Water For People Awards $24,000 at Water and Sanitation Conference in the Dominican Republic

April 24, 2009
By Peter Mason

April 24, 2009, Denver, Colorado - Water For People (www.waterforpeople.org), an international,
nonprofit development organization dedicated to addressing global water, sanitation and hygiene
challenges, awarded $24,000 to organizations addressing the needs for water and sanitation in the
Dominican Republic. The awards were made at a conference in Santo Domingo that they hosted. The
conference brought together over 15 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that presented some of the
water and sanitation needs in the Dominican Republic and how Water For People and others can help
address them. The awards were presented to eight NGOs for their sustainable programs. The conference
was the first step in Water For People’s plan to work in the Dominican Republic.

The conference included presentations by key sector role players, regional breakouts and discussions
which lead to recommendations for assistance in the future. Raising awareness, providing technical
assistance, additional networking and communication were identified as needs by those in attendance. A
“meet and greet” reception was held on Tuesday evening. Participants include Water For People’s Ned
Breslin, Acting CEO, Diana Betancourt, Latin American Program Coordinator and Robert Adamski, UN
Representative and Water For People’s Team lead in the Dominican Republic. Ned Breslin commented,
“This conference was an important first step in Water For People’s new program. We were glad to have
the opportunity to meet those working to better the water and sanitation access for the residents of the
Dominican Republic. We consider the awards to be down payments on future work.” Over 40 participants
representing over 15 NGOs attended, with 12 making presentations.

Water For People, which began a partnership with the Engineers Without Borders Chapter at the
Polytechnic Institute of NYU in Brooklyn, NY, was assisted with the conference by three of their members
and one from Stevens Institute of New Jersey. The new Chapter will be learning program management
skills and began by obtaining data about the water and sanitation programs of the NGOs and plotting
them on Google Earth. Their work will be included in a report of the conference to be produced and
posted on Water For People’s website: www.waterforpeople.org.

The conference was a follow-up to the scoping study completed by Water For People’s World Water
Corps in 2007. The World Water Corps is Water For People’s volunteer arm that strategically utilizes the
technical skills of the North American water and wastewater industry to fill identified gaps in Water For
People’s programming. A World Water Corps team visited the Dominican Republic in 2007 and found
there was need for Water For People’s involvement and recommended adding the country under Water
For People’s Strategic Plan. The Board agreed and added the Dominican Republic along with Ecuador,
Peru, Nicaragua, Rwanda and Uganda.

About Water For People
Founded in 1991, Water For People is a nonprofit international development organization that supports
safe drinking water and sanitation projects in developing countries. Water For People partners with
communities, local governments, and other nongovernmental organizations to help people improve their
quality of life by supporting the development of locally sustainable drinking water resources, improved
sanitation facilities, and hygiene education programs. Water For People supports communities with
professional development advice, financial support and volunteer technical services. Typical technologies
employed include protected spring-fed community water systems, gravity-fed systems, wells with hand
pumps, latrine construction, operator training and hygiene education. Water For People is currently
working in Latin America, Africa and Asia. In 2008, Water For People supported the provision of safe and
sustainable drinking water resources benefiting 91,722 people in the developing world, sanitation facilities
benefiting 92,983, and hygiene education benefiting 153,843 people. More information is available at
www.waterforpeople.org.