Creating opportunities for women entrepreneurs and communities

Our community programmes aim to enable those who live and work in our communities, particularly women, to have the skills and resources to build a better future for themselves. Take a look at our work in Sri Lanka and India to find out more.

Clean water and fresh opportunities for women entrepreneurs

Access to clean drinking water can transform communities. In fact universal, affordable access to what is known as WASH – water, sanitation and hygiene – is a critical public health issue and the focus of UN Sustainable Development Goal 6.

As a business that relies on water, we have a clear responsibility to contribute – and our Water of Life programme has reached more than 10 million people in India and Africa since 2006. But we also see providing access to clean water as an opportunity to broaden our positive social impact in other ways too.

Across India, for example, we have been supporting an innovative programme to install ‘water ATMs’. Inspired by cash-vending machines, water ATMs enable people to buy clean, low-cost drinking water, typically provided by a solar-powered borehole and treatment plant. Our 25 ATMs in Nagpur alone have given 45,000 people access to water this year.

And the ATMs create further benefits. In Nagpur and Bhopal, we have trained 287 women entrepreneurs so they can maintain and run the facilities – increasing their incomes, while ensuring the ATMs are at the heart of their communities.

Promoting sustainable, safe and inclusive careers in hospitality

As part of our long standing partnership with Care International UK to empower women in our communities from grain to glass, we collaborated with the Cinnamon Hotel group in Sri Lanka to provide equal access for women to sustainable, safe and inclusive careers within the hospitality industry.

36 trainees (31 female) attended a 5 month programme combining technical training as well as information on conflict resolution, effective communication, gender equality and diversity, career development and financial literacy.

All trainees who completed the course and job placement training will receive a certification from the national training body.

Commenting on her experience, Navodani Thanushika said:

“I’m proud of how far I’ve come. I’m now earning enough to be able to spend on my family and others, and have the strength to stand on my own two feet. Everyone who works here is an ambassador for the industry”