Let’s leave no one behind in 2019 and donate to reputable charities with practical solutions. You can help increase safe sources of water for drinking, food prep, sanitation and personal hygiene. Save a life today and celebrate!
Help celebrate World Water Day by supporting solutions for a water crisis that effects billions of people worldwide. The right to water entitles everyone, without discrimination, to sufficient, safe, accessible and affordable water. See below for recommended water charities.
Water For Empowerment
(We apologize for the inconvenience, but we’re only able to accept donations through PayPal at the moment).
Our mission is to empower women and girls to build healthy lives through clean water initiatives. Currently, we are supporting a new vocational training program through WaterAid that helps single mothers and women from a battered women’s shelter to become plumbers. This program creates new opportunities for young women to maintain and repair household toilets and sinks in the Bilwi region of Nicaragua.
Our model for accomplishing sustainability is based on a B2B relationship with other charitable organizations— NGO to NGO. We support clean water initiatives with stakeholders in leadership positions that need technical or fundraising support.
Wateraid America (Partnership with Wateraid Nicaragua)
WaterAid transforms lives by improving access to safe water, hygiene and sanitation in the world’s poorest communities. They work with partners and influence decision-makers to maximize our impact.
Water For People
Water For People promotes the development of high quality drinking water and sanitation services, accessible to all, and sustained by strong communities, businesses, and governments.
Charity: Water
Charity: water brings clean and safe drinking water to people in developing countries. They work with local experts and community members to find the best sustainable solution in each location. With every water point they fund, their partners coordinate sanitation and hygiene training, and establish a local Water Committee to help keep water flowing for years to come.
Water.org
Water.org believes water is the way. To break the cycle of poverty. To protect and save lives. To make a bright future possible for all.
Access to safe water can protect and save lives, just because it’s there. Access to safe water has the power to turn time spent into time saved, when it’s close and not hours away. Access to safe water can turn problems into potential: unlocking education, economic prosperity, and improved health.
Every human being deserves to define their own future, and water makes that possible. They’ve transformed more than 17 million lives with access to safe water and sanitation, and together we can reach even more people.
UNICEF
UNICEF’s water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) team works in over 100 countries worldwide to improve water and sanitation services, as well as basic hygiene practices. Last year, UNICEF’s efforts provided nearly 14 million people with clean water and over 11 million with basic toilets.
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Saturday, November 10
6:00-10:00pm
825 North Capitol Avenue, Indianapolis, IN
Ticket Registration
Join Water For Empowerment’s November event for an evening of celebration and support for clean water initiatives and a new vocational training program for young women plumbers in Nicaragua. The event will feature Latin food, live Latin music and an art exhibit by Nicaraguan artist Carlos Barbarena.
Our Initial Three-Year Partnership with WaterAid
We’ve supported jobs training by WaterAid in the Bilwi region of Nicaragua where water and sanitation infrastructure is the poorest in the country. Over the last three years, our support in Nicaragua has impacted 101 women who have received vocational training in water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) to build rainwater catchment systems, install pour-flush toilets, repair manual rope pumps, and clean and disinfect wells. On average, women in the program have earned between $150 to $300 a month and have chosen to invest in education and schooling for their children.
Our New Commitment to WaterAid and Nicaragua
This Summer, our board decided to continue supporting WaterAid’s activities in Nicaragua because their vocational training in clean water and sanitation technologies exemplifies Water For Empowerment’s mission to empower women and girls to build healthy futures through clean water initiatives.
We have committed to raising money for a new vocational training program through WaterAid that helps single mothers and women from a battered women’s shelter to become plumbers. This program creates new opportunities for young women to maintain and repair household toilets and sinks in the Bilwi region. The funds raised from the November gala will provide training, tools and materials for the program.
Our goal is to raise $50,000 to train over 40 women in the Bilwi region with an additional $20,000 so each participant can improve sanitation conditions in their own homes too. Help us reach our goal of $70,000!
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World Water Day Celebration at EnviroForensics HQ in Indianapolis
Brings Local Community into a Global Event on March 22, 2018
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Indianapolis, Indiana
March 1, 2018
Local Environmental Engineering Firm Partners with Local Charity
To Raise Money for Micro-enterprise Program in Nicaragua
Training Young Women in Clean Water Initiatives
Water for Empowerment, an Indianapolis charity focused on clean water and sanitation, is celebrating World Water Day on March 22 with both an online fundraising campaign and a reception hosted by EnviroForensics in the Central Business District, downtown. In the past two years, the local environmental consulting firm has partnered with Water for Empowerment to raise more than $60,000 for a micro-enterprises project in the poorest region of Nicaragua. In the Bilwi region of that country, 800,000 people live without access to clean water while two million live without adequate sanitation. A micro-enterprises program, operated by WaterAid America, addresses the crisis by training young women in hygiene education and clean water technologies.
