Global Water Challenge (GWC) and Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP) Announce Pinnacle Awards
Awards Recognize Progress in Water and Sanitation Service Delivery to Low Income Consumers
WASHINGTON, March 20, 2014 /3BL Media/ – Global Water Challenge (GWC) and Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP), two leading not-for-profit organizations working to bring universal access to clean drinking water and sanitation around the world, are announcing the launch of The Pinnacle Awards. These awards aim to recognize a city’s progress towards reaching all citizens with clean water and improved sanitation services. The two awards, the Pinnacle Award for Water and the Pinnacle Award for Sanitation, will be presented during WSUP’s Master Class in Water and Sanitation for Low Income Consumers in Kampala, Uganda in December 2014.
“WSUP has a strong focus on building the capacity of service providers to engage with low income consumers,” said WSUP CEO Sam Parker. “We hope this prize will bring attention to some of the solutions that have the potential to make a powerful impact in improving urban WASH service delivery at scale.”
Most developing countries are experiencing rapid urbanization and this can have a negative impact on access to clean water and basic sanitation services in crowded urban slums. Currently, 140 million people in urban areas worldwide use an unimproved water source, and this number is expected to more than double to 296 million by 2015. The rapid growth and high density of urban and peri-urban areas place a strain on existing (and often inadequate) infrastructure, presenting a significant barrier to improving water and sanitation access. Nevertheless a number of cities are taking on the challenge of serving these customers in innovative ways. The Pinnacle Awards have been created to highlight some of these innovative solutions.
“WSUP is a valued partner in the goal of providing universal access to clean water and sanitation,” said Monica Ellis, CEO of GWC. “We are delighted to expand our impactful partnership with WSUP by co-sponsoring the Pinnacle Awards to invest in solutions to the pressing needs of WASH in urban areas.”
The Award is open to a growing community of service providers who are searching for better ways of dealing with the low income communities. They will present their achievements to a jury of peers from other countries at the December 2014 event. The selected winners will receive the opportunity to attend an international WASH sector conference and to share their experiences, findings and lessons learned through WSUP and GWC’s extensive communications networks.
For more information, please contact Gemma Bastin, WSUP Communications Manager (gbastin@wsup.com).
###
About Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor:
In the next 5 seconds, the world’s urban population will increase by 10 people, and they all need decent water and sanitation. This puts huge pressure on city service agencies. In response, WSUP focuses on developing commercially viable models to help water utilities and municipal authorities reach all citizens in their city with improved water and sanitation. As a multi-sector partnership, WSUP offers a creative package of expertise from private sector, NGOs and academia to achieve this.
For more information visit: http://www.wsup.com.
About Global Water Challenge:
Global Water Challenge (GWC) is a coalition of leading corporations, NGOs and other organizations committed to achieving universal access to safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). GWC accelerates the delivery of safe water and sanitation through partnerships that catalyze financial support and drive innovation for sustainable solutions.
For more information about GWC’s commitment to WASH, visit www.globalwaterchallenge.org.
