JMS+375+Group+3

**Procter & Gamble: Providing Safe Drinking Water to the Poor** Kelly Howe - Lincoln Kang - Sonya Modi media type="youtube" key="dPdJgUBGprk" height="349" width="425" align="center"


 * Introduction: **

As a company driven by the goal of bringing trusted brands to consumers around the world, Procter & Gamble has committed a long-term, non-profit attempt at bringing safe drinking water to children and people around the globe. They have committed themselves to improving the lives of people and providing clean drinking water to as many people as possible. To do so, they have established The Children’s Safe Drinking Water program, which provides PUR drinking packets through emergency relief efforts and social markets in undeveloped nations. P&G, creator and producer of the PUR packets, continues to provide support and advocacy for this global issue. –Kelly Howe

**The Issue: ** **Source Flikr.com Creative Commons** By:Clinton Global Initiative [|Link]

** P&G Children's Safe Drinking Water ** Water is a key ingredient for life. Over one billion people around the world do not have access to clean drinking water. One of the leading causes of death in the developing world is diarrheal diseases cause by unsafe drinking water. Diarrheal diseases take more lives of children than HIV/AIDS and malaria combined, and it is estimated that 1.8 million children die each year due to these diseases ( [|PSI, 2011] ). This is the reason for the PUR Drinking Water Program. Children’s Safe Drinking Water has provided PUR for emergency relief in nearly every major natural disaster in the last three years, including Southeast Asia tsunami, hurricanes in the Caribbean, floods in the Philippines and Bangladesh, and earthquakes in Pakistan and Indonesia. The most recent beneficiaries of PUR are the people affected by flooding and cholera outbreaks in Kenya and Ethiopia. Right now, the main focus of Children’s Safe Drinking Water is educating these countries about the importance of safe drinking water through their local school programs and health care clinics. -Sonya Modi

**Methods Used:** media type="youtube" key="2xMCEg_mJMU" height="349" width="560" align="left" P&G’s Children’s Safe Drinking Water program has a two-pronged approach to reaching the world. The program distributes PUR in social markets established in Kenya, Pakistan, Uganda, Malawi, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of the Congo, Botswana, Indonesia, Haiti, Dominican Republic, and Nigeria, as well as aids countries facing natural disasters by providing emergency relief (  [|Baddache, 2008] ). The way P&G are able to promote their cause and gain followers is through utilizing various social media networks. P&G has created a Twitter account just for their Children's Safe Drinking Water initiative. You can access their Twitter at www.twitter.com/PURtweets. The use of Twitter is genius and extremely essential to their goals for public outreach. In addition to P&G's Facebook page, there is a PUR Children's Safe Drinking Water Facebook page that individuals can "Like." A major outlet for spreading knowledge to the public is PUR's YouTube channel. This gives followers a chance to visually see what Children's Safe Drinking Water is doing to educate and assist countries all over the world. In addition, there are videos that describe the process of cleaning the water and making it safe for the citizens of each country. P&G has also started a new program called brand-SAVER. This is a way for P&G consumers to gain awareness as well as help out through buying P&G products. For every coupon used, P&G provides safe drinking water to one individual in need for an entire day. -Sonya Modi

**Results:** P&G’s Children’s Sage Drinking Water program has dramatically increased the safe drinking water efforts on a large global scale. This two-sided approach led by the P&G Health Sciences Institute has directed the development of the distribution of Purifier of Water (PUR) in social markets and for emergency relief. According to the Sanitation Case Study, the Children’s Safe Drinking Water implemented by Proctor & Gamble has provided more than “750 million liters of safe drinking water and help avert more than 30 million days of diarrhea” in just the last 4 years. Originally based for profit, when P&G shifted their strategy to a non-profit approach their results skyrocketed. In contrast to three million sachets sold while in the commercial phase, by the end of 2006, P&G had sold over 57 million sachets ( [|Baddache, 2008]). It is important to note these sachets were sold at cost, to humanitarian organizations. This effort has resulted in many changes to the way developing nations view the importance of clean drinking water, now seeing it as a necessity. The water purifying sachets have been continuously given for free to affected people of flooding during humanitarian relief campaigns, but are also able to be purchased for an extremely affordable price during draught seasons as well. The use of PUR sachets has proved to help reduce disease due to pathogenic bacteria, viruses and parasites, along with the exposure to arsenic-contaminated water ( [|Procter & Gamble, 2011] ). -Kelly Howe

