Water Education for Teachers (WET) is a non-profit organisation and publisher, providing education resources that facilitate and promote the awareness, appreciation, knowledge and stewardship of water resources.
Launched in the United States in 1984 and first sponsored by Nestlé Waters in 1992, Project WET workshops and programmes have trained more than 400,000 teachers and have reached several million children in more than 20 countries. The project was launched in Vietnam, where Nestlé Waters is implementing partner of the programme.
The WET programme is designed to be adaptable to a wide array of teaching curricula, and it has been designed so that teachers, educators and outdoor centre leaders can easily adapt it to the natural environment in which the activity is held.
For example:
- Teachers who wish to teach a programme on water issues with structured modules have a "ready-to-go" set-up available for their classes;
- Instructors specializing in the environment can find ideas that complement their own activities; and
- Leaders of outdoor school centres can combine one of the programme's modules with water-related activities, such as farm visits and gardening projects.
Project WET’s significance was recognised at the 4th World Water Forum in Mexico in March 2006, where the organisation was invited to lead the Forum’s education activities in partnership with the Mexican Institute of Water Technology. The special session on Water Education for Children and Youth stressed that “it is through education that habits are changed and increased water conscientiousness is fostered. This can build long-term stewardship.”
At the Forum, Project WET also launched the Children’s Water Education Fund to support its new global initiative on Action Education for children.