H2O Africa Foundation

The H2O Africa Foundation is an NGO founded by Matt Damon to raise awareness about clean water initiatives in Africa. It is part of the Running the Sahara expedition and documentary project currently being undertaken by Damon, James Moll, LivePlanet, and the Independent Producers Alliance.

History

When Matt Damon and his producing partners Marc Joubert, Larry Tanz, and Keith Quinn were starting to work on planning the expedition and film for Running the Sahara, Damon had the idea of starting a charitable initiative. It was informally launched in the spring of 2006. [ [http://www.boston.com/ae/celebrity/articles/2006/09/12/damon_spices_up_fund_raiser/ Damon spices up fund-raiser - The Boston Globe ] ]
When film financier IPA came on board the foundation was officially named H2O Africa and was announced on September 10, 2006 during a OneXOne event at the Toronto International Film Festival [ [http://www.globalwaterchallenge.org/resources/story-9.php Actor Matt Damon aims to create public awareness of the water crisis with H20 Africa] retrieved 4 Aug 2007] . It was started as the charitable arm of the Running the Sahara film project, with the goal of raising money and awareness for organizations such as the United Nations Development Programme Clean Water Initiative, Living Water International, and the Millennium Promise project. On May 29, 2007, H2O Africa announced a new partnership with the Ryan's Well Foundation. [ [http://www.h2oafrica.org/pressrelease3.htm Ryan's Well Foundation and the H2O Africa Foundation Announce Partnership for Clean Water] retrieved 4 Aug 2007] [ [http://www.positivenews.org.uk/artman/publish/article_1238.shtml Ryan's Well and H2O Africa Join Forces For Clean Water] retrieved 4 Aug 2007]

Projects

H2O Africa is currently involved with the following projects:

*Global Youth Initiative For Clean Water: H2O Africa is assisting the Ryan's Well Foundation in fundraising for this project by matching donations dollar-for-dollar [ [http://www.ryanswell.ca/projects/water_projects.asp?projectid=48 H2O Africa Partnership Project] ] . The objective of this project is to improve health, well-being, and sanitation at 15 to 20 schools in the Lira and Oyam districts in the Lango sub-region of Uganda. In addition, the project will also provide hygiene and environmental sanitation training at 90 schools in the two districts, rehabilitate or construct 25 clean water sources, and construct 10 ventilated improved pit (VIP) latrines. Construction is expected to begin in September 2007.

*Route Nations: H2O Africa, in partnership with the UNDP, is constructing a water tower and two water fountains in the village of Néré Walo, Mauritania [ [http://www.h2oafrica.org/route.htm Project Update - Route Nations] ] . As of August 2007, the project is nearly completed.

*Millennium Village: H2O Africa is partnering with Millennium Promise to raise funds for the Millennium Village project in Timbuktu, Mali. The project involves the fostering of initiatives designed to improve the local economy in the fields such as energy and infrastructure, nutrition services, and gender equality [ [http://www.millenniumpromise.org/site/PageServer?pagename=mv_interventions Millennium Promise - Interventions] retrieved 4 Aug 2007] . As of August 2007, the project has received 22% of its $1,750,000 funding goal.

*Central African Republic Well Project: H2O Africa is joining with Living Water International to construct 20 new wells in the Central African Republic, as well as providing 5 years' worth of support for those wells. The project also aims to help improve community management of water resources over this time period. H2O Africa has committed $100,000 to the project, as well as pledging to match an additional $100,000 in donations. The organization has collected 72% of its funding goal as of August 2007.

=Charitable Partners=

* OneXOne
* Renaissance Charitable Gift Fund
* ONE Campaign
* Glimmer of Hope Foundation
* United Nations Development Programme
* Millennium Promise

ee also

* Running the Sahara
* Matt Damon

External links

* [http://www.h2oafrica.org/ H2O Africa]
* [http://www.nationalgeographic.com/runningthesahara Running the Sahara]
* [http://www.onexonecampaign.com OneXOne Campaign]
* [http://www.millenniumpromise.org Millennium Promise]
* [http://www.aglimmerofhope.org A Glimmer of Hope Foundation]
* [http://www.rcgf.org Renaissance Charitable Gift Fund]
* [http://www.water.cc/main.aspx Living Water International]

References