Water+for+People

Elizabeth R., Lindaluz C.


==NGO Overview, Mission, and Purpose: What We Are About and Who We Help==

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Our mission is to provide impoverished people access to __#|clean water__ and long-lasting innovative solutions to water, sanitation, and hygiene problems. Water is essential for a healthy life. In fact, while a regular person can last about 2-4 weeks without food, a healthy person can only last about 3 days without water. People have to drink water. It doesn't take long before you're suffering from dehydration. Providing water is necessary and providing clean water is crucial. There are many who suffer needlessly due to lack of clean, safe water and our goal is to connect donors to proven partners who are contributing in the construction of fresh water wells as well as provide hygiene training.======

We also look to provide necessary sanitation facilities and introduce basic rules of hygiene to places that don't have access to these types of facilities or suffer from a lack of education on the subject. We feel that part of the problem can be fixed if the local communities are educated on what sanitation is and how to be sustainable after we have left. One thing that sets us apart from many other NGO's is that we keep the efforts local- we don't send in engineers or other volunteer labor to fix these problems. The local communities are very involved with the efforts.

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Our endeavors fall under four basic categories: Initiatives, Monitoring, Sustainable Sanitation, and Solutions. What gets us going is the new challenge that we face every day to improve water and sanitation all across the world. Our selected initiatives cross over a variety of fields- we are always thinking about what does and does not work, what will last, and what is locally supported. Some of these include school beautification, an effort to create a better environment for schools in these impoverished areas. In Guatemala we partner with governments, schools, parent associations and developmental organizations to create hand washing and toilet facilities in schools.====== Another part of our organization that we highly stress is long-term solutions to problems. This is why we make the effort a group effort at both local and regional levels. This method makes sure that even the people who live in the most remote areas of the world will be able to access clean water. What also makes it work so well is that, while we have volunteers from North America and other parts of the world coming in to help with these solutions, they are not completely relied upon. The point of sustainable solutions is to allow people in places like Guatemala and India to be self-sufficient. However, we understand that in order for these solutions to last we need to monitor. That is why we stay and monitor areas for at least **10 years** after we've left the area. This is part of our project called FLOW or Field Level Operations Watch. FLOW allows us to collect, manage, analyze, and display geographically-referenced and monitoring data. It is mainly used to track water points like wells and pumps but it's a necessary part of the entire monitoring system.

NGO Organization Details and Location: Headquarters and Global Outreach
Water for People was founded by former American Water Works Association President Ken Miller. His dream was to make water and sanitation solutions accessible to all impoverished people. So far there have been focused efforts in 10 countries all over the world- Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda, and India. The idea of working in fewer countries that many other NGO's is that we can devote more time and energy into making sure that these countries not only get the water and sanitation facilities they need but double up and ensure that the work we do "sticks". It's easy for many of these poverty stricken places to slip after we've left. We make sure that with education they receive the proper skills to keep the efforts alive.

**Headquarters:** 6666 West Quincy Ave. Denver, CO, 80235
**NGO Job Openings: Who, Why, Where, When, and for How Much?** We offer both volunteering opportunities in three major divisions. The first is people committees. There are more than 60 committees all across North America that are devoted to organizing fundraisers, making presentations, conducting outreach activities in order to get community involvement, as well as getting media interest. The second area one could consider joining is Scoop. Scoop is a special volunteer program which uses writers, photographers, and videographers and the skills they have to promote interest in our organization. The last volunteering option is World Water Corp where volunteers go directly in country and work with education in proper hygiene and installation of well, pumps, latrines, and education on how to create a sustainable environment. More information can be found on the website under volunteering: http://wwc.tap.waterforpeople.org/documents-library#assignment http://www.waterforpeople.org/get-involved/volunteer/

**Why You Should Join Us...** We are here to help needy people. It's important to help our fellow men and it can be done so in a safe environment with other people just as concerned as you are.

**Bolivia Office**
Edificio Shashelly 2do Piso Cochabamba, Bolivia

**Peru Office**
Arequipa, Peru

**Guatemala Office**
10 Calle 0-31 Zona Una Santa Cruz del Quiche Quiche, Guatemala

**Honduras Office**
Colonia Villas del Sol, entrada principal Casa Numero 1, Bloque H Dos cuadras al este del CURN, entrada principal San Pedro Sula, Honduras

**India Office**
26/1/1 Gariahat Road South Kolokata 700 031 West Bengal, India

**Malawi Office**
33 Henderson Street P.O. Box 1207 Blantyre, Malawi

**Rwanda Office**
P.O. Box 7022 Kigali, Rwanda

**Uganda Office**
P.O. Box 1420 Kampala, Uganda

Our NGO Website
http://www.waterforpeople.org/