RI/USAID International H2O Collaboration
R otarians may apply for grants in amounts from US$100,000 to $300,000 to carry out water, sanitation, and hygiene projects in Ghana, the Philippines, and the Dominican Republic through an alliance between Rotary International and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Health, Hunger and Humanity (3-H) Grants will support Rotary club and district involvement with these projects.
This partnership between RI and USAID is an official Global Development Alliance (GDA), which is an innovative public-private alliance model developed and used by USAID for improving social and economic conditions in developing countries. The GDA combines the assets and experience of strategic partners, such as RI. The GDA leverages its capital and investments, creativity, and access to markets to solve complex problems facing government, business, and communities. Learn more about GDA .
“We intend these projects to be models for future projects with strategic partners and in this way to enhance our contribution to world understanding, goodwill, and peace.”
- Past RI President William B. Boyd, chair of the International H2O Collaboration Steering Committee
Deadlines
A tentative timeframe for the launch of the first project has been set for the 2009-10 Rotary year, beginning 1 July 2009.
How the funding is organized between RI and USAID
The RI and USAID funds will share project funding, with funding to be distributed separately and independently. This allows for budgeting, expenditures, and reporting mechanisms to be kept completely separate between the two organizations.
Why water, sanitation, and hygiene projects were selected by RI and USAID
Today, more than 1.1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water, and 2.5 billion people lack access to improved sanitation. Each year, 1.8 million people -- 90 percent of them children under age five -- die from preventable diarrheal diseases. Diarrheal diseases and related malnutrition account for virtually all of the deaths and nearly 90 percent of the overall disease burden associated with unsafe water supply, sanitation, and hygiene. Therefore, activities in these areas are key health interventions. (Source: Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act Report to Congress, June 2008)
The United Nations Millennium Development Goals address this situation in goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability. Within that goal is the target to "halve, by 2015, the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation."
The relationship between the RI/USAID International H2O Collaboration and the Future Vision Plan
While the alliance was developed separately from The Rotary Foundation’s Future Vision Plan, the concept of strategic partnerships with other organizations has become a vital part of the plan’s new grant-making model. Packaged Rotary Foundation Global Grants will leverage funding, advocacy, and technical expertise of other organizations to develop large-scale projects for Rotarians to implement.
Questions?
Read the fact sheet. If you have further questions about the alliance and its activities, contact Amanda Robertson, RI/USAID project manager, via e-mail or phone at 847-866-3412.