Whitman Direct Action (WDA) is a nonprofit, open source, student-run organization from Whitman College (Walla Walla, Washington) that is dedicated to helping marginalized people by promoting economically and environmentally sustainable community development.

The current project of WDA is the Sadhana Clean Water Project in rural India. WDA aims to explore possible strategies with local non-profit organizations and community members to improve their access to clean water.

“Whitman Direct Action strives to also be the first ever open-source organization! Following the tenets of the open-source software movement, we’re aiming to put all of our information online, license it under Creative Commons, and encourage others to easily re-create the structure of our organization and the projects we do.”

The Sadhana Clean Water Project is a combination of the Appropriate Technology Study Group, the Safe and Sustainable Water Conference (being hosted on March 19, 2008 at the Nehru Science Center in Mumbai, India), and a Water Book uniting the information.

WDA’s Appropriate Technology Study Group, in partnership with Sadhana Village and Madhindra United World College of India, seeks to understand the cultural, social and religious barriers to appropriate technology. A collaborative report will help NGO’s who are working in India by compiling water project case studies and other information on water related issues.

WDA states 226 million people in India do not have access to clean water, and the demand for water is expected to double by 2025.

Past projects of WDA include a Build-A-House Project in Nicaragua(2005) and the Central American Biodiesel Project (2006) in Honduras and Nicaragua (helping marginalized communities grow and produce their own fuel).

Donation, volunteer and other information is available on their website.