{"id":9720,"date":"2021-06-20T21:00:25","date_gmt":"2021-06-20T21:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ceowatermandate.org\/resilience\/?post_type=eventwebinar2&#038;p=9720"},"modified":"2021-06-24T22:23:02","modified_gmt":"2021-06-24T22:23:02","slug":"profiles-in-leadership-water-org-jennifer-schorsch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ceowatermandate.org\/resilience\/profiles-water-org\/","title":{"rendered":"Profiles in Leadership: Water.org &#038; Jennifer Schorsch"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wpb-content-wrapper\">[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]\n<h1>What Role Do NGOs Play in an Industry-Driven Organization? Water.org President Jennifer Schorsch Explains the Value-Add to the Water Crisis Debate<\/h1>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]\n<div style=\"float: right; margin: 0; padding-left: 20px; padding-top: 8px; padding-bottom: 15px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/j5V70-7PxHo\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<p>The United Nations Global Compact is the world\u2019s largest corporate sustainability initiative, but there\u2019s always a seat at the table for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) \u2014 partners working towards the same goals and creating shared-value initiatives with corporations to accelerate action.<\/p>\n<p>Through collaboration with NGO partners, the Water Resilience Coalition (WRC) promotes collective action on infrastructure investment, supply chain monitoring, and innovation in the effort to secure water basin resilience for future generations.<\/p>\n<p>Water.org \u2014 founded over 30 years ago by civil and environmental engineer and innovator Gary White and actor Matt Damon \u2014 aims to bring water and sanitation to the world, pioneering market-driven financial solutions to the global water crisis.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_9721\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-9721\" style=\"width: 420px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ceowatermandate.org\/resilience\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/06\/11227135095_9eab623159_c.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-9721\" src=\"https:\/\/ceowatermandate.org\/resilience\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/06\/11227135095_9eab623159_c.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"420\" height=\"281\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ceowatermandate.org\/resilience\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/06\/11227135095_9eab623159_c.jpg 799w, https:\/\/ceowatermandate.org\/resilience\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/06\/11227135095_9eab623159_c-300x201.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ceowatermandate.org\/resilience\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/06\/11227135095_9eab623159_c-768x513.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ceowatermandate.org\/resilience\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/06\/11227135095_9eab623159_c-600x401.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 420px) 100vw, 420px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-9721\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">Courtesy Water.org<\/span><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Water.org president Jennifer Schorsch explains: \u201cAs an NGO participating in the Water Resilience Coalition, we can help elevate the issue of the humanity of water. We can bring the perspective of those living without water and sanitation. We can drive home the importance of universal access to sanitation and water. We can help companies achieve their ESG goals while transforming lives, which is a win-win.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Schorsch joined Water.org a decade ago, after helping build another Water Resilience Coalition member \u2014 Starbucks \u2014 from a 150-store regional company to a global brand.<\/p>\n<p>According to Schorsch, \u201cWater.org is an opportunity to bring to CEOs and to corporations the perspective of those in the community surrounding their operations. We give them an opportunity to be positive stewards of both the environment and the communities in which they operate. And this in turn helps to ensure that they have a social and reputational license to operate in their communities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCorporate participation is imperative to solve the water and climate challenges that we face. The scale of the solution has to at least equal the scale of the challenge and corporations bring the power, the influence, the assets, and the know-how to solve this issue once and for all,\u201d she continues.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople living in poverty are not a problem to be solved. They are a market to be served. Any society with the guarantee of safe water has a chance to realize its full potential,\u201d adds Water.org co-founder Gary White.<\/p>\n<h3>Bringing NGOs and Corporations Together on Water<\/h3>\n<figure id=\"attachment_9722\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-9722\" style=\"width: 468px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ceowatermandate.org\/resilience\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/06\/35450354450_cc4c83a8a6_c.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-9722\" src=\"https:\/\/ceowatermandate.org\/resilience\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/06\/35450354450_cc4c83a8a6_c.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"468\" height=\"312\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ceowatermandate.org\/resilience\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/06\/35450354450_cc4c83a8a6_c.jpg 799w, https:\/\/ceowatermandate.org\/resilience\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/06\/35450354450_cc4c83a8a6_c-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ceowatermandate.org\/resilience\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/06\/35450354450_cc4c83a8a6_c-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ceowatermandate.org\/resilience\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/06\/35450354450_cc4c83a8a6_c-600x400.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 468px) 100vw, 468px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-9722\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">Courtesy Water.org<\/span><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Other NGOs at the WRC table include Circle of Blue, Global Water Partnership, International Water Management Institute, The Nature Conservancy, Pacific Institute, WaterAid, Water Funder Initiative, and the World Resources Institute.<\/p>\n<p>No one is immune to the impacts of climate and water disruption, but those living in poverty will feel it first and most dramatically. Women and children disproportionately bear the burden of water collection, and those living in poverty have the least resilience to impacts related to rising sea level or disruptions in water supply.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI chose this work for two reasons,\u201d reflects Schorsch. \u201cOne, I care deeply about the environment and the sustainability of our planet. And secondly, I care deeply about\u00a0women and girls\u2019 empowerment. Water is the way to enable gender equity. It is fundamental to making that possible. Women and girls every day spend 260 million hours collecting water to provision it for their families in that region. Think about the human potential that would be unleashed by giving them that time back.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Schorsch senses a moment in time to bring together the corporate and NGO worlds together to solve some of the biggest challenges \u2014 via the WRC and wider Global Compact \u2014 to create a world free of inequality, poverty and fresh water stress.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_9724\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-9724\" style=\"width: 408px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ceowatermandate.org\/resilience\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/06\/5975262023_37ff957b28_c.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-9724\" src=\"https:\/\/ceowatermandate.org\/resilience\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/06\/5975262023_37ff957b28_c.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"408\" height=\"271\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ceowatermandate.org\/resilience\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/06\/5975262023_37ff957b28_c.jpg 800w, https:\/\/ceowatermandate.org\/resilience\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/06\/5975262023_37ff957b28_c-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ceowatermandate.org\/resilience\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/06\/5975262023_37ff957b28_c-768x510.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ceowatermandate.org\/resilience\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/06\/5975262023_37ff957b28_c-600x398.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 408px) 100vw, 408px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-9724\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">Courtesy Water.org<\/span><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cIf we want to have a more equitable world to break the cycle of poverty, to enable gender equality, to accelerate access to education, we have to solve water and sanitation. If we can&#8217;t solve water, we won&#8217;t be able to solve income inequality, gender equality, education, and we will not achieve a peaceable society.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBy being an NGO at the seat at the table with corporate partners, we can bring a perspective that will help them be better stewards of the planet and better stewards of the environment and help create a more equitable, sustainable world,\u201d concludes president Schorsch.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Water.org is an opportunity to bring to CEOs and to corporations the perspective of those in the community surrounding their operations.\u201d Click below to watch the video and read the whole story. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9727,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[668],"tags":[],"coauthors":[655],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ceowatermandate.org\/resilience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9720"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ceowatermandate.org\/resilience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ceowatermandate.org\/resilience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ceowatermandate.org\/resilience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ceowatermandate.org\/resilience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9720"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ceowatermandate.org\/resilience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9720\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9777,"href":"https:\/\/ceowatermandate.org\/resilience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9720\/revisions\/9777"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ceowatermandate.org\/resilience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ceowatermandate.org\/resilience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ceowatermandate.org\/resilience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ceowatermandate.org\/resilience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9720"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ceowatermandate.org\/resilience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=9720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}