The contribution will facilitate more than 33,000 microloans for this purpose and will benefit more than 160,000 people in Bangladesh and Cambodia.
Arteixo, Spain, 2015-12-4 — /EPR Retail News/ — Inditex will allocate €3.7m to Water.org to facilitate access to safe water and sanitation to those with scarce resources. On December 3, the Group’s chairman, Pablo Isla, and Water.org CEO Gary White, (who co-founded Water.org with Matt Damon), have signed a four-year Partnership Agreement between both organisations at Inditex’s head office in Arteixo (A Coruña).
As per the agreement, Water.org will allocate almost €3m to its WaterCredit programme. The programme will empower people with low incomes in developing countries to gain access to small loans for water and sanitation, increasing the population’s access to these basic necessities. In particular, it will expand the scope of activities already underway in Bangladesh and will develop this initiative in Cambodia, which will directly improve the lives of more than 160,000 people in both countries.
The WaterCredit model is achieved in conjunction with rigorously selected local partners, principally microfinance institutions, which secure capital for the loans themselves. In turn, this enables philanthropic investments to make a greater and more efficient impact.
A quarter of the overall contribution to Water.org will be sent to the funds reservation for research and development, New Ventures Fund, which the NGO will use to discover new ways to combat the water crisis. Inditex will serve on the Council of the R&D fund, in order to analyse the annual developments.
Inditex Global Water Management Strategy
Inditex considers investment in social programmes to be a fundamental pillar in improving global well-being and in strengthening the communities with which it interacts. Accordingly, the collaboration with Water.org is closely related to both the Inditex community investment policy; as well as the company’s commitment to using sustainable water supplies, one of the key resources in the textile industry. The Inditex Global Water Management Strategy constitutes a roadmap, which allows the Group to collaborate with special interest groups concerned with sustainable and rational water management (suppliers, clients, employees, administrations and NGOs).
Water.org
For more than twenty years, Water.org has been at the forefront of developing and delivering solutions to the water crisis. Founded by Gary White and Matt Damon, Water.org pioneers innovative, community-driven and market-based initiatives to ensure all people have access to safe water and sanitation; giving women hope, children health and communities a future. To date, Water.org has positively transformed the lives of more than three million people living around the world.
For more information about Water.org´s activity, please click here
For any press request please contact with:
Communication and Corporate Affairs Division
Edificio Inditex
Avda. de la Diputación s/n
15143 – Arteixo
A Coruña – ESPAÑA
Tlf: +34 981 185 400
Fax: +34 981 185 544
comunicacion@inditex.com
SOURCE: Inditex
###
