The 2008 African Women and Water Program was launched in Nairobi, Kenya, in July of 2008. This incubator for micro-enterprise development and water technology training marked the first round of the Global Women's Water Initiative, a partnership among A Single Drop, Crabgrass and Women’s Earth Alliance. 

The Program

The 2008 African Women and Water Program  selected women leaders from eight African nations for a year-long program where they learned to build low-cost, sustainable water technologies, develop business plans, and receive Seed Grants to launch clean water microenterprises and service projects.

The Women

Women’s Earth Alliance, along with project partners A Single Drop, Crabgrass, and GROOTS Kenya, launched a global search in 2007, seeking African women leaders who were working on the frontlines of environmental, social and economic sustainability in their communities. The selection committee received dozens of applications and carefully selected a group of thirty women to join our program.

These selected women leaders are true heroes. They speak between 4-8 languages; have 2-20 children and grandchildren; range in age from 25-72; care for the sick, elderly and orphans; run church groups; coordinate grassroots women’s collectives working with 20-2000 families; run their own farms; and campaign on issues from land rights for women to HIV/AIDS prevention.  Some of these women run indigenous networks, manage their own environmental organizations, fight political corruption as lawyers, and, of course, work tirelessly to find solutions to the mounting water issues in their communities. View short video clips here.

This group of women answered our call out of a long-standing commitment to the health and longevity of their communities and for the very future of our planet.  They understood this program as the initiation of a long-range effort towards enhancing the individual and collective impact of their efforts throughout Africa and globally.  This program was a significant and long-awaited step in the journeys of these women leaders.

The Training Phase

The 2008 Training was a week-long intensive held at the Greenbelt Movement's training center. Nobel Peace Laureate, Dr. Wangari Maathai joined the group on the final day.  View a photo slideshow here.

The Training began with a powerful water ceremony. Each woman told the story of the water she carried from her village and poured it into a common vessel. WEA Founder Melinda Kramer poured the water she collected at WEA’s Weaving the Worlds events, describing the hundreds of people who had infused the water with their support. We learned later in the week during the water testing session that over 3/4 of these water samples were contaminated with E. coli. This vessel of water represented the extent of the challenge ahead, but it also symbolized the connectedness and shared purpose of this group.

The GWWI team carefully designed the Training curriculum by selecting water technologies and session topics based on the specific water challenges in the communities of our Training participants. Over the course of the week, each two-person team learned skills in:
-Business planning and project development
-Proposal Writing
-Water Testing with Portable Microbiology Lab
-Solar Cooking and Pasteurization
-Integrated Water Sanitation Hygiene (WASH Strategies)
-Water Harvesting

Each of the women also completed the following trainings:
-CooKit Solar Oven Training
-BioSand Water Filter Implementer Training
-Rainwater Roof Catchment Implementer Training
-Ferro Cement Implementer Training

In addition to the practical, hands-on components of the Training, our team also organized important discussions on Water Policy, Global Climate Change, the Millennium Development Goals and other crucial issues impacting the lives of the program participants. These enlightening conversations provided context for the technology trainings that took place and offered a daily forum for the pan-African network that has emerged from the Training.

The Implementation Phase

Our work did not stop there. Following the Training, each team completed their business plans by partnering with another team to peer review their work and provide support and guidance. Once ready, each team received their Seed Grant money to launch the water projects they designed during the Training.

The women participants returned to their communities invigorated--each team implemented their water projects; they built solar cookers, erected water storage tanks, constructed water filters, and taught others to do the same. Partners A Single Drop and GROOTS Kenya coordinated site visits and refresher courses in each team's villages over the year, supporting them in their first steps towards launching income-generating water projects.  Visit the blog with photos and first-hand updates from the field.

Weaving the Worlds

During our months of intensive preparation for the 2008 African Women and Water Training, we received an incredible flood of support from around the world.  Thanks to the generosity of many, we were able to fully fund the launch of this unprecedented network of women water advocates. These early investments supported a groundswell of water projects that are now positively impacting our planet and that will do so for decades to come.

Water is Life. Truly, the call for this work is as simple as the three words spoken most often by the women at the Training:  "Water is Life". In collaboration, we answered the call to bring simple solutions to problems that are causing deep suffering in Africa and worldwide. Thanks to international support, the coordination of WEA, A Single Drop, Crabgrass and GROOTS Kenya, and the unceasing work of our African participants--there is now clean water, economic opportunity, enhanced health, global solidarity, and hope where it did not exist before.

To fuel our work forward, we invite you to make a tax-deductible contribution to the Global Women's Water Initiative by selecting "Women and Water" at: https://www.earthisland.org/WEA/donate.html.