Contribute invests in water projects through Project Concern International (PCI).
Project Concern International's mission is to prevent disease, improve community health, and promote sustainable development. The organization has on the ground efforts throughout the world who can implement targeted projects to rid the world of dirty water and unsafe sanitation.
Project Concern International is a non-profit health and humanitarian aid organization dedicated to preventing disease, improving community health, and promoting sustainable development. PCI works in the most disadvantaged communities to bring health and hope to those in greatest need by preventing disease, responding in emergency relief situations, and providing access to economic opportunity, nutritious food, and clean water.
In many parts of Africa, clean water is a rare and precious commodity. So rare in fact that millions of women and children spend an average of 6-8 hours per day gathering water for their families. This time consuming responsibility disproportionately impacts children - especially girls, who are often forced to miss school in order to collect water. Long treks for water can also be dangerous - exposing women and girls to water-borne illnesses such as schistosomiasis from contaminated lakes and rivers. Physical injuries are also commonplace, as a result of walking long distances with heavy jugs of water; occasionally women and girls on water treks are even robbed or sexually assaulted.
Accordingly, Project Concern International (PCI) has worked for many years to improve water, sanitation, and environmental health in the communities where we operate - especially for women, children and families. In addition to the obvious benefits to health and welfare that come from improved access to clean water, PCI has found that freeing up time for women and girls to invest in education, farming and their overall well-being leads to positive outcomes for individuals, their families and improved development for entire communities.
Toward this end, PCI has recently teamed up with the district council in Babati, a region in north-eastern Tanzania, to implement a new water and sanitation project, called the Babati Health Through Water and Sanitation Project. This project will provide safe water for at least 30,000 people in the Babati region of Tanzania, as well as education programs for better sanitation and hygiene practices to mitigate the incidence of water-borne diseases. The project will also build rainwater harvest systems in schools within the area, so that children will have access to clean water while they are in school.
In Malawi, PCI is also building water systems for irrigation and aquaculture to help poor, small-holder farmers feed their families. Without access to water for farming, most people in rural Africa simply cannot survive. Water for people to drink, as well as water for crops and livestock go hand in hand.
PCI works with local communities in Africa to ensure proper stewardship of water assets, by instilling a sense of local ownership and understanding of environmentally sound use practices in order to ensure that people, plants and animals can all thrive; helping Africa’s rural communities to escape poverty and develop more prosperous, healthy futures.
