EGYPT • Egyptians in many areas, especially those in underprivileged villages, have been deprived of water resources for many years. They often resort to buying from water vendors who roam areas where there are shortages.

To find a solution to this crisis, a group of young volunteers from the start-up Bassita (Simple) launched an initiative that would help raise money for charity through users' clicks on social networking websites.

The initiative takes advantage of Egyptians' tendency to participate in charitable initiatives and the long time they usually spend browsing social networks.

Bassita coordinates with charities in order to create a promotional video of the work they want to do in a particular region or for people in need of specific donations or reforms. The videos are presented by charitable celebrities in a bid to catch the attention of a wider audience.

Once Bassita agrees with sponsors and donors to these charitable organisations on the price for a certain number of clicks by users, the video gets published on social networking websites.

Each interaction by a user on the video scores a point until the targeted number of interactions is achieved. Bassita calls this process "clickfunding".

Bassita successfully participated in a joint campaign with Unicef to provide running water for 1,000 houses in south Egypt.

It posted a video in February last year featuring actor-comedian Maged al-Kedwany, with the hashtag "A click conveys water".

The video hit more than two million views in just three days.

In six months, running water was being piped to homes. The project included a hygiene awareness programme and cost US$170,000 (S$234,500).