VIDEO: Armani launches global drinking water challenge

Giorgio Armani has extended its safe drinking water initiative, Acqua for Life Challenge, to three continents for 2012 through a partnership with Green Cross.


Following its Acqua for Life Challenge in 2011, which provided access to clean drinking water to 16 communities in Ghana, fashion house Giorgio Armani has committed to the initiative for 2012 but on a wider scale.

While proceeds from last year’s challenge funded projects exclusively in Ghana, the partnership with Green Cross this year means projects in Bolivia and China will also benefit, thanks to the Green Cross Smart Water for Green Schools initiative.

Funds will be raised through sales of Armani perfumes and a Facebook campaign. The proceeds will be used to install water supply systems, including rainwater harvesting systems, wells, bore holes and pumps, in communities in Ghana, Santa Cruz in Bolivia and the village of Heinigou in China’s Yunnan province.

In 2011, the Armani Acqua for Life Challenge funded projects that supply approximately 43m litres of safe drinking water per year to 27,000 people.

“Water is the most essential element to support life,” said Green Cross International’s Water for Life and peace programme director Marie-Laure Vercambre. “Our work with Smart Water for Green Schools, and the support from Giorgio Armani, allows tens of thousands of people to have sustainable supplies of safe drinking water in their communities.”

Will Parsons

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