This week at the World Economic Forum on Africa, The Coca-Cola Africa Foundation (TCCAF), Diageo plc, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and WaterHealth International (WHI) announced Safe Water for Africa (SWA), a strategic partnership to work with communities to drive the expansion of WHI’s innovative water service delivery model across the continent.
TCCAF, Diageo, and WHI have committed over USD$6 million in seed funding to deliver sustainable safe water access for communities across Ghana, Nigeria, and Liberia in 2011, with new country programmes expected in 2012 and beyond. Building on this core investment, SWA plans to raise a total of over USD$20 million to fulfill its ambition of providing safe water to at least 2 million Africans by 2012.
The partnership will focus initially on West Africa, in support of a region with tremendous promise, yet one that continues to face significant water challenges; many countries in the region are not on track to meet the Millennium Development Goal for water. To meet the great need in the region, WHI will work with communities to build WaterHealth Centres (WHCs) throughout the region.
WHCs are small modular structures that house water purification equipment to treat locally available water through a combination of sedimentation, pre-filtration, and Ultra Violet technology. Each Centre produces World Health Organization (WHO) quality water that is available, for a nominal usage fee, on site or pumped to additional distribution points depending on the size and density of the community.
WaterHealth International works with communities to plan the construction and operation of the WHCs and provides long-term (10 year+) operations and maintenance of the WHCs to ensure sustainability. Over time, the increased adoption of the service is able to cover the cost of the operation and maintenance of the facility, allowing it to become sustainable. The WHI model has the backing of the World Bank, IFC and other respected organizations and is currently in operation in communities throughout India, Ghana, Bangladesh and the Philippines.
The Coca-Cola Africa Foundation and Diageo plc join SWA through their significant, long-term commitments to assist African communities in meeting the UN Millennium Development Goal (MDG) on water and sanitation. Both TCCAF’s Replenish Africa Initiative (RAIN) and Diageo’s Water of Life programme partner with communities throughout Africa to provide sustainable drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene solutions.
The partnership is working with the International Finance Corporation and other leading water sector donors to raise additional funding to extend the partnership and to provide African communities with safe drinking water.
