Since 2009, Designmatters’ Safe Agua initiative has offered students the unique opportunity to explore the role of designing with purpose and for resilience with families living in informal settlements in Chile, Peru and Colombia, to address critical water and sanitation issues. Structured as a transdisciplinary studio open to all majors, Safe Agua has been carried out through collaborations with NGOs such as TECHO (Un Techo para mi Pais) and SOCIALAB. A new partner specific to the Safe Agua Colombia project, Compartamos con Colombia, will help further develop the design outcomes into market-based opportunities for the community of Altos del Pino. Despite all the good endeavors in the area of “water poverty” throughout the world, barriers to progress remain. A key component of this specific project is the addition of adding design expertise around systems and services, as well as new products. There are different cultural aspects to all three locations, but all still brought together through the similarities in the design process for social impact and working towards implementation.