Global Water Crisis Solutions: Moving From Charity to Catalytic Philanthropy

Speakers

• Gary White, Executive Director and Co-Founder, Water.org
• Kara Hurst, Vice President, BSR (Moderator)

Highlights

• One out of eight people in the world lacks access to safe and clean water. Limited access to water especially affects women and girls and their access to education and economic livelihoods.
• Water.org uses microfinancing tools to help people gain access to water. This program is an example of catalytic philanthropy, a model whereby commercial capital can be leveraged to deliver sustainable solutions for communities.

Memorable Quotes

“More people have access to cell phones than access to toilets.” —Gary White, Water.org

“We need to bring water to people in ways that are faster, cheaper, sustainable, and scalable” —Gary White, Water.org

“I am extremely hopeful that we can fix this problem during our lifetime. The more I dove into this [and the more the solutions became apparent], the more optimistic I became.” —Gary White, Water.org

Overview

White is CEO of Water.org, an organization he cofounded with actor and screenwriter Matt Damon, focusing on access to water and sanitation in developing countries. White has dedicated his career to finding solutions to the global water crisis and has a vision to find better and more efficient ways to solve this crisis “during his lifetime.”

White first started by describing the problem. One out of eight people across the globe lacks access to safe and clean water. Limited access to water affects women and girls the most, as they often spend hours each day fetching water. This time-consuming activity limits women and girls’ access to education and income-generating activities. In addition, one out of four people lacks access to a toilet, which has implications for personal safety as well as for human dignity. Typically, lower-income individuals will pay seven to 15 times more for water than middle-class individuals who live in areas connected to a water-utility system.

Next, White spoke about the challenges to solving the problem. The first challenge is providing access to capital for communities without access to water or a toilet. White provided the example of a woman who took out a loan with a loan shark, at exorbitantly high rates, in order to build a toilet. The second challenge is the lack of accountability of governments and utility companies in the developing world. The third challenge is finding effective ways to enhance community participation and empower individuals to identify solutions to the lack of water themselves—for instance, through social media or other social platforms.

White then addressed the issue of how philanthropy and donations are failing to solve the long-term challenge of providing clean, safe water for all. For example, providing water-filtering devices is helpful in times of crisis, but does not deliver long-lasting, positive impacts to communities without regular, reliable access to clean and safe water.

White also spoke about the notion of “catalytic philanthropy.” Using market forces, commercial capital can be leveraged to deliver sustainable solutions. One primary example of this is Water.org’s WaterCredit program, which uses microfinancing tools to help people gain access to clean water. To date, the program has reached 250,000 people through microloans, and the rate of loan repay is 97 percent.

Similarly, utility companies often route water pipes to hotels through slums, but these slums are not connected to the water grid. The conventional wisdom is that low-income communities will not be able to afford the water, so they are bypassed altogether. Providing capital to these populations through microfinance tools guarantees that they will be able to pay for the water.

During the Q&A session, Hurst commented that low-cost solutions to providing access to safe water do in fact exist. White remarked that we can unlock that potential for tangible solutions by looking for ways to “nudge” the system and help “people gain access to that little capital they need to get access to water.” A participant asked whether solutions to provide access to water should be coupled with water conservation efforts. White recognized that there is a looming water crisis in the United States, specifically in the southwestern United States. He thinks the water crisis in the United States can be solved by pouring in more capital, for example, by investing in closed-loop water systems. However, this is harder in developing countries where access to capital is limited.

In closing, Hurst asked White whether he was hopeful for the future. White reiterated his optimism that this problem can be solved in our lifetime, as solutions are at hand.