Every Monday we profile a Dow Live Earth Run for Water partner organization that works toward providing solutions to the nearly 1 billion people who lack access to clean, safe water. To donate to one of these projects, visit liveearth.org/give.

Project WET is an award-winning global non-profit organization celebrating its 25th year in 2009. Since its beginning, Project WET has dedicated itself to the mission of reaching and empowering children, parents, teachers and community members of the world with water education. Project WET achieves its mission by:

• publishing water-resource materials including its award-winning Kids In Discovery series (KIDs) activity booklets and more than 300 interactive lesson plans. In 2009, Project WET’s materials were disseminated to nearly a million children, parents, educators and community members globally.
• providing training workshops on diverse water topics (i.e., watersheds, water quality, water conservation ). In 2009, Project WET trained more than 40,000 educators to use its engaging, hands-on, interactive lessons with children.
• organizing community water events such as Make a Splash with Project WET water festivals and the Global Water Education Village™ . In 2009, more than 250 community events and water festivals were held in all corners of the world.
• building a worldwide network of educators, water resource professionals and scientists (currently working in 45 countries on five continents).
• empowering individuals to take action in their communities to help address local water-resource issues. Example action projects include stabilizing local stream banks, reconstructing nature trails and installing school drip-irrigation systems.

Innovative Education Materials Improve African Children’s Lives
To raise awareness of the importance of water, sanitation and hygiene and to promote the adoption of healthy habits to improve lives, the Project WET Foundation, with the support of USAID’s Africa Education Initiative, developed a series of hands-on education materials for sub-Saharan African teachers and students. Between November 2007 and September 2009, the materials were distributed in 14 African countries, reaching more than 30,000 schools; 175,000 teachers; and five million students.

“As a result of Project WET’s innovative teaching methods, the number of pupils and teachers washing their hands after using the toilet improved from less than 5% to over 38% at the Lake Victoria Primary School in Entebbe, Uganda,” said Teddy Tindamanyire, the Principal Environment Officer for the Uganda Ministry of Water and Environment.

Help Project WET improve African children’s lives by supporting water, sanitation and hygiene teacher-training workshops by clicking here. For every $750 raised, Project WET can hold a training workshop for 30 teachers.

Visit Project WET on the web at www.projectwet.org to learn more about its education materials, workshops and projects and www.projectwet.org/water-resources-education/water-sanitation-hygiene/ to learn about its water, sanitation and hygiene education program.