The Coca-Cola Company

Restoring Water and Sanitation in Tsunami-Affected Communities

In response to the tsunami, The Coca-Cola Company, its bottling partners, and its employees have been providing sustained support to local, national, and international tsunami recovery efforts in impacted countries.

To date, the Coca-Cola system — comprising The Coca- Cola Company and its bottling partners — have donated cash and employee support, valued at more than $20 million, to tsunami relief, recovery, and long-term reconstruction efforts. Immediate relief contributions included delivery of bottled water, food, blankets, and medical kits, as well as employee volunteerism and clean-water donations for victims and relief workers.

Longer-term, Coca-Cola also has partnered with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), governments, and community partners to address psychological and educational support for children, economic rehabilitation, infrastructural restoration and construction, and coastal sustainability. Coca-Cola's efforts to address long-term water and sanitation needs in partnership with the UN are detailed here.

The Program

In 2005, The Coca-Cola Company and the UN Foundation forged a partnership with UNDP in support of communitybased water and sanitation reconstruction efforts in Thailand, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and the Maldives. The Coca-Cola Company and the UN Foundation provided $2.1 million, including $50,000 in contributions from Coca-Cola employees and affiliates. The Coca-Cola Foundation Indonesia provided $300,000 in parallel funding to support a team of professional hydrogeologists to survey and map freshwater supplies in the northeastern tip of Aceh.

The company also "loaned" one of its Asia-based managers to the UNDP Regional Center in Bangkok for one year on a full-time basis to help build and manage these partnership efforts across the region. The projects are aligned with government priorities and local community needs and build upon ongoing UN tsunami recovery efforts in each country. They support the goal and approach of "building back better" and the activities are designed and implemented in close partnership with local authorities and community leaders to ensure local relevance, ownership, and sustainability.

The Impact

In the south of Thailand, the project is helping tsunamiaffected communities on Lanta Island with a series of initiatives to ease water shortage problems. In the fishing community of Sanga-U, for example, 10 check dams have been built along the 2-km village stream to collect and retain rainwater for use in more than 100 households.

In Sri Lanka, the project is reaching two badly hit areas of the country — Kattankudi in the east and Kalupe in the south — providing improved access to water and sanitation as well as building greater community awareness on water, sanitation, and hygiene issues. The project in Indonesia provided the government with comprehensive hydrogeological data and mapping on freshwater resources in the Pidie and Sigli districts of Aceh. Building on these data, the project is now providing safe and regular water supply and sanitation facilities to more than 7,000 villagers in this region of the country.

On the isolated island of Dhambidhoo in the Maldives, meanwhile, the project is installing a sustainable sanitation system for all of the island residents, preventing further sewage-based pollution of the precious groundwater and local marine environment.

The Difference

Bakhtiar, a fishpond farmer and the village secretary in Rawa Gampong, Indonesia, said, "Without a water connection, we have to walk 1–1.5 km to get one jerry can of water. That's why the villagers are very enthusiastic and willing to work together on this project. There were several attempts on digging a bore hole and the result was no fresh water. If our people can enjoy clean water, we can prevent a lot of disease."

The Lessons Learned

The Coca-Cola system is not a social service agency or an NGO, but the issues those organizations directly address have everything to do with creating prosperous and sustainable communities — and therefore, the health of the system's business. The most effective way Coca-Cola has found to address the needs of the communities it serves is through the commitment of its staff and resources in genuine partnerships around shared goals.

Why Coca-Cola Is Involved

The Coca-Cola system was directly impacted, from both a human (personal) and business perspective, by the tsunami and Coca-Cola pledged to stay the course for the long haul in tsunami recovery efforts. Coca-Cola realizes that healthy, stable, and resilient communities are prosperous communities. Social value goes hand-in-hand with economic value, and they are both indispensable.

For more information, please visit:
www.thecoca-colacompany.com/citizenship

Additional corporate profiles in BCLC's new disaster recovery report

Coca-Cola's Partners:

United Nations Foundation

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)