Keta woman displaying PUR clean water and unsafe local water. Procter & Gamble's Children's Safe Drinking Water commitment provides 35 million gallons of clean water to more than one million African children. [|Link]
 * Source Flikr.com Creative Commons** By:Clinton Global Initiative

 **Evaluation of Procter & Gamble Children's Safe Drinking Water Effort:** Procter & Gamble utilized broad collaborations with a number of different organizations, including the private sector, governments, NGOs and research institutions to create a revolutionized way to develop credibility through global community service, while boosting their own marketing tactics to render a positive brand image for their company. With the global digital economy on a Sonic Boom, P&G is utilizing social media tools to aid in supporting the P&G Safe Drinking Water program and inspiring others to participate and do the same. Creating a positive brand image for such a large company like Procter & Gamble can only be effective on a global scale. In order to raise awareness of their cause, P&G spread the word first over Facebook on multiple fan pages at [|P&G myGive fanpage] and the [|PURwater fanpage].

This has proved to be an effective tool as those two pages alone have generated over 150,000 followers. Here consumers can download or interact with links for coupon redemption and shareable digital tools to inspire others to learn more about clean water and how to help. According to the Director of the P&G Children’s Safe Drinking Water program, Dr. Greg Allgood states that people lives are being saved by the impact of coupons giving safe water to unfortunate people ([|P&G Give Health Program, 2011]). “By redeeming P&G brand saver coupons, consumers have helped us provide more than 42 million days of clean drinking water to people in need since 2008” ([|P&G Give Health Program, 2011]). In a way, consumers are using coupons to purchase P&G products like Charmin tissue because the economy is in a recession and they want to save money. By using coupons to improve their own lives by saving money, consumers are improving the lives of other people from diverse countries by providing them with clean water every time they use a coupon . According to a survey conducted in the case study done by the Growing Inclusive Markets, it has been discovered that most women (75%) would like to support specific causes without donating a lot of money. Through the distribution of myGive coupon books by social media, consumers are able to help and save money in the process. The ability to purchase these coupons through social media sites creates convenience for the consumer allowing P&G to use procedes generated to provide drinking water to those around the world while still create small economic growth within their company. Furthermore, another example of communication campaigns for PUR products through social media is exhibited in the Haiti campaign. The Haiti campaign launched the first time Population Services International ([|PSI, 2011]) socially marketed a brand that originated from a for-profit partner. This partnership and collaboration established the fundamental social backing Procter & Gamble needed to build credibility of PUR distribution in impoverished nations, and gain enough followers and support to maintain a sustainable program. Through the continued collaboration of efforts by a number of global health organizations, World Vision, PSI and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, P&G has successfully established a constant program that can only enhance the well-being of their company globally, and consistently for years to come. They are doing an outstanding job in empowering consumers to help provide clean drinking water to people, more specifically children in need, through the redemption of P&G Give Health brandSAVER coupons and establishment of free social networks like Twitter for reaching the broader audiences. It is clear that there has been significant impact on the conditions of poor drinking water in developing nations due to the PURwater campaign started by Procter & Gamble. While sparking interest in their universal brand itself, P&G is able to aid in Humanitiarian efforts and develop a small commercial market. The marketing tactic executed by P&G benefited the company, creating positive association with P&G, while ultimately boosting economic growth in the developing nations. Due to the social marketing strategy employed, Procter & Gamble provides a new innovative model for companies to create global impact and cultivate undeveloped markets. -Kelly Howe

