Boodles & Just a Drop Charity | Boodles
Each year Boodles Charitable Trust selects a ‘Charity of the Year’ and this year Just a Drop has been chosen due to the fantastic work they do around the world in bringing safe and sustainable water solutions to some of the most vulnerable communities.
Just a Drop
Each year Boodles Charitable Trust selects a ‘Charity of the Year’ and this year Just a Drop has been chosen due to the fantastic work they do around the world in bringing safe and sustainable water solutions to some of the most vulnerable communities.
Just a Drop works at grassroot levels and their sustainable projects provide support to communities through varying different means; such as through the construction of hand-dug and drilled wells, pipelines, sand dams, rainwater harvesting systems and sanitation programmes.
This inspirational charity has reached over 1.9 million people in 32 countries since it was founded in 1998 and focuses its work on Uganda, Kenya, Zambia, Nicaragua, Cambodia and India.
Research shows that safe water and improved sanitation facilities lead to a whole host of major benefits, many of which are basic human rights- such as improved health, secure food sources and better education- we can’t think of a better cause to support.
In our view access to safe and drinkable water is one of our most basic human rights, and we have chosen Just a Drop as our new charity partner due to the phenomenal work they are doing in improving safe water access for almost 2 million people… and counting.
What sets this charity apart from others is that it focuses on community-led development, rather than aid, and focuses on sustainability, thereby ensuring each project’s transformative impact is felt for generations to come. Each project is monitored for a minimum of 7 years after completion, ensuring lives are transformed for the long-term rather than as a quick fix solution.
The Boodles Charity Trustees
We believe that clean water is one of the first steps towards building a brighter future and alleviating communities from hardship. In a never ending vicious cycle, dirty water can lead to ill health and hold back progress, causing communities to be trapped in poverty.
When there is no available clean water source locally, residents- particularly women and children- are forced to go in search of water. These journeys are often far flung and dangerous, putting lives of women and children at risk, with outcomes such as rape, abduction and murder not being uncommon.
We feel everyone around the globe is entitled to the basic human right of clean water.
"Boodles are supporting a total of 13 Just a Drop projects across Kenya and Zambia, each of which will achieve a huge impact, changing the lives of thousands of people."
In Kenya, there are two sand dams which are supported by Boodles and will provide 4,147 people with access to safe water for the first-ever time. A sand dam is a rubble cement wall built across a seasonal river, which captures and stores water beneath sand, filtering and protecting it.
Every rainy season, they naturally store up to 10 million litres of water, readily available to the local communities. Importantly, this raises the local water table, making the land fertile, so a programme of sustainable agriculture is developed, ensuring food security. Moreover, an excess of crops is produced, so people are able to sell this and so improve livelihoods.
The Kenya programme also includes work in two primary schools where a total of 633 children attend. The rain water harvesting tanks will provide safe water, all year-round in the schools.
