One Drop Foundation

Logo

The ONE DROP Foundation—an initiative of Guy Laliberté, Founder of Cirque du Soleil®—is a non-governmental organization (NGO) established on October 29, 2007, in Montreal, Canada. Its mission is to fight poverty worldwide by supporting access to water and raising individual and community awareness of the need to mobilize so that safe water is accessible to all, in sufficient quantity, today and tomorrow. Its distinctive approach is based on social arts and popular education. ONE DROP seeks to be an agent of change and influence in the world.

The approach

Convinced that a comprehensive, planetary approach is required to pursue its mission, ONE DROP works on three levels:

1. Making water accessible to those deprived of this resource;
2. Raising awareness among individuals and communities of water-related issues, the need to mobilize and the importance of adopting responsible water-management practices;
3. Helping put water at the heart of public debate and international agendas.

Arts and culture

Inspired by Cirque du Soleil® and its Cirque du Monde program, ONE DROP uses circus arts, folklore, popular theatre, music, dance and visual arts to raise awareness of water-related issues, promote the sharing of wealth and encourage people to take action, in both the South and the North.

ONE DROP has developed a unique and entertaining approach to touring projects rooted in community participation. Incorporating the arts into educational initiatives has proven to be an effective means of achieving sustainable change.

Developing countries

ONE DROP carries out projects to give impoverished communities in developing countries.

For its projects, ONE DROP has designed an approach that it calls “tripod approach,” as it is based on three complementary components: a technical component, a microfinance component and a social arts and popular education component.

• The technical component is aimed at improving access to water and promoting responsible water management and preservation principles;
• The microfinance component is aimed at granting loans to populations who already have better access to water so they may start productive revenue-generating activities, thus ensuring project sustainability;
• The social arts and popular education component is designed to raise collective awareness as well as educate and mobilize the population on water-related issues.

Developed countries

In developed countries, ONE DROP’s playful, educational and inspiring activities are aimed at raising individual and community awareness of water-related issues, both on a local and international level, and of the need to mobilize. In addition, these activities not only urge each and every one to use water responsibly, as this resource is crucial to the survival of all life forms on Earth, they also play a role in putting the issue of water at the heart of public debate.

Donations

Guy Laliberté, founder of Cirque du Soleil, has undertaken to donate $100 million to the organization over 25 years^[1]. Since ONE DROP’s beginning in 2007, $41 million dollars is the amount raised and pledged.^[2] With these generous donations, the foundation had given some 25,000 people access to water all across the globe.^[2]

References

1. ^ Annual Report 2009, ONE DROP, [1]
2. ^ ^{a b} Annual Report 2010, ONE DROP, [2]

External links

• ONE DROP's official page