Environmental engineers and scientists at EnviroForensics share technical expertise with WaterAid personnel in Nicaragua while the charity, Water for Empowerment, raises money for jobs training in the construction of water wells, water filtration systems, rain catchment tanks, and sanitary latrines. The mission of Water for Empowerment is to empower women and girls to build healthy lives through clean water initiatives. During the month of March, the charity and the environmental firm hope to raise $15,000 toward a $30,000 goal for the micro-enterprises program. Approximately forty young women, often at risk of being trafficked into sexual slavery due to poverty, receive training as hygiene educators and construction managers. Education about the value of clean water and sanitation precedes any construction activity, as awareness creates the market for wells, catchment tanks and latrines.
Says Steve Henshaw, CEO of EnviroForensics, “We invite people in Indianapolis to learn more about the global water crisis. Organizations like WaterAid provide sustainable solutions around the globe. Since 1982, they’ve helped 44 million people gain access to clean water and sanitation. We support just one of their many projects that provide long term solutions.” The open house reception on March 22, from 5 to 8 p.m. at 825 N. Capitol Avenue, is being held on the U.N.’s designated date for annual celebrations of World Water Day. Pre-registration is recommended but not required.
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For more information about the World Water Day event, Water for Empowerment or EnviroForensics, please contact Jackie Cabrera, jcabrera@enviroforensics.com or 317-972-7870.
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We are raising $15,000 for WaterAid America to support clean water and sanitation initiatives in northern Nicaragua. Currently, two million people lack sanitation and 800,000 live without clean water in Nicaragua. We want to change this by empowering women and girls to become clean water leaders in their communities through vocational job training and microfinance opportunities.
Be part of the solution.
The women in the program receive job training to build latrines and rainwater catchment tanks, repair water wells and pumps, and educate families and schools about hygiene. This project helps break the cycle of poverty because women are able to lift communities up by providing access to essential clean water and sanitation.
Your donation will have a lasting impact.
$30 pays for 1 pit latrine for a family.
$50 pays for 1 rainwater harvesting tank.
$100 pays for two hand pumps for water wells.
$500 pays for latrine construction and maintenance services for one family.
$1,000 pays for water and sanitation vocational training for 30-40 young women.
$2,500 pays for three new water well installations and maintenance costs.
$5,000 pays for clean water and sanitation facilities at a school or health clinic, which includes vocational training, a water well and sanitation/hand washing facilities. This donation level impacts 250 people.
We cannot do this alone. We need your help.
Please consider donating to our $15,000 fundraiser on YouCaring, a crowdfunding platform. All donations will help empower women and girls through clean water initiatives in Nicaragua.
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Time: 5:00-8:00pm
Location: 825 N. Capitol Avenue, Indianapolis, IN
Register on Eventbrite today!
Light hors d’oeuvres and drinks will be served. This event is free and open to the public.
Join Water for Empowerment for a community celebration of World Water Day with a children’s art exhibit and a sneak peek of a Nicaraguan art exhibit to be featured at our gala event on November 10, 2018.
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Last Saturday, Indianapolis community members gathered to raise over $25K during the second annual Water for Empowerment (W4E) fundraising event. Volunteer board members, community activists, and local business leaders enjoyed a Latin-infused evening in the recently renovated headquarters of event sponsor and environmental consulting firm, EnviroForensics Environmental Consultants]. W4E will donate all proceeds to a WaterAid Initiative that supports a micro-enterprises project in northern Nicaragua, in an area called the Mosquito Coast.
W4E volunteer event organizers timed the fundraiser just days before the UN’s annual World Water Day, celebrated around the globe this week. In the weeks leading up to World Water Day, and as part of the organization’s continuing effort, W4E maintains a very specific mission: To raise awareness of the clean water global crisis while raising life-saving funds and donating environmental expertise.
Guests enjoyed Jazz Kitchen artists Pavel Polanco & Direct Contact, including Raul Padro on drums and conga. A vibrant Nicaraguan market opened the event where guests shopped on handmade accessories, home goods, and more. Indianapolis local businesses, Artisan Foodworks and Crossroads Vintners, provided dinner and dessert. The night closed with Latin Dancing and a Two Deep Brewery After Party with DJ Camaron Electronico. The event was held at 825 N. Capitol Avenue in the Central Business District in the new EnviroForensics mixed-use headquarters built by Platinum Sponsor of the evening, Brandt Construction. Gold sponsors include IceMiller LLC and EnvisionAir.
