Coca Cola to invest $35m more to expand water and sanitation programme in Africa

The Coca-Cola Africa Foundation (TCCAF) will receive $35m more funds from Coca-Cola International, which will be used to expand its Replenish Africa Initiative (RAIN).

This is the second investment under the programme to improve access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) for four million more people by 2020.

The first investment for RAIN was $30m which aimed to provide safe water access to two million people across the African continent within 2015.

RAIN is a public-private partnership led by TCCAF which supports more than 2,000 communities across 37 African countries through its WASH programme.

Besides working for safe water access for six million Africans, TCCAF and its partners will be able to empower up to 250,000 women and youth economically through the expansion plans.

The expanded RAIN programme will support health and hygiene across communities, schools, and health centres, protect watersheds, and return up to 18.5 billion litres of water to nature and communities.

The Coca-Cola Africa Foundation president Dr. Susan Mboya said: "Our commitment to the well-being of African communities is unwavering. Through the efforts of RAIN, we are reinforcing the incredible progress made to date with our many partners and are pledging to do even more.

"As we begin work in this era of new commitments, we must continue the progress made from the Millennium Development Goals to set these economies up for success.

"Through programmes and partnerships focused on safe water access, women’s economic empowerment, job creation and community well-being we are investing in the future progress and prosperity of the African people and economy."

Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP) will make use of RAIN funding to offer city-wide access for better water services and associated reductions in water and hygiene related diseases in selected cities in Kenya, Madagascar and Mozambique.

WSUP initiatives are expected to serve around two million people by 2018.

Along with TCCAF, Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and WSUP will be offering sustainable safe water access in the city of Lusaka in Zambia.

The TCCAF funds are presently being used by WSUP and USAID to serve 40,000 people and more with community water kiosks, distribution network, sanitation facilities and hygiene education in schools.

WSUP CEO Neil Jeffery said: "Building on our joint success, we will support and enable service providers to enhance their response towards a shared vision of improved water and sanitation service. TCCAF will also collaborate with WSUP’s consulting arm (WSUP Advisory) to partner with others who are scaling WASH service delivery outside of WSUP’s core countries."

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Image: A woman drinks safe water from a RAIN project in her village outside Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Photo: Courtesy of The Coca-Cola Company.