HEINEKEN enters into a Public Private Partnership to improve water availability in Ethiopian region of Harar

On Monday Harar Regional State, Vitens Evides International B.V. (VEI) and HEINEKEN Breweries S.C., the Ethiopian brewery owned by Heineken N.V. (HEINEKEN), were key signatories to a Public Private Partnership (PPP) to formally start a sustainable water services project in Harar Regional State (Harar), Ethiopia. This project is co-funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs through the Sustainable Water Fund. The PPP’s objective is to ensure long term water availability in Harar where over 300.000 people are currently facing water shortages.The partners that consist of businesses, governmental institutions and NGO’s share the goal to improve the long term water availability for urban, rural and industrial consumers in Harar. The signing marks the official start of the project that has been running since April 2013 and will continue until March 2017.

Protecting water resources is a key focus area of HEINEKEN’s global sustainability programme “Brewing a Better Future”. Part of HEINEKEN’s 2020 commitments is to aim for significant water balancing by its production units in water-scarce and distressed areas. Developing and actively participating in this PPP in Ethiopia underlines the importance to HEINEKEN of being a true partner and recognising the need for responsible water usage.

The project focusses on a number of targets, most notably the creation of water access for 50.000 people, where HEINEKEN specifically takes responsibility for ensuring 25.000 people in rural areas get access to water by means of water buffering schemes and other water supply solutions.

The project will utilise an integrated approach to address some of the region’s most urgent water related challenges, such as the increasing pressure on Harar’s main water sources. It will also address the high failure risk of the current drinking water supply and the current water insufficiencies.

Mr. Johan Doyer, General Manager of HEINEKEN in Ethiopia said: “Water is vital to our business, but it’s also vital for every person on the planet. We recognise the need for responsible water usage, even more so in areas that face water scarcity. We are proud to take part in the PPP together with the Dutch Government, the Harar Regional State and other stakeholders”.