Drinking water company De Watergroep has been an important partner for Join For Water for many years. Important projects were set up in DR Congo, Madagascar, Benin and Burundi, among others.
Kathleen De Schepper is director of External Relations at De Watergroep. “For De Watergroep, Join For Water is the structural partner we work with on water projects in the South. As a public utility company, we also want to use our knowledge and expertise in regions where drinking water from the tap every day is not guaranteed, let alone that there is a well-developed public water supply in place. What started about 15 years ago as purely financial support has grown into a collaborative project in which a lot of effort also goes to knowledge exchange.
Join For Water perfectly meets the requirements that we set at De Watergroep for our social projects abroad. It is important that the local stakeholders are closely involved. This guarantees mutual input of knowledge and also ensures that the projects implemented have a sustainable future.
Thanks to the strong local anchoring and the program operation Join For Water manages to sustain, the projects fit within a larger whole. This way we can make a difference for a large number of residents by supplying clean water, in combination with source protection zones and good facilities for the drainage and purification of wastewater.
In Flanders we’re also feeling the consequences of climate change in terms of water availability, drought, flooding due to extreme rainfall … That is why, besides working together in terms of fundraising, we also raise awareness around the value and importance of water. Join For Water and De Watergroep join forces within a global and sustainable story of water, today for the generation of tomorrow.”