When does an everyday errand become a life-changing act of kindness? When a simple packaged good purchase helps bring clean drinking water to children, families, and communities that desperately need it; when “1=1” means that consumers can help support a global cause initiative that’s changing lives.
The P&G Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program 1 purchase = 1 liter campaign with Walmart International, to be featured in 14 countries outside the U.S., offers consumers a way to help provide a life-sustaining resource for communities all over the world. The campaign’s simple premise, “1 purchase = 1 liter of clean water” enables shoppers to contribute to United Nations Sustainable Development Goal #6, which aims to ensure clean water and sanitation for all. This campaign will eventually be activated in 14 countries where Walmart’s International division operates stores. The “1=1” program launched in South Africa and Japan during February, followed by Argentina and China in March. India, Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Chile, Canada and the United Kingdom will participate in the second half of 2019.
For every P&G product purchased in the participating countries during the campaign period, P&G will provide one liter of clean water to help children and their families through its Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program. P&G and Walmart International have set a goal to provide 100 million liters of clean water during 2019 as shared in this press release.
“Everybody feels good when we help others and contribute to make this world better, and this program can help do that for customers,” said JP Suarez, executive vice president and chief administration officer for Walmart International. “It makes it easy for them to take part. All they have to do is purchase a product in a participating store, and they’ll know that their purchase is helping children around the world get access to clean water.”
P&G introduced the Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program in 2004. Working with NGOs around the world, they are bringing clean drinking water to those in need through the use of P&G Purifier of Water packets. Invented by P&G laundry scientists, these packets can be used with just a bucket, a spoon and a cloth to transform ten liters of dirty water into pure, clean drinking water in just 30 minutes.
Suarez indicates that the P&G program recognizes this most essential human need. “Water scarcity is a significant challenge in some of the markets where we operate. Growing consumption, compounded by increasing population, puts more pressure on the climate, natural resources, and waste management. We estimate more than 20 percent of our operations around the world are, or will be by 2025, located in regions facing high levels of water stress,” he explains. “That’s why we’re working to promote a quality water supply in our communities, starting with the way we manage water in our own operations, and conserving and restoring natural habitat.”
The way Suarez and his company see it, the P&G campaign complements this mission. “Today, as a society, we face significant challenges in terms of clean water. So our approach goes beyond minimizing our own footprint. We look to spark collective action to transform the retail sector for environmental, social, and economic sustainability. We’re excited that suppliers like P&G have come up with initiatives like the Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program to empower customers to take part,” he says.
For more information about how you can help support the P&G Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program, visit www.cswd.org.
