CGSW Welcome

Partnerships

A distinctive strength of the Center for Global Safe Water is that it builds on existing partnerships among three leading public health organizations in Atlanta, Georgia: Emory University's Rollins School of Public Health, CARE USA, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The mission of Emory University's Rollins School of Public Health is to improve health and prevent disease in human populations around the world by acquiring, disseminating, and applying knowledge. To achieve its mission, the School has set the following goals: 1) to educate individuals for professional careers in public health through master's and doctoral degree programs, and to further educate individuals already in the public health workforce by enhancing their knowledge and skills in public health; 2) to conduct basic and applied research pertinent to the recognition, characterization, and resolution of health problems in human populations; and 3) to improve the practice and profession of public health. Students at the School learn to identify, analyze, and intervene in today's most pressing public health problems. The School's strong partnerships with national public health organizations provides the ideal setting for collaborative, interdisciplinary work that addresses local, national, and international public health issues. In addition to Emory's Rollins School of Public Health, the CGSW also works with faculty and students from Emory's Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing and other Schools within the University. More info...

CARE is one of the world's largest private international relief and development organizations whose mission is to serve individuals and families in the world's poorest communities. CARE works with families and communities worldwide to promote education, economic development, agricultural programs, and health care. The organization is committed to helping people secure the ability to earn a living, care for their families, live freely from discrimination, and realize their full potential socially, culturally, and economically. CARE's programs reach tens of millions of people each year in more than 60 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. The goal of CARE's Water, Sanitation, and Environmental Health Program is to reduce the health risks of water-related diseases and to increase the earning potential of households by saving time spent on gathering water. CARE works directly and through local nongovernment organizations with local communities to provide the training and assistance needed to construct and manage low-cost water and sanitation systems. More info...

CDC is a Health and Human Services (HHS) public health agency whose mission is to promote health and quality of life by preventing and controlling disease, injury, and disability. CDC has lead responsibility for domestic disease prevention and health promotion. More recently, however, CDC's mandate has expanded to include global health promotion and disease prevention. Accordingly, CDC has developed expertise in providing global health technical assistance and has begun implementing a variety of global health initiatives, including activities related to safe water. In 1996, CDC launched the Safe Water System (SWS), http://www.cdc.gov/safewater/, a household-based intervention with three elements: water disinfection, safe storage of treated water, and messages and methods to induce and sustain health changes in behavior. A decade of experience on five continents has demonstrated that SWS programs can be rapidly implemented, can be self-sustaining, and can reduce episodes of diarrhea in families by ~50%.
More info...

To complement the expertise of CGSW's principal partners, the Center collaborates with a variety of other organizations and agencies that bring unique skills, resources, capabilities, and in-country experience to the Center's applied research, training, and capacity-building efforts.

Nongovernment Organizations

Millenium Water Alliance (MWA)
Cooperating group of humanitarian and faith-based agencies working to help communities in the developing world gain access to safe water and sanitation. CGSW and MWA have worked together on the evaluation of school-based point-of-use water treatment programs and community water and sanitation programs in western Kenya.

Population Services International (PSI)
Nonprofit social marketing organization based in Washington, DC, that deploys commercial marketing strategies to promote health products, services and healthy behavior that enable low-income and vulnerable people to lead healthier lives. CGSW and PSI have numerous collaborations centering on promotion and distribution of PSI's point-of-use water treatment product in Kenya.

Safe Water & AIDS Project (SW&AP)
Kenya-based NGO that mobilizes and empowers rural HIV/AIDS community-based groups to become vendors of the Safe Water System and other healthy living products. Participants earn an income while providing access to safe water and supporting AIDS orphans and widows.

WaterAid
International charity dedicated to helping people escape poverty and disease caused by living without safe water and sanitation. CGSW worked with WaterAid to evaluate an ecological sanitation program in rural Mozambique.

WaterPartners International (WPI)
Nonprofit organization committed to providing accessible, sustainable, community-level water supplies. Collaborations include multiple assessments of WPI's community water supply interventions in northern Honduras and community water and sanitation programs in western Kenya.

Private Companies and Organizations

The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC)
World's leading manufacturer, marketer, and distributor of nonalcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups, used to produce ~400 beverage brands; has implemented initiatives to address water quality, scarcity, and efficiency.

Global Environment and Technology Foundation
Not-for-profit corporation that promotes the development and use of innovative technology to achieve sustainable development.

Rotary Club of Atlanta
Atlanta, Georgia, chapter of Rotary International, a worldwide organization of business and professional leaders that provides humanitarian service and promotes peace and understanding throughout the world.

Academic Institutions

Faculdade de Saude e Ecologia Humana, Vespasiano, Brazil

First Hospital and School of Public Health of Xi'an Jiaotong University, China

Great Lakes University of Kisumu, Kenya

Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK

Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya

Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, Ghana

Universidad Autonoma de Nueveo Leon, Monterrey, Mexico

University of California, Berkley, CA, USA

University of Cincinnati, OH, USA

University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Universidad Mayor de San Andres, La Paz, Bolivia

Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador

Tropical Institute for Community Health and Development (TICH)
Non-profit academic institution focusing on training in health and development, based in Kisumu, Kenya; works with partners to expose students to community-based work and develop an evidence base for an intervention methodology focused on community empowerment.

Georgia Water Resources Institute (GWRI), Georgia Institute of Technology

International Organizations

UNICEF
Voluntarily funded agency that provides long-term humanitarian and developmental assistance to promote the health and well-being of children.

Global Water Challenge (GWC)
Launched by a diverse coalition of corporations, foundations, and aid organizations, the GWC is a unique partnership to build healthy communities and save lives. The goal of GWC is to bring safe water and sanitation to millions, by identifying and multiplying the solutions that work. Successful partnerships will help bring economic growth and opportunity to communities in need. CGSW is an active participant of GWC's Monitoring and Evaluation Working Group and has been instrumental in the development of the organization's Water for Schools Initiative. The first program to fall under this initiative is the planned implementation of water, sanitation, and hygiene education in more than 500 schools in western Kenya. CGSW convened the Kenyan Working Group in January 2006 in Kisumu, Kenya, where current and potential partner organizations -- including representatives from several government ministries -- met and developed a plan for the proposed Kenya Water for Schools Initiative.