Water for Empowerment is in the second year of a three-year partnership with WaterAid America to raise $90,000 for the micro-enterprise project. The 2017 goal is to raise $30,000 to $50,000 with matching dollars available after $40,000; Thus, the organization is continuing to fundraise to meet and exceed this goal.
Board President and Co-Founder Dawn Sandoe remarks, “The event was a blast and we were able to raise awareness within our community and gather with individuals who share a passion for empowering women and contributing to positive solutions that address the clean water global crisis. We have more to raise and will continue to inspire our local community to think more globally in order to meet our goals and help women and their communities.”
Images from the event can be viewed on the Water for Empowerment Facebook Page.
The founders and volunteers of Water for Empowerment seek to raise funds for global clean water initiatives that work to eliminate water-borne illnesses, provide access to clean water, and empower girls and women as agents for change within the family and community. The organization, along with the world community, has found that providing girls and women with education and opportunities for advancement can save whole communities. Water for Empowerment is most specifically focused on fundraising efforts and water technology support for projects that provide education and training for girls.
Today, 800,000 Nicaraguans struggle to survive without clean water and 2 million still need adequate sanitation. The WaterAid micro-enterprises program trains young women, ages 16 to 30, in simple and effective clean water technologies, in addition to hygiene education, water filtration, hand pump repair, and construction of water wells, water catchment tanks, and latrines. Trained as entrepreneurs and crew chiefs, young women become empowered as change agents for their communities with transformative effects.
Sandoe comments, “As we continue in 2017, we will keep the message and momentum for change and innovation at the forefront of our efforts. We’ll draw special attention to promoting the United Nations’ seventeen goals to eradicate poverty by 2030—most specifically ‘Goal #6’, which aims to improve clean water access and sanitation.”
W4E, along with a number of impactful organizations, contends that clean water projects lead to a path to safety, education, and empowerment for girls. The responsibility of girls worldwide to walk miles every day to fetch water keeps them out of the educational cycle and devalues them for the entirety of their lives.”
To help us reach our goal, donate now!
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You may have heard that the MDG’s — or 8 Millennium Development Goals — adopted in 2000 by the world community under UN leadership are being called the greatest anti-poverty success in history. This is based on a 50% decline in extreme poverty over the last 15 years as defined by those living on $1.25 a day or less. Sub-saharan Africa is improving faster than any other developing region. You can read the UN Report.
For the next 15 years, the world community is targeting new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which are seen as the best for targeting resources and continuing the improvements over the next 15 years. Specifically, the 8 goals have been replaced by 17 goals. UN Sec’y General Ban Ki-moon believes that the original MDGs “have taught us how governments, business and civil society can work together to achieve transformational breakthroughs.”
During our founding, Water for Empowerment adopted the original eight goals, which included amongst other things, clean water access, women’s and maternal health, and improved education for girls. In the new seventeen goals, our mission of empowering women and girls to build healthy futures with clean water initiatives is reflective of at least a dozen. Please join us and support our current project/fundraiser.
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Read a fact sheet like Rural Women and the Millenium Goals and what becomes immediately apparent is that rural women around the world are shut out of education and employment opportunities because they are burdened with reproductive and household work (which includes obtaining water and fuel). When considering how an organization can help empower women, consider their daily activities first. Women from Sub-Saharan Africa collectively spend about 40 billion hours a year collecting water, according to UN’s “Women Watch” which created the fact sheet and incorporates every available data in order to chart progress toward achieving the eight Millennium Development Goals .
Information from sources like the UN and World Health Organization provide meaningful background for charitable organizations when making decisions about how to help in developing countries. The more one reads, the more compelling women become in the fight to stop world poverty and hunger, which includes infant mortality.
The facts are astonishing: Women make up two-thirds of the 796 million people that are illiterate. They are more active in the unpaid agricultural labor force worldwide than men; both unpaid and paid women workers make up 43% of the world’s agricultural labor force. Rural women typically work longer hours in the field than men; though men are more likely to be paid then women, and paid higher wages. Yet it’s widely believed that for every dollar paid to a woman, the yield for the family is the equivalent of four dollars. (This is not true with men’s earnings which yields less). Agricultural responsibilities, along with childcare, and collecting water and fuel, keep girls out of classrooms and women from earning money the family needs.
Importantly, a key factor in the survival of children past the age of five is a mother’s education. Chances for survival increase when a mother has a primary education; however children in Latin America and the Caribbean region die 3.1 times more than those of mothers with secondary or higher educations. Therefore. the welfare of children is proportionately linked to the amount of education mothers receive. That’s why the need to educate women has become the single most important goal in the fight to eradicate world poverty and hunger. Half a million children die every year, 1400 die every day, from diarrhea caused by unsafe water.
