Sri Lanka’s premier apparel solutions provider, Brandix Apparel Limited (BAL), signed a partnership agreement with Global Water Partnership (GWP) recently to strengthen joint efforts to advance youth engagement with water and sustainability.

The Memorandum of Understanding signed between the organisations spells out priorities for strategic collaboration, including strengthening youth engagement in water resources management by creating opportunities and knowledge exchange. The agreement also deals with deploying resources to address youth-related collaborative programmes with respect to the 2030 Global Agenda concerning Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6.

Water and sanitation remain major issues in South Asia and the burden of managing and addressing these challenges is increasingly falling on the younger generation. Despite governments pledging to achieve SDGs by 2030, the state alone cannot meet these requirements and a multi-sectoral approach through public-private partnerships are increasingly accepted as the best way forward.

Group CEO of Brandix Apparel Limited, Ashroff Omar said: “Since 2007, Brandix has dedicated its Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives to providing access to safe drinking water and clean sanitation facilities for those in need, aiming to create significant, positive change for communities. Through this commitment, Brandix has successfully completed nearly 4,600 community water projects, empowering and enhancing the lives of over 300,000 people across the island. We are excited to extend our partnership with GWP, and foster youth involvement in this vital cause, encouraging them to not only benefit from these efforts but also actively drive them forward.”

Kusum Athukorala, Global Water Partnership South Asia (GWP SAS) Regional Chair, expressed appreciation to the support extended towards the network by Brandix on its new youth initiative, Youth and Young Water Professionals’ Platform. “GWP SAS is privileged to have a partner who is well-known for their commitment towards reducing carbon footprint through sustainable solutions. Like GWP, Brandix also understood the urgency of addressing the gaps to ensure clean water and sanitation for all communities in South Asia, and most importantly the role of youth in realizing this goal”.

CEO of GWPO, Elena Trovesi, stated Brandix has set a great example for the corporate sector globally through this partnership, which demonstrates the company is prepared to return what they have taken from the environment through meaningful initiatives. She said: “I hope the MoU we signed would lead to greater collaboration between the parties in the future both at national and regional level on youth-led initiatives to create a meaningful impact on the ground”.

The MoU was signed on the eve of World Water Day 2023 by Ashroff Omar, Group CEO, BAL, Elena Trovesi, (Interim) Executive Secretary and CEO, GWPO and Lal Induruwage, Regional Coordinator, GWP SAS.