Water wins the celebrity Oscar – sanitation stuck on the B-list

Updated - Friday 23 March 2007

Celebrities and international companies have been giving their time and money for clean water, reflecting a growing understanding of its importance in alleviating ill health, early death and poverty.

However, while water is winning the Oscars and being invited to A-list parties, sanitation retains its strictly B-list status.

Exception: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

The latest big name into the field is something of an exception because the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2006 gave US$ 48 million worth in grants which include sanitation and hygiene as well as water. This sector could become a regular part of the Gates’ long-term programme. “We are making limited and focused grants to help us understand if there are effective, sustainable, and practical opportunities for a longer term initiative in this area,” says the foundation.

The four programmes Gates funded in 2006 are:

US$ 17 million (EUR 13.1 million) for PATH to identify low-cost consumer products that can treat and store water in the home and to develop a commercial market.
US$ 16.65 million (EUR 12.9 million) over 40 months to the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development to improve and protect the health of poor rural and urban families living in developing countries by promoting handwashing.
US$ 9.5 million (EUR 7.3 million) to fund a five-year CARE programme in Kenya’s Nyanza Province to improve access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene for school children.
US$ 1.85 million (EUR 1.4 million) to the University of California at Berkeley for a three year programme to generate and disseminate rigorous evidence from randomised evaluations on what works in rural water in developing countries.

Water rocks… sanitation stumbles

Over the past 18 months, our electronic Source Weekly newsletter has published 13 news items about celebrities, philanthropists and companies campaigning and raising money for water programmes. Sanitation and hygiene have a much lower profile. Here are a few examples of celebrity involvement:

One Drop, the philanthropic foundation of Guy Laliberté, owner of the Cirque du Soleil launched a campaign to accumulate 100 million dollars in two years to improve drinking water in selected communities in the developing world and to create gardens, sources of food and income.
Billionaire financier and global philanthropist George Soros dedicated US$ 50 million (EUR 39.7 million) over five years to the Millennium Villages project in Africa. His donation is being matched by other donors to bring in US$ 100 million (EUR 79.4 million).
Rock star Jay-Z launched a diary with three Water for Life videos on MTV, as part of Break the Addiction, MTV’s year-long campaign to engage young people to help reduce global warming, which has exacerbated the world’s water crisis.
Andrew Liveris, chairman and CEO of The Dow Chemical Company announced at the UN a commitment to develop new technologies and solutions for safe and sustainable water supplies for communities around the world.
The Coca-Cola Company joined in partnership with the UN Foundation on post-tsunami water and sanitation reconstruction – and has been selected as a finalist for the US Chamber of Commerce’s Partnership Award. The partnership has a focus on community-based water and sanitation needs and is making progress in Indonesia, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.
During the 2006 Wimbledon tennis championships, veteran South African tennis player, Johan Kriek, launched the Global Water Foundation (GWF). Tennis legends John McEnroe, Martina Navratilova and Jim Courier, and Olympic swimmers Aaron Peirsol, Janet Evans, Kate Ziegler and Tara Kirk have pledged to act as Clean Water Ambassadors for GWF.
Starbucks and PepsiCo signed a distribution agreement to increase distribution of its ‘social brand’ Ethos water to retail stores in the U.S. and Canada, making a US$ 0.05 (EUR 0.04) donation for each bottle sold. Starbucks has set a goal of raising at least US$ 10 million (EUR 8 million) by the end of 2010 to help children and their communities around the world get clean drinking water.
With blessing from Kofi Annan, former US President Bill Clinton secured a pledge from charity World Vision to spend US$ 20 million (EUR 16.7 million) over five years to bring clean water to half a million people in Ghana, Mali, Niger and Ethiopia.
Hollywood Actress and UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador,Angelina Jolie, joined Dr. Jeffrey Sachs, Director of The Earth Institute, for a MTV special on a trip to Kenya to deal with issues of poverty and to inspire young people to take action.
Simavi Netherlands ambassador, TV star Sylvana Simons, promotes health, water and women in Africa and Asia. Another Simavi ambassador, violinist Janine Jansen, gave a fund-raising concert in Amsterdam, to improve health in rural villages in Bihar, India.

How about 2008: International Year of Sanitation?

Although some of these initiatives have an environmental element, sanitation is the forgotten orphan from most benefactors. Celebrities, philanthropists and companies must do better this year if they want to stay on the red carpet for 2008, which the UN General Assembly has declared to be International Year of Sanitation.

They could note the approach of young Ugandan singer Bobi Wine who has penned a song identifying poor hygiene as a social vice. He appeals to his fellow Ugandans: “Do not litter the roads with buveera (polythene bags); please construct a pit latrine; do not dump human waste in drainage channels…”

From Bollywood to Hollywood, it’s time to give hygiene and sanitation star billing with water.

Dick de Jong and Peter McIntyre, e-mail