Funding the local leaders who outlast us.
Every strong partner we work with was once a student who beat the odds. For $1,500 a year, a sponsor can fund the next one — a science or engineering student from a community without clean water.
The challenge
Look closely at any local leader and you will find someone who got an education against the odds. In the communities PALPER serves, brilliant students are stopped not by ability but by tuition measured in a few hundred dollars.
Without local engineers, scientists, and organizers, water projects stay dependent on outsiders forever. The durable fix for the water crisis is local expertise — and that is built one student at a time.
Our solution
With our partner Clean Water Help, PALPER nominates promising science and engineering students from communities without reliable clean water. More than 30 have been accepted to the University of Goma. Each sponsorship supports one student for one full year:
- Full tuition at a local university
- Books and school supplies
- A living stipend for basic needs
- A paid internship with a local NGO partner
- Hands-on work on drinking-water solutions for their own community
For companies, it is the most personal CSR available: a clear cost ($1,500), a clear outcome (one year of university), and a clear story — investing in future scientists and engineers from underserved communities. This is more than a scholarship: it is an investment in local leadership.
Who does what
- Nominate students who will serve their own communities
- Support students locally through their studies
- Host clean-water internships with the field team
- Connect graduates back to water work at home
- Vet nominations and send tuition to the institution
- Match students with volunteer scientist-mentors
- Report progress to sponsors every year
- Build the pipeline that staffs future projects
Clean Water Help
A United States 501(c)(3) nonprofit of volunteer scientists and engineers. Clean Water Help vets each nomination, sends tuition directly to the university, and pairs every student with a scientist-mentor in their field.
With Clean Water Help
Sponsor a student. Build a leader.
$1,500 funds one full year of university and a clean-water internship for a science or engineering student from an underserved community. For corporate CSR, foundations, and individual sponsors, it is a simple, high-impact investment in local capacity.
Contact us to sponsor a student, or to receive the sponsorship details your CSR and impact teams can share.