OUR NEW CAMPAIGN - 'We Fund Water Projects, Not Just Wells'

At Empower, we are committed to providing Sub-Saharan African communities with safe and clean water to unlock opportunities for young girls, enabling them to live and learn without the burden of water collection for their home.

We believe people can change everything.

That's why, alongside The Water Project, we are launching a brand new campaign 'We Fund Water Projects, Not Just Wells'.

You can dig a whole closer to the community, you can snap a photo of water flowing and claim it as a success however we believe change will only come with sustainable development. Our goal isn't merely to get water flowing, but to have clean water flowing for years and years to come.

Empower is working very hard to build long-term, truly sustainable water projects that are held to a measurable standard of success over the long term. We're less interested in an ever growing tally of projects than we are in seeing lives changed (TWP, 2015).

Empower works closely with local in-country teams and partners to develop clean water programs alongside our hero volunteer, as well as the incredible local community. We carefully select implementing partners who have long term relationships and commitments to the people they serve.

The Process

Community Engagement
Ensure the communities we serve are involved at every step of the process.

Community Education
Clean, safe water can be a new concept in a village. Understanding concepts like hand-washing and proper use of latrines is key to maximizing the benefits of a new well.

Installing the Project
From filing for permits to installing a well pump or other hardware, a lot goes into the construction phase of a water project like a well. We ensure the installation is sustainable, thorough and environmentally friendly.

Education Follow-up and Handing Over
The exciting moment when water flows and a community celebrates their new water source is just the beginning.

Monitoring and Evaluation
Did it work? Is it still working? Was anyone really helped? If we don't ask, we'll never know. 

With this process, Empower have changed hundreds of people's lives and with your help, we know we can help thousands and thousands more.

When you donate, you are unlocking opportunities for an entire community. Opportunities that at the moment, they can only dream about.

Make their dreams come true. Donate today, for a freer and happier tomorrow.

Empower | Women and Water Quiz

Here at Empower, we believe being informed and aware of situations happening around the world is crucial for our understanding in how we can help.

How about joining in our quiz? Be sure to let us know of your answers on Twitter - no cheating!

1. How many times as likely as boys are girls under the age of 15 expected to be the family member responsible for fetching water?

2. What % of households rely on women to get the family's water when there is no water source in the home?

3. How many hours does Sub-Saharan Africa alone lose per year collecting water?

4. Half of the HIV – infected population in all but four of the forty-eight countries that comprise SSA are women (Lewis, 2009). TRUE or FALSE?

5. What is the average distance that women and children walk for water in Africa?

6. How many hours do women and girls living without a toilet spend finding a place to go each day?

7. What is the average weight of water women in Africa carry on their heads?

8. Women are responsible for 72% of the water collected in Sub-Saharan Africa. TRUE or FALSE?

9.What % do women reinvest of their income back into their own households in Africa, compared to 30-40% by men?

10. How many school days are lost each year due to water-related diseases?

1. Twice as likely
2. 64%
3. 40 billion hours
4. TRUE.
5. Six kilometers (3.7 miles).
6. 266 million hours
7. 50 pounds
8. TRUE
9. 90%
10. 443 million

"Remember, you can donate with one click of a button to empower African girls today, for a freer and happier tomorrow."

References:
- Africastories.org (2015) 'Africastories — Africa Water Crisis — World Water Facts'.Available at http://www.africastories.org/africa-water-crisis/world-water-facts/ Accessed on Web. 26 Nov 2015.
- Charitywater.org,(2015) 'Why Water? Impact Of The Global Water Crisis'. Available at http://www.charitywater.org/whywater/. Accessed on Web. 26 Nov. 2015.
-  Gender.cawater-info.net. (2015) 'Facts About Women And Water'.Available at http://www.gender.cawater-info.net/what_is/facts_e.htm. Accessed on Web. 26 Nov. 2015.
- The Water Project. (2015) 'Empower The Girl Child. Give Water.'. Available at http://thewaterproject.org/. Accessed on Web. 26 Nov. 2015.
- Water for the Ages. (2009) '10 Facts On Women And Water'. Available at http://waterfortheages.org/2009/12/02/10-facts-on-women-and-water/. Accessed on Web. 26 Nov. 2015.
- Water.org. (2015)'Water Crisis: Women & Children'. Available at http://water.org/water-crisis/women-children-facts/. Accessed on Web. 26 Nov. 2015.

Speaking to... Upendo

Up until recently, Upendo didn't go attend school as she had to collect water for her family...

"Hello, I am Upendo, I am 12 years old and I love to dance and skip with my best friends. I live in Ghana with my mother, father and two younger brothers who are 6 and 8 years old. My father is a farmer and grows food to sell and for us to eat and my mother stays at home to look after us all and collects our water.

