ChangeALife Uganda (CALU) recently announced a grant of $35,000 from Merck to support the organization’s Quarters for Water program.  Quarters for Water provides clean, on-site drinking water for students of St. Lawrence School and their rural village of Migyera, Uganda.  From CALU’s October Newsletter:

These funds will allow us to proceed with the next phase of this important project: drilling the test wells to determine the one that will yield the necessary volume of much-needed clean water for our schoolchildren.

Providing water, sanitation and hygiene education in schools is a powerful fit for a company with the mission to save and improve lives.  Meeting these basic needs in schools around the globe can increase attendance rates (especially for girls), reduce transmission of diseases and help transform entire communities.  For more information on this project, visit the ChangeALife Uganda website.  To learn more about Merck’s work in WASH in schools, read our blog post on their support of the Support My School campaign in India. 

At the Support My School Telethon this Sunday, GWC Program Director Maurie Carr presented a check on behalf of GWC member H2O for Life that will support WASH interventions in eight schools in the state of Gujara.  Watch the video of the check presentation below!

For more information on GWC’s involvement with Support My School, click here.

Today, GWC, along with members Merck and H2O for Life, announced support for the Coca-Cola NDTV Support My School campaign, an initiative to improve water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and other facilities in schools across India.

The Support My School campaign is expected to directly impact at least 50,000 students in 100 schools across India.  Each of the 100 schools will receive improved access to water and gender-specific sanitation, infrastructure for water conservation and rainwater harvesting, landscape improvement, library construction, teacher training and new sports facilities.

Merck and H2O for Life have each committed to funding eight schools in India.

Through Support My School, The Merck Company Foundation is already supporting water, sanitation and hygiene improvements in eight schools in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, one of India’s most populous states and among the worst in water and sanitation coverage.

H2O for Life, a leading U.S.-based service learning organization, and its student partners are joining the campaign to provide funds for water and sanitation facilities in eight schools in the state of Gujarat with matching grants from other campaign supporters.

Other campaign supporters include UN-HABITAT, CAF India, the Pearson Foundation and Sulabh International.  In addition to the work directly in schools, campaign partners seek to increase awareness among all Indians about the necessity of water and sanitation in schools.

[The awareness campaign] is expected to reach 10 million people and will culminate on Sunday, September 18^th, with a one-day live telethon broadcast on Indian national TV.  Viewers from the United States can access a live broadcast of the telethon at www.NDTV.com.

Read the full press release.

The Coca-Cola Company, NDTV Partner to Promote Healthy Schools in India through Landmark WASH Campaign

The Coca-Cola Company in India and prominent Indian news network NDTV have created the Support My School Campaign, a partnership to bring water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) to schools throughout India.  The campaign will support projects in at least 100 schools and will benefit 50,000 students.  UN-HABITAT, the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) India and Sulabh International will serve as learning and implementation partners for the campaign and the Pearson Foundation will support libraries and teacher training in participating schools. 

The campaign will include water access, gender-specific sanitation facilities, rainwater harvesting, environmental improvements and sports facilities as well as library construction funded by the Pearson Foundation.

India is off track to meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) for sanitation and according to Bloomberg, 75% of India’s surface water is contaminated by human and agricultural waste. Diarrhea remains the second leading cause of death for children under five and less than 50% of rural schools have separate sanitation facilities for girls.

Internationally renowned cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar will be a Campaign Ambassador and movie star Jackie Chan has publicly endorsed the campaign.

To learn more about the Support My School Campaign, watch the video above or visit the Support My School website.