Matt Damon Gets a Davos Award—for Water, Not Film

Matt Damon has received plenty of awards but probably never one quite like this. In Davos today, the movie star was honored by the World Economic Forum for his work as co-founder of Water.org, a nonprofit organization whose motto is "safe water and the dignity of a toilet for all."

Damon joked around at the beginning of his acceptance speech, pretending to accidentally read from a Golden Globes speech and then remarking that the other co-founder ofWater.org, Gary White, had been working in the field since Damon was playing Humpty Dumpty in an elementary school play—"and I wish I could tell you that I was making that up."

But then the man who played action hero Jason Bourne quickly turned serious, saying that disease caused by contaminated water "is a problem that has a solution. The poor themselves are the solution." He told the Davos audience that Water.org is extending "water credit" to poor families so they can afford to install a toilet or connect their homes to a waterline that for them is "literally a lifeline."

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Taxonomy

• Governance
• Sanitation & Hygiene