 **History of Procter & Gamble Children's Safe Drinking Water: **  No doubt, providing safe drinking water to the poor is now a global conundrum but it was even a problem in past. In 1897, Procter & Gamble started to build their relationship in touching the hearts of consumers with brands that would make their lives easier ([|About Procter & Gamble, 2011]). With a goal to improve people’s lives through their products like soap and candles, the company became a leading provider of global consumer products. In 1924, Procter & Gamble became the first company to conduct database driven marketing research ([|About Procter & Gamble, 2011]). With their marketing researching, the company was able understand people’s consumption to products, anticipate people’s needs, and respond with products that would improve lives. Around 1941, the company became one of the first companies to respond to consumers by creating a Consumer Relations department ([|About Procter & Gamble, 2011]). Eventually, the Consumer Relations department was able to assist people with their products through toll-free numbers in 1973. Within the next few years, Procter & Gamble’s relations department was able to help their consumers through email in the 1980s which increased the company’s ability to connect with consumers ([|About Procter & Gamble, 2011]). In 1991, the company headquartered in Karachi and started to really pick up its operations in Pakistan (Our History in Pakistan, 2010). Frankly, the goal was to become the finest global consumer goods company operating locally in Pakistan. At the time, they served Pakistani consumers with premium quality brands including Head & Shoulders, Pantene, Ariel, Safeguard, Pampers, and Always that try to improve the lives of people. In 1994, the company acquired a soap-manufacturing facility Hub, Balochistan (Our History in Pakistan, 2010). In 2002, the company develops Naturella feminine pads to accommodate for low-income women in Latin America ([|Our History in Pakistan, 2010]). Briefly, Naturella feminine pads responds to consumers’ desire for freshness with chamomile which was an ingredient at the time never used before in feminine care products. Around 2004, a PUR facility was created to produce Procter & Gamble’s water purifying technology ([|Our History in Pakistan, 2010]). Basically, the Procter & Gamble Hub plant is the first of many plants and it provides people access to safe drinking water and is able to export millions of liters across the globe. Of course today, the Hub plant has the best manufacturing technologies and quality assurance systems that improve the quality of purifying water to diverse countries like South Africa. Back to 2004, the P&G Hub has a goal to provide people access to safe drinking water and is able to export millions of liters across the globe ([|Our History in Pakistan, 2010]). Adding onto the history behind the issue of providing safe drinking water to impoverish countries like Kenya, the High Frequency Stores (HFS) emerged as the largest customer channel for the company in 2005 ([|Our History in Pakistan, 2010]). In the HFS, it consisted of nearly 20 million stores around the world that adhered to consumer’s needs with affordable products ([|Our History in Pakistan, 2010]). Making safe drinking water a reality, in 2006 Procter & Gamble showed their support against global crisis of unsafe drinking water in countries such as Libya by launching their Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program using their patented PUR water system. Briefly as of today, the issue of resolving the water crisis is showing promising results as supporters continue to show their support in operations in Pakistan to create PUR products. With the help of more than 50 employees from Pakistan, saving the world from drinking contaminated water will soon become a reality. -Lincoln Kang

**Current Impact of Procter & Gamble: Providing Safe Drinking Water to the Poor:** media type="youtube" key="fbz2zFg8ixk" height="349" width="560" align="right" The 2010 UNC team worked to create a short film for the Clinton Global Initiative Conference that highlighted CSDW's new commitment to Save a Life Every Hour by 2020 using their PUR water purification packets in collaboration with P&G

