Alliance to provide major sanitation, clean-water services for Africa
Published on by Jamie Skolnik in Social
On Thursday, Sept. 5, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Coca-Cola Company announced support for new programs under their Water and Development Alliance (WADA) that will provide more than 190,000 people with improved clean water and/or improved sanitation services by the end of 2015.
As part of its first wave of new investments, WADA will support integrated approaches to clean water and sanitation service delivery in Africa, where more than 300 million people are without an improved water source, and 630 million people lack improved sanitation facilities. To address these challenges, WADA will support the development of infrastructure for clean water, sanitation and hygiene education for schools, clean water kiosks for communities and the installation of sanitation infrastructure in schools and health clinics.
This joint investment is aligned with USAID and Coca-Cola's shared focus on clean water provision as a means to help build healthy, sustainable communities. WADA, established in 2005, is operating under a refreshed investment strategy -- the result of a comprehensive and successful evaluation of its programs. WADA's new strategic direction combines the core strengths of Coca-Cola and USAID for greater impact and contribution to address international water challenges with a focus on water for health, the environment and productive use. This strategy is built on the core values of local ownership, institutional synergy, technical quality, and transformational change. The partners are collaborating to develop a series of water programs with significant impact around the world.