Since 2010, the mission of Global Sustainable Partnerships (GSP) has focused on providing access to clean and safe drinking water to improve the lives and health of children and families and to empower women in breaking the cycle of poverty in developing countries.
In 2020, GSP pivoted and redirected our efforts to the US, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We prioritize the need for solutions to address the wide range of inequities, prevalent in African American and African Diaspora communities, including the traumatic impact and despair resulting from the impact of Covid 19, the economic downturn, and the heightened racial injustice.
Global Sustainable Partnerships (GSP) is a 501(c)(3) that was established in 2010 by Kimberly L. Fogg and Mary Barth. Mary was born and raised in Tanzania/United States and when Kimberly’s father passed away in 2009, Mary invited Kimberly to come to Tanzania to grieve.
While in Tanzania, Mary sent Kimberly on a safari and while she was overwhelmed with seeing the “Big 5” (e.g. lions, elephants, a leopard, water buffalo, and rhinoceros), she was alarmed when she witnessed several small children walking with a heard of oxen in the middle of the Serengeti. She asked her safari guide, Swalihi “where are these children going in the middle of the Serengeti – when I’ve just seen ‘lions and tigers and bears, oh my!’” His response was “they’re going to fetch water for their families and water their oxen (from the same water source) and the water is so contaminated, many of these children don’t survive!” After seeing that she recalled seeing a woman in the village gathering water from a puddle of dirty water and wondered if that was the only available water she could find.
It was so heartbreaking to see these women under these conditions and hard to believe that in 2010 women and children were still dying from contaminated water, hence, Global Sustainable Partnerships was born! Our vision is to improve access to clean and safe drinking water for children in developing countries, as well as empower women with tools to help them break the cycle of poverty and improve the overall health and fiscal independence of their families.
In order to accomplish this long-term vision, the mission of GSP is focused on improving the health and education of children by building community interest and increasing awareness of the value of clean water and the affordability of safe water systems. We believe collaboration is the key and we have built “grassroots” public-private partnerships designed to unite with trusted local leaders, Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), and corporate leaders.
Our strategy involves the direct participation of these stakeholders in Tanzania, because they have a history of working with indigenous populations within rural communities and serve as our early promoters and allies, improve our capacity, our corporate accountability and help inspire supporters.