In terms of current developments, the Procter & Gamble Company is in the process of building a manufacturing facility for its Purifier of Water packets (PUR) in Singapore. Ultimately, the company wants reach a point where more than 200 million packs a year will be produced in the facility to help provide sanitary drinking water across the globe ([|Procter & Gamble, 2010]). As of now, the Procter & Gamble Company is headquartered in Pakistan. With high hopes, the company wants to finish building the facility in Singapore to increase their productivity to produce PUR packets through quick air and ocean shipments ([|Procter & Gamble, 2010]). Basically, the company wants the new facility built as soon as possible in Singapore so that it can assist the Procter & Gamble facility in Pakistan quickly deliver products to impoverish countries in Africa and Asia. On July 13, 2010, the company announced at Singapore International World Water Week that the P&G Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program has provided more than 350 million liters of clean water in Asia as a way to help victims recover from the October 2009 earthquake in Indonesia ([|Procter & Gamble, 2010]). Reflecting back to this fact, the unwavering impact of the company to organize a children’s safe drinking water program for the sake of providing clean water to countries in Asia is an act of selfless generosity. Still relevant to the current work performed by the company, the fact that PUR packets are being spent on helping people recover from disasters like earthquakes instead of investing money on useless luxuries like malls symbolizes the sympathetic character of the company. Even now, PUR packets continue to have a positive impact on countries such as Uganda and Pakistan in helping to reduce sickness and deaths resulting from drinking contaminated water. Presently, the company is in the process of launching new Children’s Safe Drinking Water programs in Cambodia, the Philippines, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, and other countries ([|Procter & Gamble, 2010]). In terms of wishful thinking, the goal is to have water programs provide additional 400 million liters of clean water in two years to enable the company to provide four billion liters between 2007 and 2012 ([|Procter & Gamble, 2010]). Recently on June 2, 2011, Procter & Gamble wanted to encourage consumers to help provide clean water to impoverished people by using P&G Give Health brand saver coupons ([|P&G Give Health Program, 2011]). From the previous sections of this wikispace website, it is evident that nearly one billion people around the world do not have access to safe drinking water causing them to be vulnerable to diseases. At the time, Procter & Gamble Health program and P&G Safe Drinking Water Program want to prevent people from drinking abhorrent water with coupons. Specifically, brand saver coupon booklets were distributed in newspapers around the world for discount products to P&G products. Every time someone uses a brand saver coupon to make a purchase, one day of clean drinking water is donated to people in developing countries through the health program. In order to increase awareness of the issue and the usage of coupons, the company is posting comments about using coupons to save people lives on their facebook website: www.facebook.com/pgmygive ([|P&G Give Health Program, 2011]). Not to mention, the company wants the public to know the operations that are dedicated towards purifying water by also posting content on their own personal website: www.csdw.org ([|P&G Give Health Program, 2011]). In a Global Health Update, Myron S. Cohen (Director of the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases) worked with Dr. Allgood on a pilot program to ship PUR to people living with HIV and their families in Malawi ([|Cohen, 2009]). Basically, Cohen worked with Dr. Allgood in distributing PUR packets to 500 mothers and infants who carry diarrheal diseases ([|Cohen, 2009]). In terms of a current impact, the fact that there are dedicated supports such as Direction Cohen working on a program to distribute PUR packets to mothers in diverse countries shows the dedication they have towards fighting contaminated drinking water. As I mentioned before, Procter & Gamble are pulling their resources such as PUR packets to deliver clean water to diverse countries and they are spreading their awareness on social networks like Facebook. Currently every March 22, the United Nations World Water Day has Procter & Gamble organizing activities in dozens of countries to raise awareness among employees and people ([|Baddache, 2008]). No doubt, the current impact of a huge event like water day emphasizes the importance of clean drinking water and people truly show their support towards a noble cause. Specifically, the company puts up posters, show World Water Day videos, and basically campaign their PUR products to get people to help save a life ([|Baddache, 2008]). -Lincoln Kang

