Coca-Cola has signed an agreement with the Nations Human Settlements
Programme (UN-HABITAT) to collaborate on projects to improve community
access to water and sanitation in India and Nepal.
Under the agreement, demonstration projects will be set up to increase
supply through rainwater harvesting and to conserve and store water
better in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. In West Bengal state 150
schools will be provided with safe drinking water and sanitation.
The soft drinks company, which has made water-related projects the key
focus of its corporate responsibility efforts, has also promised to
improve water management and sanitation in selected urban slums and
rural areas in Nepal.
Anna Tibaijuka, executive director UN-HABITAT, said the deal was ‘an
innovative example of how public-private community partnerships can
help meet the challenge of the Millennium Development Goals’. The goals
are eight targets for reducing social and economic ills by 2015,
including the halving of the number of people without access to clean
water and adequate sanitation.
