In honor of World Water Day, The Prem Rawat Foundation (TPRF) initiated a campaign to raise US$25,000 in matching funds to support The Adventure Project (TAP) effort to provide sustainable water services to almost a million people in West Bengal and the District of Sheohar in Bihar, India.

The TAP vision is to train mechanics to repair wells in rural India, where over one third of wells drilled in the past 20 years are in disrepair. TAP set an ambitious goal to fund the training and initial supplying of 186 mechanics who could help sustain a clean water source for close to a million people.

Like any machinery with moving parts, wells with pumps need maintenance every few months to avoid costly breakdowns. Each mechanic can service up to 50 wells, providing water for an estimated 5,000 people. In the end, TPRF exceeded its goal, raising $27,643, an amount that will train and supply 50 mechanics and help an estimated quarter of a million people.

TPRF helped to fund a similar TAP project last year in the state of Bihar. “These mechanics are now operating in a self-sustaining mode,” said Linda Pascotto, President of TPRF. “The goal of this year’s campaign is similar, but on a wider scale,” Pascotto continued. “The aim is to help provide jobs, training and tools to hire mechanics, each of whom works as an entrepreneur to maintain and fix wells. In addition, TAP provides a one-year stipend to help each mechanic launch his or her business.”

Training mechanics to service wells is part of TAP’s goal to create a million jobs over 10 years in developing countries worldwide. TAP was established to increase investments in positive social enterprises around the world, according to founders Becky Straw and Jody Landers.

“I cannot thank TPRF enough,” Straw said, “for all their support, inspiration and shared belief in investing with dignity.”

About The Prem Rawat Foundation (TPRF)
The Prem Rawat Foundation promotes Prem Rawat’s message of peace and his vision of addressing fundamental human needs so that people everywhere can live with dignity, peace and prosperity. For more information, visit: www.tprf.org.

Image Courtesy of  Pal Teravagimov / Shutterstock.com

The article TPRF’s Campaign for Funding Sustainable Water Services in India appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Lenny Kravitz – GRAMMY award-winning singer-songwriter, record producer and actor—is using his voice and talent to do more than dazzle the stage and screen. He is throwing his support behind the global push by UNICEF and its partners to help save and improve the lives of millions of children and their families around the world by providing them with access to clean water and adequate sanitation.

“I was born in New York City and have always taken access to clean water as a given,” said Kravitz.  “No child should die of diarrhea from drinking dirty water. That thousands of children under the age of five continue to die every day because they lack clean water and basic sanitation is simply unacceptable.”

On March 6, UNICEF announced that the world has met the Millennium Development Goal for drinking water, with 89 percent of the global population now with access. However, that still leaves more than 780 million people, mainly in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, without access.  In addition, around 2.5 billion people—almost half the developing world’s population—lack access to improved sanitation. This all adds up to bad news for the children who are being left behind.

Kravitz will be appearing in Public Service Announcements and take to Twitter and Facebook with a message that all children can—and must—have access to clean water and adequate sanitation. Kravitz, who recently released the album ‘Black and White America’, and who will be starring in ‘The Hunger Games’ later this month, is joining forces with UNICEF to help mark World Water Day (March 22) and will send a global message of the importance of investing in children and providing them with clean water and sanitation.

In the United States, Kravitz will be lending his support for the UNICEF Tap Project by encouraging his fans and dining patrons across the country to pay $1 or more for the tap water they usually enjoy for free during World Water Week, March 19 – 25. With $1, UNICEF can provide a child with access to clean, safe water for 40 days, or 40 children with access to safe water for one day. Funds raised through the 2012 UNICEF Tap Project will provide children and families with clean drinking water in Viet Nam,Togo, Mauritania and Cameroon.

Poor sanitation, water and hygiene have serious repercussions on a child’s health, often causing diarrhea and other easily preventable diseases.  Children, particularly girls, often miss school, because they are responsible for gathering water for their families, which can require many hours of their time. In addition, many schools lack private and decent sanitation facilities for girls, causing them to drop out of school. Without safe water, sanitation, and good hygiene, sustainable development is difficult to achieve.

Since 1990, UNICEF, governments and partners, have helped more than 2 billion people gain access to improved water sources and 1.8 billion people gain access to improved sanitation facilities. The efforts include drilling wells and installing water pumps, helping communities build latrines and teaching lifesaving hygiene to schoolchildren and mothers, and providing safe water and sanitation to communities during emergencies.

Image Courtesy of   vilena makarica / Shutterstock.com

The article Lenny Kravitz Uses His Voice to Support UNICEF appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.