POWERFUL WATER PARTNERS: Ambitious clean water goals meet with success

Grundfos, a global water technology company, pioneers solutions to some of the world’s toughest water and climate challenges, with the ultimate goal of improving quality of life for all people. Grundfos has been working to solve water challenges in Africa since the 1980s. Collaborating with World Vision, the leading nongovernmental provider of clean water in the developing world, Grundfos supplies water pump solutions along with local technical expertise and targeted capacity building.

When the joint work started in 2014, Grundfos and World Vision set an ambitious goal—to reach 2 million people with sustainable clean water access by 2020—and they hit the milestone ahead of schedule. Confident in their ability to build on that success, the partners have set another ambitious goal: to double the impact and bring clean water to another 4 million people by 2024.

Since Grundfos’ founding in 1945, one of the company’s core values has been to make a difference in the world’s most water-poor regions. This has been strengthened in part by the creation of the SafeWater department in 2019, whose purpose is to reach people with clean water access through strong partnerships with organizations like World Vision.

Sustainability is key to Grundfos’ mission and work. To that end, local Grundfos staff regularly train World Vision’s field staff in sub-Saharan Africa on the water systems, and in India they’ve trained over 200 World Vision staff in solar solutions for community water supply systems. With the 4 million–people goal, the partnership is plowing ahead with ever-evolving solutions. “We constantly explore new areas of working together to serve water-poor communities with more complete solutions to increase their livelihood, such as wastewater and water treatment systems and water-boosting,” explains Hanne Jørgensen, global key account manager in Grundfos’ SafeWater department.

Pia Yasuko Rask, SafeWater director, says, “It’s incredible to see our technology make a difference when applied in some of the most remote and underserved parts of the world and to watch our combined efforts reach and improve lives of the people living there. It’s honestly a touching and humble feeling that I whole-heartedly share with my family and friends, and I am sure that the successful partnership between World Vision and Grundfos will continue to push the boundaries of providing water to the people who need it the most.”

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