The Coca-Cola Company announced on 16 March 2009 that it has committed US$ 30 million (€ 21.5 million) [1] over the next six years to provide access to safe drinking water to communities throughout Africa through its Replenish Africa Initiative (RAIN). Implemented by the Coca-Cola Africa Foundation, RAIN aims to provide at least 2 million Africans with clean water and sanitation by 2015.

The Coca-Cola Africa Foundation currently has water projects reaching over 300,000 people in 19 African countries: Angola, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Cote d’ Ivoire, Kenya, Mali, Malawi, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda and Zambia.

These water projects are all implemented in partnership with local communities in each country. They also contribute to the Coca-Cola Company’s goal [2] of returning to communities and to nature an amount of water equivalent to what it uses in all of its beverages and their production.

[1] To put this figure into perspective: Coca-Cola’s annual marketing budget is said to be US$ 2.5 billion, of which about US$ 37 million goes to the world football association FIFA

[2] Coca Cola – Water Stewardship

Related news:

• Innovation: Coca-Cola Foundation awards US$ 1 million for innovative water and sanitation solutions, Source Weekly, 23 Jan 2009
• Shashi Tharoor: former UN Under-Secretary General responds to accusations of anti-Cola activists, Source Weekly, 25 Mar 2009
• Corporate responsibility: Coca-Cola and Nestlé fund drinking water projects, Source Weekly, 20 Dec 2006

Web site: The Coca-Cola Africa Foundation

Source: Coca-Cola, 16 Mar 2009

Tags: africa, financing, water supply