Global Fundamentals

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The Global Fundamentals Fund Advisory Committee seeks to improve the quality of life in developing countries by focusing on clean water and sanitation access, technology, and policy.

It has adopted a three-pronged approach: 

1. developing water and sanitation resources (e.g. wells and springs),
2. supporting point-of-use technology (filters, etc.), and
3. educating people on the impacts of government policy and policy proposals, enforcing laws, and increasing awareness of water and sanitation issues.

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2009 Grants

• A Child's Right (http://www.a-childs-right.org) $48,000
  Installation of six water purification systems at children’s institutions in Nepal, which will provide safe drinking water to more than 7,000 vulnerable children;  organizational capacity building to facilitate growth planning
• Agua Para La Vida (http://www.aplv.org) $18,688
  Drinking water and sanitation programs in Los Pinares, Nicaragua, including a gravity-flow drinking water system, sanitary latrines, hygiene education, and a spring and watershed protection program.  
• ELAW (http://www.elaw.org) $20,000
  General support for ELAW’s work protecting water resources around the world through law and science, helping grassroots advocates secure and protect clean water for poor communities.
• Haiti Outreach (http://www.haitioutreach.org) $15,000
  Drilling one well on La Gonave, Haiti, providing clean water to 500 to 1,000 people.
• International Rural Water Association (http://www.intlruralwater.org) $11,000
  Support for the Circuit Rider Program in El Salvador, a technical assistance and training program which works with communities to assist with operations and management of community water and wastewater systems; and evaluation of nine community water systems by the Salvadoran Circuit Rider with the assistance of U.S.-based Circuit Riders.
• PATH (http://www.path.org) $41,449
  To develop chlorine water quality test strips appropriate for use with drinking water treated using the electrochlorinator (developed with LNFF support in 2008) and to support development of improved latrine platforms (surfaces that connect latrine shelters to the core storage, treatment, and transport components) which could be produced at low cost and modified to address cultural preferences and different waste-management approaches.
• Pulitzer Center (http://www.pulitzercenter.org) $25,000
  General operating support with a focus on the Global Gateway educational initiative which serves as a means to raise awareness and inform citizen action. This grant would primarily be used to improve and expand their Water Gateway (waterwars.pulitzergateway.org), which is an interactive, online space where students and the public can explore reports on critical water issues and nonprofits can spread knowledge of their work.
• Water 1st International (http://www.water1st.org) $50,000
  To support work in Chittagong, Bangladesh, which will provide integrated water, sanitation and hygiene education services to people living in slum settlements in Bangladesh’s second largest city; and to support work in Kalacho Garbi, Ethiopia, to extend an existing water supply system installed by the local government by constructing a distribution pipeline and 8 public taps, bringing the water to an additional 5,000.
• WaterAid (http://www.wateraid.org) $20,000
  Project support for WaterAid’s work in Mali, focused on service delivery and appropriate technologies for water, sanitation, and hygiene; developing and promoting innovative approaches such as rainwater harvesting tanks and community-led total sanitation; running awareness campaigns to empower local citizens to demand their right to water and sanitation; sharing information by way of a Regional Learning Center to provide training, encourage innovation and research, and promote best practices; and working with the government of Mali to ensure commitment to the provision of basic water and sanitation services.
• Waterlines (http://www.waterlines.org) $25,000
  Water, sanitation and hygiene programs in four primary schools in the Bomet District of Kenya, working with a local community health and development organization. These projects include rain-collection tanks and gutters constructed by local artisans, latrine stalls, and hygiene education emphasizing hand washing.

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Water Facts & Statistics - Did you know . . .  ?

In developing countries, one person uses an average of ten liters of water per day.  In the United States, one person uses an average of 75-80 gallons in the same time period. (www.epa.gov) 

Each flush of the toilet uses the same amount of water that one person in the Third World uses all day for washing, cleaning, cooking and drinking. (www.whrnet.org)

In the past ten years, diarrhea has killed more children worldwide than all the people lost to armed conflict since World War II. (Water Aid)

Twelve million people die each year from lack of safe drinking water, including more than 3 million who die from waterborne diseases. (WHO)

Over 80% of the disease in developing countries is related to poor drinking water and sanitation. (WHO)

1.5 billion people in the world are suffering from parasite infections, which can cause malnutrition, anemia and delayed growth, due to the presence of solid human waste in the environment. Many of these infections could be controlled with improved hygiene, clean water and sanitation. (www.whrnet.org)

The average distance a woman in Africa and Asia walks to collect water is 6 km (3.75 miles). (www.whrnet.org)