Improving Access to Clean Water in Rural Areas
Nestlé engages in a number of projects that help overcome the barriers faced by many communities in accessing safe and clean water. Not only does Nestlé provide services to communities, but it also learns from them by engaging community leaders.
A respected opinion leader in India explains how traditional and practical solutions may overcome governance failures:
"In remote schools in villages around the world, the groundwater is often full of iron, or a high content of fluorides or salinity. There is an opportunity for Nestlé to learn from the wisdom of the elders in villages and start promoting roof top rain water harvesting on a large scale. Rain water is less costly to collect, and then the collection and distribution can be controlled, managed and owned by rural communities"
Bunker Roy, founder of Barefoot College, India
Case history: Clean drinking water project - India
In 2002, Nestlé had the privilege of becoming a founding member of the Red Cross Federation's new Africa Health Initiative. Over a period of 4 years Nestlé committed CHF 3.4 million to various programmes to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa. In 2006, Water and Sanitation was added as a new dimension to this partnership. As the first private sector organisation to be invited by the Federation, along with the European Union (EU), to support the Red Cross Global Water and Sanitation Initiative, Nestlé is dedicating the major part of its support over 3 years to activities in Africa addressing the immense life-threatening problems resulting from the chronic lack of water and sanitation. Water-related illness account for as much as 35% of common recurrent diseases worldwide, and the scarcity of water and of basic sanitation which already affects billions of people is predicted to become even more dramatic in the decades to come. Of the 8 UN Millennium Development Goals, 4 have significant water and sanitation elements.
A community water pump organised by Nestlé and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in the village of Rimbaue, Mozambique. In March 2006, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe and Markku Niskala, Secretary General of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, signed the new partnership agreement until 2008. Under this agreement, Nestlé will provide funding totalling CHF 1,500,000 over three years. As a first step, in close collaboration with the Mozambique Red Cross and the International Federation, Nestlé has begun a new initiative to assist vulnerable communities in Northern Mozambique. The programme will assist communities in remote rural areas to establish safe water supplies and improved sanitation, provide all-important training in operation and maintenance, and encourage behavioural change in hygiene practices. The impact will also reduce the time wasted in travelling long distances for safe water, allowing more time for farming and other productive activities, releasing children especially young girls to further their education, and reducing the impact of poor water and sanitation among those affected by the HIV/AIDS endemic.
"This new partnership between Nestlé and the Red Cross Red Crescent Societies is a further milestone in the long-standing relationship between the two organisations. I am pleased that the world's largest bottled water company is contributing knowledge and resources which will benefit the people of Africa through Red Cross Red Crescent programmes."
Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, Chairman and CEO of Nestlé
Case history: Safe drinking water – Sri Lanka
Case history: EcoLink, LEAP, and Earthcare Programmes – South Africa
Case history: New Opportunities for Women - Pakistan
Case history: Facilitating access to water for rural populations – Pakistan