We had the pleasure of speaking with Julian Minett, CEO and Charlotte Hood, Consultant of The Spencer Group in the United Kingdom. Julian and The Spencer Group have been supporters of The Water Project since 2011 and have given more than $45,000 to clean water projects.

Julian has been raising money for different charities and developing countries since he was a child, “it was part of how I grew up.” He remembers he was a teenager when the water crisis became one of his causes. “We did a fast for a weekend to raise money for water in Africa in order to heighten awareness. It’s a long legacy, it must be over 30 years that I’ve been aware of the crisis.”

Julian believes access to safe water is a human right. “You can build, you can farm, you can get an education, you can start to change the world if you have this basic right of clean, safe water. And the fact that we are such a technologically-advanced world, and yet there are still parts of it that don’t have this basic right, I think it’s an injustice. I think the world should put water first. It’s not education or anything else. Without water, nothing else is possible.” (more…)

The Waterdrop brand offers high-quality home water filtration solutions. By removing sand and sediments, reducing chlorine, cysts and many other contaminants, Waterdrop products improves water quality and ensures safe and healthy drinking water for millions of families worldwide.

We had the chance to speak with Waterdrop about their partnership with The Water Project. Waterdrop has officially launched the Water4Smile Program to help children in need in sub-Saharan Africa. Their goal is to provide children at least one day of clean water from each Waterdrop filter purchased.

When was the first time you heard about the water crisis and what inspired you to get involved?

It was in 2016 when Philip, the president of Waterdrop, read online that many people are living without clean water today. He realized that many children and communities do not have any sanitation facilities and many people are suffering from water-related diseases. It made him feel terribly sad and astonished, but also made him devoted to providing a clean water solution. We believe clean water is a basic human right, but some people in the world don’t even have access to water in general, not to mention clean water.

It was this news Philip read that motivated him to really do something. We began to search information on the Internet about the water crisis, like how to help those in need and how to end the crisis. We found The Water Project was working on it. (more…)