Global Water Challenge (GWC) and Ashoka´s Changemakers have
partnered to launch Tapping Local Innovation: Unclogging the Water and
Sanitation Crisis, an online collaborative competition to discover and
support entrepreneurs large and small who offer groundbreaking
approaches to the most pressing water and sanitation challenges. The
Coca-Cola Company is contributing a lead grant of $1 million (US) to
support the collaborative effort to find and fund truly innovative
solutions that address the water crisis.
Most people do not think about water; they turn on a tap and clean
water flows readily. But for more than 1.1 billion people around the
world, access to safe water is a constant concern. Suitable sanitation
facilities are in even shorter supply. A lack of basic bathroom
facilities deprives 2.6 billion people of human privacy and dignity.
"We have both the resources and the will to live in a world in
which everyone can drink clean water and use a safe toilet," said Paul
Faeth, Executive Director of GWC. "This open source competition is
unique in allowing social entrepreneurs working in the farthest
corners of the world to connect with a dynamic community of experts
and funders that can improve and expand the impact these entrepreneurs
can have."
"Global Water Challenge seeks to make existing projects even
stronger and connect local innovators with global investors who can
bring solutions to scale. By partnering with Ashoka´s Changemakers,
Global Water Challenge has a platform to challenge the world´s
entrepreneurs to use their substantial talents to solve the world´s
water and sanitation crisis," says Charlie Brown, the executive
director of Ashoka´s Changemakers. Brown notes that the Changemakers
Web site encourages collaboration and discussion to draw out and
strengthen the most effective ideas.
Innovators can post their applications on the Ashoka´s
Changemakers Web site at www.changemakers.net now through March 26,
2008. During this time, applications will be available to anyone for
review, comment and discussion. Once the entry period has closed, a
panel of judges will select finalists and the global online community
will vote for the winners. The winners will receive funds in
recognition of their work. Judges include: Ed Cain, Vice
President-Grant Programs, Hilton Foundation; Ian Callaghan, Head of
Microfinance Institutions Group, Morgan Stanley; Dr. Sanjay Gupta,
Chief Medical Correspondent, CNN; and Tanvi Nagpal, Director of Water
and Sanitation Initiatives, Global Water Challenge.
About Global Water Challenge
Global Water Challenge (GWC) is a coalition of leading
organizations, which have joined forces to catalyze transformational
change in the water and sanitation sector. We believe that we have
both the resources and the will to live in a world in which everyone
can drink clean water, and use a safe toilet. Our mission is to
generate a global movement to meet the urgent need for safe water and
sanitation by spurring collective awareness and investment in
innovation by corporate, public and nongovernmental actors. GWC
focuses on collaborative learning, connecting leaders, and investing
in sustainable, replicable, and scaleable projects.
For more information, please visit us at
www.globalwaterchallenge.org
About Ashoka´s Changemakers
Ashoka´s Changemakers is building the world´s first global online
"open source" community that competes to surface the best social
solutions to the world´s most pressing issues. We focus on thematic,
collaborative competitions, inviting innovators from around the world
to profile and collaborate with a global community of investors,
thought leaders and enthusiasts. To date Changemakers has launched 14
successful collaborative competitions and attracted more than 2,000
high-impact solutions from more than 125 countries. Changemakers
builds on Ashoka´s 26 year history identifying and selecting leading
social entrepreneurs and its belief in "everyone a changemaker" global
society.
Get involved. Find out more about how to nominate, enter, comment
and vote in our collaborative competitions www.changemakers.net.
