Nothing is Impossible: Global Women’s Water Initiative

“A single drop of water can start a wave.”

From the first moment I gave Gemma Bulos a hug upon meeting her this summer at the Dell Social Innovation Lab, I knew I’d met someone special.

“A single drop of water can start a wave.”

From the first moment I gave Gemma Bulos a hug upon meeting her this summer at the Dell Social Innovation Lab, I knew I’d met someone special.

I treasure good huggers.

I was so enthralled by Gemma’s energy & story (she travelled for 9 years around the globe with $700), that I wrote a postcard to my best friend who is living in Botswana about her the next day.

So when we found out that we were going to be in Uganda at the same time as her, we knew we had to find a way to collaborate.

Gemma is the founder of the Global Women’s Water Initiative, which is based on a simple but bold innovation:

Put women at the center of water solutions.

A year ago, GWWI trained 56 women on how to build different water technologies like tanks, water filters and latrines.

After their training, they were given a small seed grant– enough money to build one tank.

A year later, Gemma returned to see what had happened.

Almost every group mobilized money to build 2 or more tanks.

And that was just the beginning.

They’ve mobilized their communities, raised money, gotten contracts, and built, built, built.

In the year since, these women have given 15,000 people access to clean water.

This is how development should be done.

Last night, Nothing is Impossible, the video we edited as a pro-bono project (using our 1 day of footage, but mostly Gemma’s) showed at the Global Women’s Water Initiative gala in Berkeley.

This video is the story of the women’s success— and a testament to the power of grassroots women as the solution to their community’s problems.

We’re honored to be a part of this powerful and transformative work.

Will you help us share the story of these inspiring women?

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