Did you know that women in water-stressed regions walk on average 3.5 miles everyday to get water to their homes? Besides, more than 25% of the population in several countries of Sub-Saharan Africa spends over 30 minutes to collect water in one trip. People who spend more than half an hour per round trip progressively collect less water, and eventually fail to meet their family’s minimum daily drinking-water requirements. 76% of the time women and children are the ones who face the burden of carrying water.
As an initiative to reduce this burden off the shoulders of the women and children, Greif designed an innovative and economical backpack to carry water more from the access point to home comfortably than in a heavy jerry can or bucket on your head. The PackH2O water backpack is designed to hold up to 5 gallons, equivalent to 20 litres of water, which is the average amount of daily water used by people in developing countries. The water backpack is carefully crafted to evenly distribute the load on the wearers’ back. It is 7 times lighter and smaller than an average plastic jerry can that makes it extremely lightweight and collapsible and can be easily shipped and stored.
In addition, the water backpack is made from non-corrosive material and has a removable liner which can be easily sanitized with exposure to sunlight. Moreover, the backpack has a spout for dispensing water and a puncture-resistant outer shell which makes the PackH2O water backpack extremely safe and effective to store clean water.
According to sources, more than 2000 water backpacks have been distributed to four different communities in Haiti and the response from the women users has been overwhelming. The PackH2O team aims at distributing 1,000 of these packs in Guatemala, where local women will sell them under the guidance of an NGO. David Fischer, the CEO of Greif’s vision of distributing 100 million backpacks in the next five years through NGO partners is surely going to bring on a lot of smiles on the faces of the women living in the water-stressed regions throughout the world.
If you want to make a woman smile, simply ‘Give a Pack‘
+ Greif
+ PackH2O
