LONDON and ROTTERDAM, The Netherlands, June 22, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Programme will deliver clean drinking water to communities in need

Unilever, through the Unilever Foundation, in partnership with PSI (Population Services International) announces the launch of Waterworks™, a non-for-profit programme that will provide safe clean drinking water to communities in need around the world. Waterworks™, which operates through a ground-breaking Timeline application developed jointly with Facebook, will connect people with means directly with people and communities in need.

     (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120622/538469 )

Water is the source of life, but almost 800 million people don't have access to clean drinking water. Preventable water-borne diseases, such as dysentery and diarrhoea are a particular threat to the weakest members of society: a child dies from water-related illness every 20 seconds.

Keith Weed, Unilever's Chief Marketing Officer, explains, "In July 2010, the United Nations declared that safe and clean drinking water is a human right; we share this belief and have made a public and ambitious commitment through the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan to provide safe drinking water to 500 million people by 2020. But to overcome a challenge of this scale, we cannot achieve this change alone; we need to work in partnership."

"At Unilever, we believe that small, everyday actions can add up to a big difference; and that the power of social connections can drive real change around the world. On Facebook, nearly a billion people take small actions every day, they connect to the individuals and organisations that matter most to them and they discover new things through their friends. We want to leverage the power of the social graph and the ripple effects that each person's actions can create, to inspire and enrol many more to make a difference," adds Weed.

Initially launched as a beta pilot, Waterworks™ is among the first Timeline applications for charitable giving, connecting Facebook users around the world with real individuals and communities in need. People will be invited to sign up to Waterworks™ and connect the application to their Facebook Timeline. They will partner with a PSI-trained Waterworker and choose a small daily donation - as little as €0.10. Their funds will directly support the water-poor communities, where Waterworkers will provide education about the benefits of clean drinking water and distribute life-saving Pureit water purifiers and sachets to families in need.

"PSI is excited to be working with innovative partners like the Unilever Foundation and Facebook to launch Waterworks™ - a clean water program rooted in community-based knowledge and action," says Karl Hofmann, President and CEO of PSI.


"Our Waterworkers will be women from the communities in which they will work- mothers, sisters, and aunts who will be able to
have trusted conversations with their families and friends about health issues that affect the community.


Through participation in Waterworks they will gain not only a steady income but also receive training on communication techniques and local health issues, as well as access to clean water for their own families."

In its initial stage, PSI will train 75 Waterworkers who will educate the neediest people in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India about the need for clean water and its opportunity to improve the health and wellness of their community. They will distribute life-saving Pureit sachets and purifiers to these families.

Each Waterworker will be given a mobile phone, preloaded with a custom Waterworks™ J2ME application that will allow her to take photos and record stories. She will share these updates back to her Partners on Facebook, demonstrating how their funds are making an impact in her community, and inspiring her Partners to continue giving and supporting her work.

Since the Waterworks™ app is 'social by design', a community of support will form around each Waterworker, as powerful stories have the opportunity to impact and influence friends and millions of friends of friends. The Waterworks™ application, developed by Betapond, makes it easy for Facebook users to discover the big difference their small donations make. The application makes charitable giving more social, more personal and more relevant. It sends personal notifications to donors, enabling a real connection between an individual Waterworker and the Facebook users who supported her.

"Through Waterworks™, the Unilever Foundation is showing that the right combination of people and technology can lead to social solutions that effectively combat some of the largest and most difficult challenges we face," said Joanna Shields, VP and Managing Director, EMEA at Facebook. "Unilever is a fantastic, highly innovative partner and we're excited to help them continue to build their presence on Facebook for both their brands and charitable endeavours. Unilever understands that when people are given the platform to share their experiences and affect change, amazing things can happen."

http://www.joinWaterworks.com

http://www.facebook.com/Waterworks

Notes to Editors

About Unilever

Unilever is one of the world's leading suppliers of fast moving consumer goods with operations in over 100 countries and sales in 190. Consumers buy 170 billion Unilever packs around the world every year, and our products are used over two billion times a day. We have more than 171,000 employees, and generated annual sales of €46.5 billion in 2011.

Working to create a better future every day, we help people feel good, look good and get more out of life with brands and services that are good for them and good for others. Our portfolio includes some of the world's best known and most loved brands including thirteen €1 billion brands, and global leadership in most categories in which we operate.
The portfolio features iconic brands such as: Knorr, Hellmann's, Lipton, Dove, Vaseline, Persil, Cif, Marmite and Pot Noodle.

Unilever's ambition is to double the size of our business, whilst reducing our overall environmental impact (including sourcing, consumer use and disposal). We are also committed to doing what we can to improve health, nutrition and hygiene, with a target to help more than a billion people take action to improve their health and well-being, as well as sourcing all our agricultural raw materials sustainably by 2020. All of these goals are itemised in around 60 time-based commitments in our Unilever Sustainable Living Plan.

Unilever has led the Food Producers sector in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Indexes for 13 consecutive years. We are included in the FTSE4Good Index Series and attained a top environmental score of 5, leading to inclusion in the FTSE4Good Environmental Leaders Europe 40 Index. In 2011 Unilever led the Climate Counts Company Scorecard and was named #1 in the list of Global Corporate Sustainability Leaders according to the latest survey findings from GlobeScan Inc. and SustainAbility Ltd.

For more information about Unilever and its brands, please visit http://www.unilever.com

Unilever Foundation

• The Unilever Foundation is dedicated to improving quality of life through the provision of hygiene, sanitation, access to clean drinking water, basic nutrition and enhancing self-esteem. The Foundation is one action Unilever is taking to help meet its goal of helping more than 1 billion people improve their health and well-being, and in turn, create a sustainable future. For more information, visit http://www.unilever.com/foundation

PSI

PSI is a global non-profit organization dedicated to improving the health of people in the developing world by focusing on serious challenges like a lack of family planning, HIV/AIDS, maternal health, and the greatest threats to children under five, including malaria, diarrhoea, pneumonia and malnutrition.   http://www.psi.org;
Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/PSIHealthyLives; Blog:
http://www.psi.org/HealthyLives  

Press Office

Lucila Zambrano, lucila.zambrano@unilever.com, +44(0)7825-273767

Unilever PLC, 100 Victoria Embankment, London, UK

Email: press-office.london@unilever.com 
Web: http://www.unilever.com

SOURCE Unilever Plc