WaterPartners` Gary White Named Skoll Social Entrepreneur

Three-Year Award to Support WaterCredit Program to Reach More People with Clean
Water
KANSAS CITY, Mo.--(Business Wire)--
WaterPartners` executive director and co-founder, Gary White, has been selected
to join the community of Skoll social entrepreneurs. The Skoll Award for Social
Entrepreneurship carries with it an award of $765,000 for WaterPartners to help
reach more people with access to clean water and sanitation through
WaterPartners` WaterCredit Initiative and innovative online community-building
efforts.

The award is presented by the Skoll Foundation to recognize the most innovative
and sustainable approaches to resolving the world`s most urgent social issues.
The Skoll Foundation was created by eBay`s first president, Jeff Skoll. White
joins a prestigious global network of Skoll entrepreneurs, now numbering 72 and
representing 59 organizations, who are working around the world on issues
including tolerance and human rights, health, economic and social equity, peace
and security, institutional responsibility, and environmental sustainability.

White will be presented the award by Skoll Foundation Chairman Jeff Skoll, Skoll
Foundation President and CEO Sally Osberg, and special guest 2007 Nobel Peace
Prize winner Dr. R. K. Pachauri, at a ceremony on March 26 at the Skoll World
Forum on Social Entrepreneurship at the University of Oxford in England. White
will be participating in the three-day World Forum along with over 700 attendees
from the global social entrepreneurship community.

"In these tough times, it`s particularly important to recognize those exemplary
organizations that tackle the world`s most pressing social and economic
challenges and deliver real change," said Sally Osberg, President and CEO of the
Skoll Foundation. "We`re pleased to welcome Gary White to the community of Skoll
social entrepreneurs. WaterPartners International is supporting systemic change
in the area of access to clean water and proper sanitation. Its innovative
approach will bring great new ideas and new points of leverage into the
ecosystem of Skoll social entrepreneurs working around the globe to create a
world in which we all want to live."

"I`m honored that WaterPartners has received this award from the Skoll
Foundation and excited to see its impact on the people we serve," said White.
"Access to affordable credit, which is the goal of our WaterCredit Initiative,
will empower millions of people to obtain safe water and sanitation. In order to
meet the needs of the nearly 1 billion people currently living without access to
safe water and 2.6 billion without sanitation, we must affect large-scale,
system change - access to affordable credit is one of the best ways to do this."

Nearly two decades ago, White co-founded the U.S.-based nonprofit organization
WaterPartners to address the global water crisis in a new, sustainable way.
Since that time, WaterPartners` innovations in programs and financing have led
the way in tackling the global water crisis. WaterPartners` WaterCredit
Initiative catalyzes small loans to individuals and communities who otherwise do
not have access to credit for water and sanitation purposes. Currently,
WaterCredit is offered in India, Bangladesh, Kenya and Ghana. Last year alone,
WaterPartners` WaterCredit and grant programs empowered more than 142,000 people
in Africa, South Asia and Latin America to achieve access to clean water and
sanitation.

About WaterPartners

WaterPartners is a nonprofit organization that has transformed hundreds of
communities in Africa, South Asia and Central America by providing access to
safe water and sanitation. Founded in 1990, WaterPartners works with local
partners to deliver innovative solutions for long-term success. Its
microfinance-based WaterCredit Initiative is pioneering sustainable giving in
the sector.

For more information, visit www.water.org.

About the Skoll Foundation

The Skoll Foundation was created in 1999 by eBay`s first president, Jeff Skoll,
to promote his vision of a more peaceful and prosperous world. Today, the Skoll
Foundation advances systemic change to benefit communities around the world by
investing in, connecting and celebrating social entrepreneurs - individuals
dedicated to innovative, bottom-up solutions that transform unequal and unjust
social, environmental and economic systems.

The Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship is the foundation`s flagship
program. There are currently 59 organizations represented by 72 remarkable
social entrepreneurs in the program, working individually and together across
regions, countries and continents to deliver positive, sustainable change. The
Skoll Foundation connects social entrepreneurs and other partners in the field
via an online community at www.socialedge.org and through the annual Skoll World
Forum on Social Entrepreneurship. The foundation also celebrates social
entrepreneurs by telling their stories through partnerships with the PBS
Foundation and the Sundance Institute, with the goal of promoting large-scale
public awareness of social entrepreneurship.

For more information, visit www.skollfoundation.org.

WaterPartners
Steff Hedenkamp, 816-506-4630
shedenkamp@water.org

Copyright Business Wire 2009