Supermodel Georgie Badiel Liberty, who has graced the covers of magazines and appeared in advertising worldwide, turned her celebrity to solving water scarcity challenges in her native country, Burkina Faso. In 2015, she launched the Georgie Badiel Foundation to bring wells, sanitation, solar-generated electricity, and community gardens to 10 million Burkinabé who lack access to clean water. The wells are built and managed by women in the villages where they are intalled. As a child, Georgie carried water three hours a day, working alongside her grandmother and cousins to transfer water to her village for the family’s use — she was the inspiration for the illustrated children’s book The Water Princess. Georgie’s story shows that positive changes are possible in dire circumstances.
Our frequent guest, Newday Impact Investing CEO Doug Heske, also joins us. Georgie and Doug will host the 2023 Water Gala on Sept 29 at Second, an event venue on 6th Avenue in New York City. Building a new solar-powered well, which provides water, toilets, and community services such as a study center, costs $20,000 while repairing a well runs as little as $1,000. More than 341,000 people in Burkina Faso now have access to water because of Georgie’s foundation. Just $10 million in funding could transform the country’s water supply,
The Georgie Badiel Foundation also offers resources to help schools across the United States do fundraising and provide awareness programs about water scarcity, sustainability, and women’s empowerment. You can learn more about Georgie and her foundation at https://www.georgiebadielfoundation.org/
Discover Newday Impact’s exchange-traded ocean health fund and its other impact investing programs at https://newdayimpact.com
Originally aired Sep 11, 2023