Hygiene education and nutritional counseling are necessary components in the health education of women. Sixty million children are born into homes every year without safe sanitation. Pre-natal care for rural women has increased by 55 to 66 percent worldwide versus 84 to 89 percent for women in urban areas. The gap between levels of improvement becomes glaring in the details when rural women fall behind urban women in improvements in regard to HIV education. Of 25 million people living with HIV in Sub Saharan Africa, young women account for 64 percent of all HIV infections. Rural areas account for more generalized epidemics than urban areas. (This effects agricultural productivity two-fold as HIV caregivers are also mostly women). Progress is significant, however, with women’s use of antiretrovairal therapy; 53% of the 6.6 million people receiving that form of therapy are women.
As research continues to reinforce that clean water for hygiene, nutrition and healthcare is what sustains life, clean water access will continue to be a primary focus for empowering women and in achieving the eight Millennium Goals. Important to note: A striking gap exists between rural and urban areas; in 2008, 141 million people living in urban areas were still drinking from unimproved water sources while 743 million people in rural areas were drinking from unimproved sources. These are staggering numbers in regard to clean water and access. As the world community continues to chart the progress of women in all areas of education and employment, charitable organizations must consider access to clean water and education of women when developing and allocating resources.
Dawn Sandoe | Comment | WFE News | Progress of Rural Women
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Water for Empowerment has been evaluating a variety of technologies to bring safe drinking water to developing countries. The Puralytics technology has the potential to provide clean water in a simple, straight forward, and cost effective manner to many communities that currently do not have clean water infrastructure. It has further potential application in emergency situations.
Puralytics uses a basic titanium catalyst technology concept. Titanium, as a metal, can act as an effective chemical catalyst under the correct conditions. Puralytics has developed a patented and proprietary nano-particle titanium catalytic product that allows titanium to temporarily capture the energy of sunlight and transfer it to a chemical form, the hydroxyl radical that is very reactive with biological organisms, many organic chemicals, and many metals. Note: The hydroxyl radical is much more reactive than the hydroxyl ion, which is present in all water systems.
The hydroxyl radical is very short lived so a large surface area is necessary to generate a sufficiently robust catalysis process to remove contaminants in a reasonable (3-4 hours) time frame. The secret to the Puralytics process is the nano-particle material that creates relatively large quantities of reactive hydroxyl radicals. Imagine a titanium dust so fine you cannot see the particles under even a strong microscope. A 10 nanometer-titanium particle is on the order of 50-100 titanium atoms in diameter.
The hydroxyl radical reacts with anything that can be oxidized or reduced, including breaking most carbon-carbon bonds, the main bonds in all organic compounds. It will break down most organic compounds to carbon dioxide and water. It will vigorously attack cell surfaces and so it is particularly effective against “organized” organic substances like virus, bacteria, prions, etc. It will convert many, but not all, metals into stable or precipitated hydroxides or oxides. It does not alter dissolved stable salts such a sodium chloride or magnesium sulfate, meaning it will not convert saline or brackish water into fresh water.
Applicability:
The applicability of this technology is based on the following:
Its disadvantages are:
Water for Empowerment is eager to take this new technology and use it to empower local communities and local people to develop clean water systems to reduce disease, lower work time and effort (from hauling water), and support local business that depends on clean water.
Visit Puralytics YouTube Channel
Gerritt Rosenthal | Comment | WFE News | Water Charities
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Water for Empowerment is partnering with WaterAid America to energize a new program in Nicaragua which develops micro-enterprises for young women living in poverty and without access to clean water and sanitation.
The pilot program has proven effective but it needs a caring sponsor. That’s why Water for Empowerment has committed to raising $90,000 ($30K each year for 3 years) to support and improve access to clean water and hygiene in peri-urban areas of Nicaragua. Specifically, the project will fund:
We are very excited to be launching our new organization with this worthwhile project to empower young women in Nicaragua who need our help.
Shannon Zumbaugh | Comment | WFE News | Water Charities, Wateraid America, Nicaragua, Projects
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Special Guest Post by Kevin Sheward, Research Consultant for Water for Empowerment
Before I joined the Water for Empowerment team, I was probably very much like you. I had heard the statistics: Over 3 million people dying a year from water borne illnesses. 1,400 children die per day due to diarrheal diseases linked to unsafe water. 875 million people are living without access to safe drinking water. When I heard about Water for Empowerment, I felt inspired to learn more about what can be done to bring safe water to individuals who desperately need it.
