community it is meant to serve: across our mapped communities, about half of the infrastructure previously built has already failed. The Map records each community's location, water sources, challenges and priorities, so every solution starts from understanding rather than assumption.
Before construction, the Map scores location viability from the field data, and our peer-reviewed Predictive Iterative Sustainability Model (PISM), published in Water Supply (2024), forecasts a project's sustainability before anything is built. Funders back projects the evidence says can last. The method is in our publications.
Smart sensors stream 16+ metrics per system into a public record: usage, reliability, income against expense and water quality. The Abeku kiosk has reported this way for more than 1,700 days at 98.7% reliability across 5+ years. Open any record on the Map, or download a sample of the metrics we track. Nothing depends on taking our word for it.
Each Smart Water Kiosk is designed to sustain its own operation: communities pay modest water fees, and the Map tracks income against expense live, so the financial health of every system is public. At Abeku, income has covered operating expense. Where income from water sales is not sufficient to cover expense, our team engages local individuals capable of sponsoring to provide water credit, so the system keeps serving. Grants and sponsorships fund mapping and construction; the systems themselves are designed to fund their upkeep.
The structure is deliberate: Clean Water for All Pty Ltd founded the software and owns its IP, and FairAction, as a partner and related party, is licensed to use it. Research and methodology sit with FairAction International and FairAction Nigeria, and the system is engineered by Essential Need Project Limited. FairAction is an ACNC-registered charity, DGR endorsed, a Public Benevolent Institution and an ACFID member; our policies and financials are on the governance page.
The Map is designed to be adopted in regions facing similar challenges, and honestly, scaling is not just software: it needs local field teams, community relationships and funding for mapping and construction. Visit where we work to read how our work can be adopted or adapted to your region of interest, and email us at partnership@fairaction.ngo with any further questions about partnership.
One verifiable record, for everyone.
When everyone can plan from a single verifiable record, coordination becomes easier. Help reaches the communities that need it most, investments build on one another instead of overlapping, and no system slips out of sight after construction ends.
The Map is the backbone of our sustainability framework, the engine behind how we work. And it is designed to be adopted and adapted in other regions facing similar challenges, so the same standard of evidence can follow water investment wherever it flows.