P&G and National Geographic Collaborate to Produce The Power of Clean Water Documentary

Anthony Ng’ang’a, Commercial Director for P&G East Africa, Hon. Jennifer Shamalla (Nominated Member of Parliament), George Owuor, P&G’s Legal Counsel & Government Relations Lead for East Africa and Ivy Kimani, Always Brand Manager during CSDW documentary screening at The National Museum of Kenya

Access to safe drinking water is a global problem, with children bearing the brunt of this lack of access. UNICEF estimates that 663 million people around the world do not have access to improved drinking water; of these, 319 million – nearly half – are in Sub-Saharan Africa. Diarrhoeal disease, usually caused by poor water quality, insufficient hygiene, or inadequate sanitation, is the third leading cause of death among children under five. It is estimated that almost 340,000 children globally die annually from these diseases – 3,100 of whom are Kenyans.

Proctor & Gamble (P&G) has committed to working to make access to safe drinking water a reality for underprivileged communities around the world a reality. To that end, P&G has pledged to deliver 15 billion litres of clean water globally by 2020 through the Children’s Safe Drinking Water (CSDW) Program to help play their part in the global efforts to achieve goal 6 of the United Nation’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

P&G scientists used cleaning technology research to invent P&G Purifier of Water packets in partnership with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The product is pretty innovative as it basically packs the power of a water treatment plant into a small 4 gram sachet. It’s also easy to use as one needs only a bucket, a spoon, a cloth and a small P&G packet. People can purify 10 liters of dirty, potentially deadly water in only 30 minutes providing enough drinking water for a family of five for one day.

P&G has pledged to deliver 15 billion litres of clean water globally by 2020 through the Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program. So far, P&G has been able to provide more than 13 billion liters of clean water in 92 countries through the program. I got to watch a documentary, ‘The Power of Clean Water’ that was a collaboration between P&G and National Geographic at the National Museum on the work being done through the program.

The documentary follows three families in three countries – Kenya, Indonesia and Mexico – through the point of view of the women (Mary, Veronika and Antonia) in the families. It goes without saying that lack of access to safe drinking water is especially difficult for women and children. Women and girls in the family tend to be the ones who must fetch water for daily use, as well as make attempts to make sure it is suitable for family use. It was heartbreaking to see that the girls were spending time away from their studies as it takes hours to fetch and boil water. The women couldn’t pursue business ventures because they also spent hours making sure the water was drinkable. Even with all this effort, the families were all facing sickness due to waterborne diseases and had even lost family members to the same.

Through the P&G program and Purifier of Water packets, the families have been able to focus on improving themselves as they no longer need to worry about safe drinking water. Even though it is not the most uplifting story until the end, I must say that National Geographic did a great job producing this. Watch these families stories below.