
Diageo: A holistic approach delivers far more to villages in Cameroon
Diageo's Water of Life programme has already brought clean water to a number of communities in Cameroon, and this year they brought it to 15,000 people living in and around the villages of Moinam and Marouar. But this latest programme has gone much further than just clean drinking water.
Bringing together the core themes of all their community programmes – WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene), skills development and women’s empowerment – into one holistic approach can achieve far more than a single programme on its own. So, in these two villages, as well as installing borehole wells with manual pumps to provide safe drinking water, Diageo invested in awareness sessions about child labour and positive drinking, and encouraged women to take part in a hygiene session. This session covered menstrual hygiene and, as part of it, they distributed reusable sanitary towels to the girls and young women. Lack of access to sanitary products is a big factor in preventing girls getting an education and women entering employment, so this kind of educational effort is fundamental to women’s empowerment.