CSR - The Coca-Cola Company expand water partnership programme
Last updated 25/03/2010 12:03:36
CSR The Coca-Cola Company expand water partnership programme
Eight sub-Saharan African countries will gain support through an expanded global water partnership programme of the joint investment between The Coca-Cola Company and the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
The $12.2m investment into the Water and Development Alliance (WADA) will realise sustainable solutions to water challenges in Angola, Burundi, Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, Senegal, South Africa, and Tanzania. The programmes will begin as 3-year initiatives to implement a shift towards longer-term efforts.
WADA focuses on four objectives: watershed management, water supply and sanitation, hygiene promotion, and productive water use.
With this investment, USAID and The Coca-Cola Company will have committed a total of $28.1m since 2005 to support 32 projects in 22 countries worldwide in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia.
Water scarcity, degraded water quality, and lack of basic water and sanitation services present severe global challenges, especially to the world's poor. More than one billion people live without access to safe drinking water, and 2.6 billion people have no access to basic sanitation.
The growing water shortage impedes human needs for food and economic activity and threatens the sustainability of communities and critical ecosystems. USAID and The Coca-Cola Company established WADA to help tackle these challenges.
Working with local partners in each country, WADA has addressed a myriad of local water challenges, helping more than 300,000 people gain access to sustainable sources of water for health and livelihoods.
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