One of the most important elements that make human life possible is water. Around the globe, everyday 780 million people still have to live without clean water and 2.5 billion people still do not have a toilet. In some the developing country regions, water crisis becomes bigger and bigger of a problem, due to the scarcity of water, and access to clean water. Even though water is a recyclable resource, only 2.53 percent of earth’s water is fresh. Therefore for due to lack of community effort, and technology, people around the world are struggling every day to get access to clean, drinkable water.

DIARRHEA

One of the leading causes of diarrhea is due to the consumption of unsafe water. Diarrhea is also the second leading cause of death for children under five years old, killing one in five, 90% of them are from developing countries. The number of death is more than malaria, AIDS, and measles combined. Even though this may seem to be an easy fix, over 37% of the earth’s population does not have access to proper sanitation, and 1.1 billion still perform open defecation. However, diarrhea can be simply prevented by higher levels of access to safe water, proper sanitation, hygiene, and nutrition. • 3.4 million people die each year due to water related illness.
• Every 21 seconds, a child dies from diarrhea.
• Each day, additional 2,350 children die from malnutrition, poor sanitation and hygiene.
• Almost 1.5 million children under five die from diarrhea around the world

WOMEN

In many third world countries, people still have to go through many obstacles just to get basic essentials, like water. Majority of those people are women who responsibility is to find and fetch water for their families to use. Every day, they walk miles carrying heavy can with over-priced water. Despite being over-priced, the water is also unsafe to drink, but the choices are bad either dies of thirst or take the chance of die from drinking the contaminated water.

Due to the lack of proper sanitation facilities, women face complications concerning privacy and dignity. Since it is not acceptable for a lady to relieve herself during daytime, many wait until night time, which is health risk on its own. And half of the time, girls around the world are attending school without toilets, this issue force many girl to drop out at the time of puberty.

With this never ending cycle, women and their families are force to live in this puberty cycle. Since they cannot even go to the bathroom freely, how are they supposed to get a proper education? And how are supposed to better their life without a proper education?

Water.org is an organization dedicated to solve the world water crisis. 2.5 billion people are affected, they lack clean water and proper sanitation. Every day, due to unsafe water, people have to suffer; women have to walk miles to get water, children miss school, and many die from consuming dirty water. Without proper access to clean safe water, these people will continue to suffer and die. Water crisis causes a domino effect to other factors of society too, such as education, economy, and health. Children, especially female, are force to miss school due to improper sanitation, and to reserve their dignity. Women cannot work to earn income when majority of their time; they are responsible for getting unsafe water for their families. By drinking unsafe water, for lack of better alternative, they suffer from diarrhea, malnutrition, and other water related illnesses. All the suffering 2.5 billion people have to go through is unnecessary because it is solvable and preventable.
Water.org sees people in poverty as ones with rights, financial ability, responsibilities, and the power to plan their own futures. The people are not looking for just a hand out from some charitable act; they want solutions that solve the problem in the long run. Water.org works with the community and partner with the locals to works on projects and demand-driven. The community that demand and dedicated to better their lives, water.org is there to help them ensure a secure access to water and clean sanitations.

Drilling a well for people who need clean water is the easy way out, but they need a long term solution for the water crisis. In order to do accomplish such task, Water.org’s program is focus on working with the communities to drill the well, and then provide them information about clean water and sanitation for any future development.

PARTNERSHIP
Water.org believes that people with the problem know best how to resolve it. Therefore water.org partner-up with local organization thus together they can pan out a plan that is unique to the particular situation to each community.
• The locals have better understanding of the social political and economic issues that can affect the projects.
• Local expertise can put the projects into effect.
• The locals are more knowledgeable of the local financial resources for the project.
• Working through local partnership is much cheaper.
• Through honesty, Water.org produces highest quality projects.

COMMNUNITY

Water.org is demand-driven which mean by the level of demand of the communities, in a way the communities is the one that select the organization. Then the communities need to contact their in-country partner organization. So Water.org and the partner evaluate and plan for the project. The communities can also invest in the project by contribute 10% or more financially, securing local materials, or by help construction the project through physical labor.
One of the first steps is for the community to vote on a local water committee, which include a female. The water committee serves as a communication line between the community and Water’s org partner organization, assist the hygiene education program, and schedule the work on the construction. Members are trained how to maintain the water and sanitation systems, and manage finances.

After the project has finish, the ownership is for the community, whether it is funded by a grant or WaterCredit. However, for the project to be successful, the communities have to take pride of their ownership because they were involve in every step, from project planning, building and financing, to project maintenance in the future.

WATERCREDIT

WaterCredit Initiative is a new for individuals and communities who do not have access or ability to take out loans at the tradition credit markets. WaterCredit implement through its network of local partner organizations by join-lending group, women’s self-help groups, and community-based organizations in range of $50-$200. WaterCredit allow people to finance their own water needs. When the loans are repaid, it is once again available for others to borrow.

The never ending stories on newspapers, online articles, and videos about Water.org, all have the same positive feedback. But one subject, all the story has in common is the spotlight tends to shine on Matt Damon who is the co-founder of Water.org. The coverage usually involve with a background story of how Damon got into Water.org or what is his expert opinion on everything with slight relation to water and sanitation. Even though the stories have some useful information about the organization, but the main theme would always be about Matt Damon.
According to Charity Navigator’s data there is not a doubt that Water.org is a legitimate charity. And I am 100% sure that what Water.org is doing is for a good cause. The structure of the organization is well organized, so after the donor made the donation, there is no questioning about the organization integrity. Partnership with the local organization is a smart move because it helps move along the process quickly without any complications with the locals. By involving the community into the project, helps them understand the process and the important of the problem. Thus, they can take ownership and care of the project.

If this organization continues to thrive, we will be that much be that much closer to solve world hunger, over-population, and the economy. By solving the water crisis, people will have higher chance of making it out of poverty. Without worrying about surviving the next day, children will be able to get education and better themselves for the future. By surviving and living, parents do not have to keep on trying to get more children due to higher survival rate. Thus eventually the world population will decrease back to normal number. With higher chance of getting education, the children of tomorrow will be more education and able to make better decision.