** Future Challenges at Procter & Gamble: ** According to Dr. Greg Allgood (Director of Operations at Procter & Gamble), the upcoming challenge of providing safe clean water to throughout the world is arduous, but it can be done one step at a time. Though his Children’s Safe Drinking Water program, the company is able to distribute over 300 million packets of PUR on a global scale which is equivalent to 3 billion liters of clean water (Siegel, 2011). Fortunately, with Procter & Gamble operations in Pakistan and coming soon to Singapore people in rural countries like India and Brazil can gain access to safe water. The challenge is that each person needs 2 liters of water per day to survive and Procter & Gamble so far managed to have one PUR packet equivalent to 10 liters of water (Siegel, 2011). In a sense, the conundrum is that there are thousands of people in impoverished countries who are still reduced to drinking contaminated water even though the PUR packets are available. Unfortunately unless you can go to a store to purchase a PUR, it is strenuous to be able to get a packet to have a day’s worth of fresh water. For instance, imagine you are living in the jungle outskirts of Brazil where you barely have any money and the nearest store is miles away from your village. Without an immediate access of transportation such as a car or money to buy the packets, people especially children would die from simply not drinking enough clean water. The good news right now and in the future is that getting some packets of PUR is worth the risk to save people from waterborne diseases. “It’s like a very effective mini-treatment plant in a packet. Even if the source is extremely contaminated, the resulting quality is comparable to what we drink here in the US. But they were made to be used where the needs is greatest” (Siegel, 2011). No doubt, countries will always suffer from not having accessed to safe water, but the result of facing the challenge to distribute PUR packets to people is worth saving lives. There is no challenge of purifying contaminated water and allowing people to drink from the same source. According to Dr. Allgood, one packet poured into a muddy water hole will turn it into crystal clear, drinkable water (Siegel, 2011). Specifically, iron sulfite which acts as a dirt magnet attracts all the harmful pathogens like worms and parasites (Siegel, 2011). Eventually, all the dirt that is attracted together dissolves leaving a final product for people to drink without any detrimental consequences. The challenge of providing safe drinking water in the future has not changed as some people will not have access to safe drinking water and will resort to drinking anything. Ultimately, Dr. Allgood along with other non-profit organizations like the American Red Cross want every household in the future to have clean water through safe water pipes just like we have in the United States (Siegel, 2011). Unfortunately, it does not seem with the lack of resources, money, and the recession that all families in the future will have access to safe water. Apparently, the best option to help people drink safe water now and in the future at an affordable cost is to use the PUR packets. Referring back to the article “Global Health Update”, Director Cohen (Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases) states that “diarrheal diseases are caused by unsafe drinking water and more children die from illnesses such as cholera than HIV/AIDS and malaria combined” (Cohen, 2009). Based on this disturbing fact, the crisis to resolve the water problem is going to be an incessant challenge to beat as more people are dying faster than people are being treated to safe water through PUR packets. The challenge would be to distribute PUR packets to people on a global to have more people drink safe water than suffering through water hazards. For the sake of providing a brighter future for all countries, Director Cohen plans on working with Dr. Allgood to expand PUR programs in Malawi (Cohen, 2009). The next step is that Cohen and Allgood plan to have water experts like Jamie Bartram from the World Health Organization lecture undergraduate student about the importance of countries who need help at the University of North Carolina (Cohen, 2009). If everything works out, they plan to inspire undergraduate students to invest their time and effort into supporting Procter& Gamble and other organization to provide safe water to less fortunate countries like India. Even now, Procter & Gamble is trying to devise new low-cost products besides PUR packets that can purify water allowing people to drink clean water faster. Of course, there are other alternatives to having clean water such as chlorination, solar disinfection, and boiling (Baddache, 2008). In terms of chlorination, it is basically adding liquid or tablets to drinking water in a protected container. Another basic way to purify water is solar disinfection by having a concealed bottle war be exposed to direct sunlight will fight of some of the harmful pathogens found in the water. A traditional way would to boil water which kills bacteria effectively, but unfortunately costs money to perform which requires energy (Baddache, 2008). Until the latest development in water technology improves for the future, the best option to tackle on the issue is using PUR packets. Even if a better water purifier technology existed in the future, the cost at first would be too high for impoverish rural areas to afford clean water. The trick is to providing clean water at affordable cost according to Ho Chi Minh Institute for Public Health in Vietnam is to provide water purifiers in both flood and dry seasons because most people from rural areas get their water from rivers (Baddache, 2008). In terms of the water, the institute wants to make sure that if Procter & Gamble developed a new water purifier beyond PUR packets that people, especially children can afford the product. Not to mention, the company needs to effectively advertise to doctors, community leaders, and people about the water crisis still exists and pragmatic solutions need to be implemented. For instance, local organizations leading projects can discuss sanitation and how using PUR or the latest water purifier can help save people lives through school programs (Baddache, 2008). A devastating future challenge for the company if people still use PUR packets is that disposable packets can create waste after pouring the PUR into a water source. Even though the packets are a great barrier for moisture ad the last for three years, the leftover empty packets can have a significant environmental impact. In order to resolve the PUR wrapper problem for the future, the company encourages people to recycle the packets that would help the environment instead of leaving it to waste. Through determination, the company is hoping by 2020 that 70 percent of the rural areas around the world will have access to clean drinking water and reduce the death tolls from diseases (Baddache, 2008). -Lincoln Kang


