Gemma Bulos

organization overview

A Single Drop for Safe Water and Single Drop Consultancy Services is two organizations working together for a single vision ” Empowered communities taking responsibility to improve their quality of life and managing their resources and capacities”. Within the Philippines there are still large segments of the population with limited or no access to safe water or sanitation facilities. The program of ASDSW; develops within communities, demand for proper WaSH services as well as an awareness of its responsibilities; developing within government at all levels, mechanisms for transparent and accountable WaSH governance and; to meet this demand for WaSH services, the technical and management capacity of both the community and government built to ensure equitable access to WaSH services can be provided. ASDSW/SDCS uses the same models to guide its delivery of Humanitarian Response services in natural/complex emergencies and the follow up early recovery work. It is also in active partnership with government, UN and INGO’s to improve the delivery of emergency WaSH services, ensuring those with the greatest needs receive help in an effective and dignified manner. To compliment the community/government and emergency work ASDSW/SDCS is also working within the education system to enhance existing government child healthcare programs that concentrate on behavior change of students while building local capacity to support or build facilities. As well as government education systems, non-government programs such as Muslim daycares are also covered. To change the paradigm, ASDSW uses SDCS to supply expertise to implement successful programs on the ground. It collaborates with other stakeholders within the sector to further enhance its programs and increase scale of impact and is now starting to use the models, gather and analyze data so as to advocate with government and non-government agencies to change from the traditional water/sanitation implementation model to a more sustainable long term service delivery model.

Personal Bio

Gemma is the founder of She Builds Power, equipping women across Africa to lead transformative solutions in clean water, sanitation, food security, and financial resilience. By turning basic needs into tools for power-building, SBP creates an ecosystem where women move from survival to sovereignty—gaining agency, influence, and autonomy.

Her journey began with a song she wrote called ‘We Rise’ in response to 9/11. It sparked a global peace movement called the Million Voice Choir–it’s main theme, ‘a single drop starts a wave”. That wave united groups in over 100 cities in 60 countries to join the ‘choir’ and ultimately, launched her lifelong mission to mobilize people around bold ideas and shared purpose.

Gemma has reinvented herself many times—from preschool teacher to movement builder, social entrepreneur, educator, filmmaker, and music producer—earning accolades at every turn, including from Ernst & Young, United Nations, and the World Economic Forum.

She’s taught at Stanford and coached hundreds of social impact startups across five continents, always championing underestimated voices and turning lived experience into impact—and local challenges into collective power.