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The Other ‘Shark Tank’: A High-Stakes Effort to Find Solutions to the Global Water Crisis
You've probably seen the TV show "Shark Tank," in which small-scale entrepreneurs compete for funding from a panel of wealthy investors. The Securing Water for Food Grand Challenge for Development took a similar approach – but the stakes were far higher: The goal was to generate solutions to water shortages that already affect over 2 billion people, before population growth escalates these shortages into a perpetual global crisis. Ku McMahan, team lead for the Challenge, discusses its unique approach and surprising impact.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Entrepreneurship, Environment, WASH
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Press release: WaterEquity Announces Closing of Its US$50 Million Flagship Impact Investment Fund
Founded by actor Matt Damon and social entrepreneur Gary White, WaterEquity's funds invest in a portfolio of financial institutions and enterprises in emerging markets—enabling them to scale, meet increasing market demand, and deliver access to safe water and sanitation.
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Reimagining the World’s Dirtiest Job: How Pit Vidura is Professionalizing Waste Management
Around 2.7 billion people – 35 percent of the world’s population – use on-site sanitation systems that are not connected to sewers. When they become full, they need to be emptied – a job that’s often done manually, presenting hazards to both the workers and their communities. Pit Vidura is tackling this challenge in Kigali, Rwanda, offering safe hygienic pit latrine and septic tank emptying for people in hard-to-reach areas. Katie Sottilare discusses the company’s innovative approach, and the impact it’s having.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, WASH
- Tags
- LMICs, public health, sanitation, social enterprise, toilets, WASH, waste
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Matt Damon is on a Mission to End the Global Water Crisis
The water and sanitation crisis affects billions of people worldwide, and creates an impasse for economic growth in impoverished areas as people—primarily women and school-age children—spend hours each day scavenging for and collecting clean water. One in three people on earth lack access to a toilet, one of the more jarring statistics provided on Water.org’s website.
- Tags
- social enterprise, WASH, water
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Tackling the water crisis will be just as hard as it sounds
More than 2 billion people around the world lack what the UN considers “safely managed drinking water supplies,” and millions of people across the United States—as much as a quarter of the country, by some estimates—drink water contaminated beyond legal levels.
- Categories
- Environment, WASH
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For Water Systems That Work, Look to Women
In many countries, women collect water and manage its use in the home, but they are underrepresented in decision-making about this vital natural resource.
- Categories
- WASH
- Tags
- sanitation, tech for good, WASH, water, Women
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Press release: OPIC Supports Two Projects to Expand Access to Safe Drinking Water
“Thanks to OPIC’s landmark investment in WaterEquity’s $50 million flagship fund, 4.6 people across India, Indonesia, Cambodia, and the Philippines will secure access to safe water or sanitation,” said Alix Lebec, Executive Vice President of Investor Relations, WaterEquity.
- Source
- Press release
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Viewpoint: Why toilets should be on the agenda at Davos
As the world’s cities grow, and the extreme weather patterns that accompany climate change take greater hold, innovation in sanitation presents more than great opportunity and must not be relegated to the corporate social responsibility team.
- Categories
- WASH
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