 * Conclusion: **

Indeed, Procter & Gamble is a philanthropic company that tackles the issue of providing safe drinking water to impoverished countries around the world. Throughout the analysis, it is evident that more than one billion people in rural countries such as India and Pakistan are suffering from diseases caused from drinking contaminated water. As an efficient solution to solve the problem, the Procter & Gamble Health Sciences Institute along with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention developed their own affordable brand of easy to use water purification product called Purifier of Water (PUR) (Baddache, 2008). In a way, the company is promoting a product that wants to create a positive global cause by providing safe drinking water to prevent people from consuming unsanitary water. Not only does the company provide a humanitarian assistance to the world, but makes a profit as well by selling the product to global markets so that they can sell them back to people at low cost. In their efforts to make a difference by providing clean water, the company managed to stray away from just being fixated on making profits and they cared about providing a noble service to impoverish countries. With the Procter & Gamble factory in Pakistan and future factory in Singapore, globalization is achieved as organization such as CARE and UNICEF along with many supporters are dedicated to fighting this water crisis to the end (Procter & Gamble, 2011). As mentioned before, a 4-gram packet of PUR treats 10 liters of water and removes bacteria and other particles (Procter & Gamble, 2011). At this rate, more lives will be saved from preventing people to not drink abhorrent water but drink clean water towards a brighter future though PUR. As long as the company continues to benefit humanity through their products, people will have a fighting chance in depending on the company to help them in their time of need. Hopefully in the future, more people with join Procter & Gamble’s Safe Drinking Water program and make a difference one glass of water at a time. -Lincoln Kang


 * References: **

//About Procter & Gamble//. (2011). Retrieved June 27, 2011, from http://za.pg.com/about

Baddache, F. (2008, August 29). “Procter & Gamble: Providing Safe Drinking Water to the Poor.” Case study available at http://growinginclusivemarkets.org/media/cases/ Developing%20Countries_P&G_2008.pdf

Cohen, M. (2009, August 3). //Global Health Update//. Retrieved from University of North Carolina, Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases website: http://global.unc. edu/index .php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1154&Itemid=105

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">//Our History in// //Pakistan//. (2010). Retrieved June 27, 2011, from http://www.pg.com/en_PK/company/our_history.shtml

//Procter and Gamble: Children's Safe Drinking Water// (2011). Retrieved from the Population Services International, PSI website: http://www.psi.org/about-psi/partners/partner/procter-gamble

//Procter & Gamble//. (2010). Retrieved June 27, 2011, from http://washinternational.wordpress.com/2010/07/13/procter-gamble-new-factory-will-help-expand-worldwide-distribution-of-pur%E2%84%A2-purifier-of-water-packets/

//P&G Give Health Program//. (2011). Retrieved June 27, 2011, from http://www.cnbc.com/id/43248917/P_G_GIVE_HEALTH

Procter & Gamble. (2011). "Safe Water Through a Powder." Retrieved June 27, 2011, Sanitation Case Study available at http://www.wbcsd.org/DocRoot/gh2VDRQAKTchujOcIATV/P&G-Sanitation-case-study.pdf

Siegel, R. (2011, June 3). Retrieved June 28, 2011, from http://www.triplepundit.com/2011/06/3 p-interview-pg-water-hero-dr-greg-allgood/