I stopped going to school when I was 9 because I needed to help my mother collect the water every day for our family. I liked going to school and learning about different things, especially maths, as I was good at adding up but now I can’t go. I help my brothers with their homework sometimes because I miss learning but I get upset that my brothers get to go to school every day with their friends when I can’t. I need to help my mother collect clean water from the well so we can wash ourselves and so my dad can water his crops.

I don't like collecting water because it’s difficult and it makes me not feel very well. The pot that I carry water in makes my back ache on the walk back and my feet have blisters and are sore. My mother has to make me stop on the way home because sometimes I get dizzy from the heat and can’t see properly and if I dropped the pot of water we have to go back and it takes us hours. We also have to get home before it gets dark and otherwise we are not very safe and men shout at us and touch us when we don't want them too.

I wish the well was closer to our home because then it would take us so much less time to collect and I might be able to go back to school again and learn. I wish I could be like my brothers who get to go to school but I am a girl so I have to help in our house. My other friends who are girls stay at home and collect water too, that is just our job.

When I have some spare time I go outside and pretend to teach children because my dream is to be a teacher and help other girls and boys learn lots of different things but my parents say that I need to keep collecting water because otherwise we can’t grow food to eat."

...but with your support, Empower and our fantastic volunteers have built 2 water wells in her local community so now she can fulfill her dreams, and attend school.

On behalf of Upendo, her fellow school friends and their families, we say THANK YOU.

You can help girls just like Upendo by donating, with just one click of a button. Please, empower African girls today, for a freer and happier tomorrow.

Empower | Who we work with...

The work we do here at Empower, would be a lot harder without the partnerships and relationships we’ve built up with other fantastic organisations and charities. 

The Water Project (2015) are a ‘non-profit organization unlocking human potential by providing reliable water projects to communities in sub-Saharan Africa who suffer needlessly from a lack of access to clean water and proper sanitation.’

For over 7 years, they have helped communities gain access to clean, safe water by by providing training, expertise and financial support for water project construction through our staff and implementing partners.

We think this video is fantastic, and really urge you to take a few moments out of your day to learn more about who we are trying to help, and why.

"Remember, you can donate with one click of a button to empower African girls today, for a freer and happier tomorrow".

References:
The Water Project, (2015) 'Empower The Girl Child. Give Water.'. Available at http://thewaterproject.org/. Accessed on Web. 26 Nov. 2015.

Speaking to... Selph

Selph Ihungu Imalo - Arusha village, Tanzania

I first met Gabriella when she was working with an organisation helping to build schools in the community and she asked if I would speak to her about my life. She asked about why my daughter, Angel, was not in school but instead helping me to collect water for our household. I told her, in this community, the role of a female is seen to be in the kitchen, it is seen to provide for our family. 

Upon my daughter turning 10, she could no longer keep on attending school as her help was needed to collect water from the wells. I have collected water for my household for 37 years and it was becoming impossible to carry on. I am HIV positive and I was becoming increasingly more ill. My husband decided that it was no longer safe for me to carry on and that is when the responsibility fell on to my beloved girl, Angel.

Carrying the pots from the well is not easy. It is a 3 hour round trip and you have to take breaks. Every time she left the house each morning to start her journey to the well, I would say a prayer and would worry until she returned. Then she became unwell. She contracted cholera and began vomiting and had diarrhoea. It is impossible to have for girls and women in this community to have good hygiene. We walk long miles, we are dusty and dirty and there are no sufficient facilities. You become helpless when your child is sick. You don’t know what to do. Gabriella came back last year and told me she had started an organisation to help and empower girls and women, by starting projects to build wells closer to our homes. It was then that I told her my daughter had passed away a couple of months before.

I feel so much sorrow and so much guilt that my child has left this world and I am still here but I am now so thankful for the work Empower are doing in my community . Access to clean, safe water enables so many of our girls to start learning again. If one less young child dies because of a water related illness contracted through the collection of water from the wells, this village can become a little happier, and life can become a little easier, each day.

"Donate what you can and come on this journey with us, to empower these African girls today, for a freer and happier tomorrow."

Welcome to Empower.

Talk to any girl in Africa and she will tell you exactly what she wants.

She wants an education. She wants a career. She wants to make a contribution other than to the household.

She wants to be a teacher, a lawyer, a politician, a world leader.

A financially independent woman.

There’s something stopping these girls fulfilling their dreams. Fulfilling dreams that we take for granted.

Water.

Access to water.

Lack of access to safe water and sanitation is the primary reason girls drop out of school. African culture sees a women’s place as in the kitchen, looking after the family and collecting water for their household. In Sub Saharan African, 68% of the rural population spend more than 1 hour per trip of water collection making it impossible for girls to attend school.

Safe water unlocks a community’s girls to learn, to develop and to experience the life they want to lead.

Here at Empower, we need your help.

We need your help to give these girls the freedom to carry out their dreams and the only way to do this is with convenient access to safe and clean water.

Just £1 can make the difference.

Donate what you can and come on this journey with us, to empower these African girls today, for a freer and happier tomorrow.