From a Drop to a Wave
The Current That Carried Us Here
Our history starts with humble beginnings that have left lasting impact across Central America
From a Drop to a Wave
The Current That Carried Us Here
Our history starts with humble beginnings that have left lasting impact across Central America.
How It All Began
A group of young Iowa State University engineering graduates founded Emerging Opportunities for Sustainability International (EOS) with the mission: to bring life-changing technology to the developing world, improving health, wealth, and the environment.
How It All Began
A group of young Iowa State University engineering graduates founded Emerging Opportunities for Sustainability International (EOS) with the mission: to bring life-changing technology to the developing world, improving health, wealth, and the environment.
EOS began with a handful of bright and compassionate ISU students who wanted to use their skills to give back to the world. Just one month after graduation, founders Wes Meier and Greg McGrath began designing and implementing technologies in West Africa. After working with rural communities to introduce appropriate technologies in Mali, they both knew they were capable of making a difference in under-served communities, and EOS was born.
- Location: During the summer of 2008, Wes was placed on a Peace Corps mission in rural Nicaragua. During his 27-month stay, he quickly realized the technologies he had learned to build could make a big difference in the lives of his neighbors and in villages across the country. With support from the EOS team back home, Wes started redesigning and installing drip irrigation systems for smallholder farmers.
- Growth: Both EOS’ mission and team grew to meet the need. EOS was able to hire its first country director, Alvaro Rodriguez, and soon the on-the-ground staff in Nicaragua expanded. Team members were installing drip irrigation systems, biogas digesters, solar panels, fuel-efficient ovens, and water treatment systems all over the country.
- Refinement: When we started over a decade ago, our focus was on improving the health, wealth, and environment of those in Nicaragua through low-cost technology solutions. In 2016, we made the strategic decision to concentrate our work on providing rural communities with access to safe drinking water, maximizing our impact and reach.
- Expansion: Our improved and focused mission of providing access to safe water solutions accelerated our contribution to the health of rural communities and helped fulfill an increasing demand across Central America. In 2018, we had the remarkable opportunity to merge with another WASH organization Agua y Desarrollo Comunitario (ADEC), expanding our footprint into Honduras. In 2022 we brought our mission and impact to El Salvador.
- Evolution: Our refined work combined with our growth into new markets gave us the unique opportunity to analyze and reevaluate our existing brand and messaging. We believe it is crucial to our success and impact as an organization to clearly communicate with our diverse audiences across four countries, including nearly two million customers in over two thousand communities in Central America, in addition to our thousands of donors and partners across the globe. We wanted to create a brand that spoke to our work, while having a memorable name that is easily pronounced in different languages. And with that, the current carried us into our next chapter — Cova!
How Did We Choose the Name, Cova?
The Covalent Bond, of course!
Much like hydrogen and oxygen need one another to form a covalent bond to create water, Cova relies on successful partnerships to provide comprehensive safe drinking water solutions to rural communities in Central America. Today, we are the same dedicated team conducting the same critical work with the same proven impact, just with a new name.
Our Life-Changing Impact
1.7 million provided with safe water solutions.
By putting people first in our mission to end the water crisis, Cova delivers solutions that improve quality of life, allowing children to attend school, parents to earn crucial income, and communities to flourish.
