PWX Recognized as Finalist in the 2007 Excellence in Information Integrity Awards

Chicago, IL - The Peer Water Exchange (PWX), Blue Planet Run Foundation’s efficient, community-based online system for funding and monitoring grassroots water projects worldwide, was recognized as a finalist in this year’s Excellence in Information Integrity Awards (EII), presented by the Information Integrity Coalition (IIC). The finalists and winners were announced at the twelfth annual EII Awards banquet held in Harold Washington Library Center in Chicago on Monday, 10 September, 2007. PWX was one of three finalists in the Non-Profit category.

The Peer Water Exchange is an innovative, participatory infrastructure that selects, funds and manages water projects around the world. PWX makes the funding and project selection process transparent and efficient. Through PWX, organizations are able to review, rate, and oversee each other’s projects, which facilitates cooperation and knowledge sharing.

By allowing for this exchange of ideas and empowering local implementers through the use of new technology, PWX is helping the Blue Planet Run Foundation (BPRF) achieve its goal of providing 200 million people with safe drinking water by the year 2027. BPRF intends to accomplish this target by organizing events to raise funding and awareness of the water crisis. BPRF coordinates with local community organizations and NGOs to implement water projects, and one-hundred percent of all donations go to these projects.

“The Peer Water Exchange is the Blue Planet Run Foundation's contribution to the water sector: an innovative technology and process platform that addresses the biggest stumbling block in global rural development - the inability to scale.,” said Rajesh Shah, Vice President of BPRF and creator of PWX. “PWX has demonstrated itself to be a successful method for fund distribution and a model to address the inability to scale.”

The Information Integrity Coalition’s mission is to promote awareness and understanding of Information Integrity and enable society to use and exchange information with confidence.

This year, Information Integrity supporters nominated 113 organizations for the EII Award. The Coalition also received 27 For-Profit and 25 Non-Profit applications from the organizations that have shown extraordinary progress toward attaining Information Integrity.

"The 2007 EII Award Banquet was an inspiring event featuring 225 attendees from around the world to celebrate accomplishments of organizations in For-Profit and Non-Profit categories in achieving Information Integrity,” said Dr. Manu Vora, Chair of the 2007 EII Awards Program and IIC Director.