Women for Water and Waterboys campaign to empower 100K women and girls in E. Africa

November 20, 2020 

Global Water Challenge’s women for water™, a clean water and women’s empowerment action platform, is teaming up with Waterboys, an athelete-led intiative of two-time NFL Super Bowl Champion Chris Long, to bring water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) to women and girls in high-need communities.

The Water4Her campaign will mobilize 100,000 women to empower 100,000 East African women and girls through access to clean water. 

Bringing together a community of athletes, influencers and donors, the campaign looks to raise awareness and funding for impact partners, World Vision, Global Grassroots, WorldServe International and Mama Maji, to deliver critically needed WASH access for women in Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and Kenya, respectively. 

In many countries across Africa, women and girls bear the burden of water collection and spend their days walking miles, waiting in long lines and experiencing harassment for water that is often unsafe to drink.  Evidence shows that access to clean water is linked to improving reproductive health, increased income, decreased gender-based violence, and reduced risk of water-borne illness. 

“Lack of sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene access, compounded by the COVID-19 crisis, is plunging women back into poverty,” said Monica Ellis, CEO of campaign co-founding partner Global Water Challenge (GWC), whose coalition efforts have delivered clean water to over 2 million people across Africa, India, the US and Latin America. “This issue is urgent, and when you invest in empowering a woman through clean water, you invest in her ability to live, learn, earn, lead and thrive.” 

“This is a time, like no other, where we must come together to ensure that women and girls in need have WASH access,” said Megan Long, campaign chair and co-founder of The Chris Long Foundation. “Water4Her is a unique platform for people, athletes, influencers and sponsors to lend their voices and invest in critical resources to accomplish that.” 

The year-long campaign is a commitment by the partners to deploy their assets and networks to help empower 100,000 women through water – with a focus on social-digital outreach to mobilize 100,000 people to take the water4Her pledge on the campaign's website, committing to five key actions: 

• Understand the significance of how the lack of clean water access is a key barrier to women’s empowerment and share the urgency of the Water4Her mission with others 
• Rally family, friends, colleagues, and networks to start a Water4Her Giving Team 
• Contribute at least $25 to help provide a woman and her family with access to clean water 
• Participate in the Hike4Her event on Saturday, March 20, 2021, to raise awareness around World Water Day about the millions of women who struggle with the daily burden of collecting water; and, 
• Take one additional action from the Water4Her Involvement Hub on water4her.org/hub