Through Water for Empowerment, I had the opportunity to participate in a two-day training with WaterStep, a great organization working that brings safe water and proper hygiene practices to communities all around the world. WaterStep, based in Louisville, Kentucky, is one of the leaders in a movement to help communities create their own safe-water.
During their two-day training I learned about the chlorination process and how it can be used to create safe drinking water for thousands of people. WaterStep has created a special chlorination unit and it was remarkably simple to construct and maintain. Myself and the other participants were able to practice building a chlorination unit that can be deployed all around the world. With a handful of table salt, a battery and a little ingenuity, WaterStep has found a low cost way to provide reliably safe water for thousands of people at a time.
I also learned that safe water, while extremely important, is only part of the solution to ending water borne illnesses. That is why the other half of the WaterStep training is dedicated to learning about how water borne diseases are transferred and the simple ways we can prevent them. The training we received is just like the training development workers teach in areas all around the world.
Before I joined the effort to help bring safe water around the world, it seemed like an impossible task. I was one person and didn’t know how I could possibly get involved and be a part of the solution. What I discovered is that solutions to this problem can be inexpensive and that there are many ways to participate. Whether it is joining a WaterStep trip and installing a chlorination unit, or donating old shoes to help raise funds for their work, there are many great ways to be a part of the solution. WaterStep is just one great organization that is making a difference, there are many others than are in need of our time, gifts, and talents. The first step is to get informed and find your place.
Shannon Zumbaugh | Comment | | Water Charities, Personal Experience
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This first year of our board has been dedicated to investigation of opportunities for us to train in development work and water technologies. We are developing ourselves as we develop our mission. To that end, some of us have completed either pump repair or water hygiene training– assembling and operating a chlorine generator that uses common salt as a water disinfectant at WaterStep in Louisville, KY. http://waterstep.org/ WaterStep trains volunteers, charities like us, as well as stakeholders on the ground, people with an investment in their own survival.They are also addressing Disaster Relief.
Our mission is not to offer services ourselves but to support organizations on the ground who have access to populations in need of clean water, sustainable farming, and training and education of girls and women as the water keepers. Our model for helping in sustainability is B2B. Here is an organization in Niger in desperate need.
https://www.ammanimman.org/Program/mission.html
We have concluded that we cannot go to the Sahel region of Africa because of the political climate and extreme danger. That’s why we are investigating the opportunity to work with other organizations in areas and countries with some infrastructure where development work can operate more openly. Meanwhile, we will seek help, raise money, and help develop resources for inaccessible populations like those of the Azawak served by AmmanImman as we continue to train and develop ourselves in safer regions. Please be aware that just $5 can help either WaterStep or AmmanImman address starvation and death from waterborne illnesses.
Shannon Zumbaugh | Comment | WFE News |
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Learn more about what we’re working on by following our progress on
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WaterForEmpowerment and
Twitter: @H2O4Empowerment.
Shannon Zumbaugh | Comment | |
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On June 10, 2013, Water for Empowerment, Inc. was officially incorporated in Indianapolis, IN as a charitable organization. Our goal is to join the world community to help secure and maintain clean water for communities exposed to water borne pathogens.
We will educate and train community members on the sustainability of clean water sources with a focus on training young women and girls in water sciences so that they may be valued enough for inclusion in the educational cycle and not sold into human slavery.
The cycle of poverty often ends in human slavery both inside the United States and outside. We thank NuMali and its board members for inviting us to the remote village of Bankoni to witness the humanity of the villagers and the daily threat of death by disease and starvation.
Inspired by the plight of Bankoni and by efforts of the World Health Organization to inform and influence policy, practices and infrastructure at all levels of society, our new board will begin training in preparation for our first mission in 2014. We will study non-profit management, sustainability and water technologies, human trafficking, and scalable models for building businesses based on clean water with a variety of experts in the months ahead.
2013 is the United Nations International Year of Water Cooperation. Board Members include Brent Huber, Environmental Attorney-at-Law at Ice Miller; Dr. Charles Beck, Jr., D.O., Osteopathic Vision; Shannon Zumbaugh, Marketing Manager at Courseload, Inc.; and Susan H. Dugan, Health Communications Specialist, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
http://www.unwater.org/watercooperation2013.html
Shannon Zumbaugh | Comment | |
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"The participation of women and girls is essential if we are to achieve access to water, sanitation and hygiene education in Nicaragua. What's more, when women are empowered through microfinance projects they generate household income that supports the broader needs of their families. As a result, investments in safe water and sanitation bring wider and more profound changes to the lives of women, their children and generations that follow."
- Joshua Briemberg, Director, WaterAid Nicaragua
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