Our Partnership with WaterAid
Since 2013, ClearBridge in Australia has partnered with WaterAid to fund sustainable infrastructure projects that bring safe water, sanitation and hygiene education to villages in Timor-Leste. During 2019, ClearBridge Investments broadened this corporate partnership to underwrite a critical project in Colombia to bring water to the village of La Guajira.
At ClearBridge Investments, we believe that access to safe water is a basic human right and that infrastructure is a means to support poverty reduction and improve lives. This is why we have committed to a long-term partnership with WaterAid, to fund sustainable infrastructure projects to villages in Timor-Leste and Colombia.
WaterAid is working to make clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene normal for everyone, everywhere, within a generation. The international nonprofit organisation works in 34 countries to change the lives of the poorest and most marginalised people. Since 1981, WaterAid has reached 26.4 million people with clean water.
Through our partnership, ClearBridge Investments brings together several important components of our corporate mission: philanthropy, volunteerism, sustainability and relating our investment capabilities to Sustainability Development Goals, in this case, SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation, SDG 9: Industry Innovation and Infrastructure, SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities and SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals.
Our projects
Timor-Leste is one of the world's least developed countries. Seventy per cent of the population live in rural areas and half do not have access to safe water.
Since 2013, we have funded infrastructure projects that deliver safe water, sanitation and hygiene education to these communities. These infrastructure initiatives have impacted almost every aspect of life for the people in these villages, improving health, increasing school attendance, empowering women and girls and providing income through produce gardens.
Knowing that we are making such a meaningful difference in improving people's lives, creates strong client and employee engagement for our organisation.
