Water With Blessings Inc

Goal 1: Improved Community Health
Increase community safety and improve health outcomes in the marginal communities of developing countries, through an increased access to safe drinking water and the building up of a climate of compassion. Objective 1: Expand our existing presence of 145,000+ Water Women to an additional 35,000 Water Women for 2022, with direct impact for 580,000 households minimum, as the Water Women commit to serving at minimum three additional families. Objective 2: In Haiti, building on our Village by Village campaign, we will eradicate cholera in 3 additional cholera zones in Haiti, for a total of 4 governmental areas defended from cholera.
Goal 2: Empowered Women
Raise the profile of women’s service and leadership in marginal communities, focusing on the most disenfranchised women: single mothers of children under 5 years of age. Objective: In keeping with the WWB principles and practices, new Water Women shall be drawn from among mothers of children under five years of age, with a first round priority for candidates who are single mothers. (In marginal communities of developing countries, single motherhood is a highly reliable indicator for mothers whose children have the least access to resources of all kinds.)
Goal 3: Greater Impact via Greater Scale
Increase the leadership capacity of Water With Blessings through the establishment of a sizeable number of Water Women in marginal communities. In Honduras, continue leadership development of Water Teachers, Water Leaders and Water Brothers. Objective: Expand current WWB Country Teams from 3 (Honduras, Haiti and the Philippines) to 6 (adding Puerto Rico, Ecuador, Zambia and Uganda.)
Goal 4: Positive Environmental Impact: Small Scale, but real!
Decrease the environmental impact of plastics waste and give witness to environmental concerns by converting households in marginal communities from consumers of bottled water to users of home-filtered water.

Since 2011, WWB supports Country Teams that are able to train large numbers of women, always staying faithful to our best-practices of adult formation with an education model. These teams are comprised of and led by country citizens. Because of these teams, WWB has in a short period moved from an annual goal of 1,300 (2013) to 35,000 mothers trained and empowered as Water Women for 2022.

Implementation of the WWB program is also carried out by mission partners, who are trained and prepared by Water With Blessings Advocates to set up a WWB project at their own overseas mission site. These missioning groups, usually sponsored by congregations, faith-based organizations, or youth groups, covenant with Water With Blessings to implement the program in accord with stated practices and principles. The covenant terms preclude linking the program to proselytization on behalf of any particular denomination. There is a strong emphasis on collaborative relationships with leadership at the host sites where Water Women will be trained.
To summarize the process, US mission partners raise funds for the program, and transport the equipment, WWB proprietary training materials and process to their mission site. They collaborate with local leadership to implement (or expand) the program. Local Water Women who have a more advanced preparation as Water Teachers are the actual trainers and organizers, while the US visitors serve as support staff in a variety of capacities. The US team reports to WWB upon their return, including the name, location, and data on children of every new Water Woman. They also report to their constituents, often sharing photos of individual Water Women with each sponsor.
We also conduct a leadership development program in Honduras that complements our Water Woman ministry: “Lead the Leaders”. This program is funded by Mary’s Pence and the Conventual Franciscans of Mount Saint Francis, Indiana. Program participants receive experience based formation to become our trainers (Water Teachers), serve in supportive roles (Water Brothers) and serve on our new Honduras Leadership Board.

Since 2011, we have been collaborating with the local mothers, leadership and mission partners of congregations in marginal communities of developing countries: anywhere that lack of safe water is a threat to health. We have deep experience and understanding in the best practices of mission aid work, based in principles that reject proselytization while emphasizing relationships of mutual respect and accountability. We bring a high degree of cultural awareness to our work, particularly that of Latin America, along with the language capacity to work effectively in these countries.

Our capacity is greatly enhanced by our collaboration with other mission partners. We believe the actual activities in any country are best carried out by groups and individuals who have already established relationships at their mission sites, relationships of mutual respect and accountability. Rather than waste time and resources on what would likely be a misguided and less successful effort, we entrust our mission and process to a partner who knows that, and has built a network of relationships there. In this way our mission has been established in 48 countries and the Navajo Nation.

We now have established and developing Country Teams in 6 countries: places where we are able to train between 240 and 1200 mothers each month.

Since January 2018, we register and collect GIS-focused data for all new Water Women, including GPS coordinates for their training sites. This allows us to verify progress of our program, particularly as carried out by our Country Teams. We also verify training elements and program model adherence via online reporting.

Our award-winning Water Woman program (PAHO Foundation 2014) includes program and training materials which we publish in 12 different languages. Our program materials now include leadership development training materials particular to our mission, for our Country Teams.

We have a track record of raising financial support that grows every year: over $800,000 in 2018, for a total of $5,886,000 since 2011, the year of our incorporation. Our annual financial support is overmatched with significant in-kind support, when assessed for financial value.

Our mission: “Clean water for God’s thirsty children.” To that end, we equip, empower and entrust mothers as Water Women: agents of clean water and compassion for their children and their communities. As of 3/1/2022, Water With Blessings has recruited and equipped more than 145,000 mothers as Water Women. We are driven by compassion and guided by science in our drive to eradicate waterborne diseases and to empower mothers.

Our mission is expressed in our values and principles:
Spirituality, Solidarity, Subsidiarity and Sustainability are our watchwords. These four principles ground and guide us in what we value: a spirit of compassion, interfaith collaboration, the empowerment of women for service and leadership within their communities, and a distribution model that builds rather than threatens a sense of community. These values are supported by partnership principles that encourage respectful and culturally sensitive collaboration, full accountability to funders, complete transparency and integrity in the selection of Water Women, and an emphasis of building ongoing relationship in the communities where partners implement the projects.

The transformational power of compassion…
Our Water Women bring more than clean water to their neighbors…they bring the witness of compassion for others. They commit to a ministry of filtering water for their communities. Their training places a strong emphasis on the transformational nature of their compassionate witness… a critical need in their neighborhoods, where daily life is so often governed by violence and fear. Compassion may be intangible, but it yields results than can be seen and touched… A woman of compassion is a powerful change agent!