Organisation

The WaterAid story

Read the full WaterAid Australia story ( PDF 129Kb)

In 2003 WaterAid Australia was established by a number of Australian water companies and international aid organisations modelled on the UK based WaterAid charity.

The history of WaterAid Australia traces the development of new collaboration between the water industry in Australia and the international aid sector, helped along by support from WaterAid in the UK.

Credit: Martin Argles

The result is an organisation which reflects an innovative partnership dedicated to mobilising support from a broad cross section of the Australian community for the provision of basic water and sanitation services to communities in need around the world.

The rapid growth of WaterAid Australia is unprecedented in the establishment of aid organisations in Australia. Begun as an idea in 2002, developed as a proposal in 2003 and established in 2004, WaterAid Australia was a fully operational organisation with a turnover of more than $1million per year by 2005-2006.

This growth reflects the goodwill and commitment of many people and the development of strong partnership foundations between the water industry and the international aid sector, and between WaterAid Australia and WaterAid in the UK.

Partners include those organisations represented on the Board plus a number of others including the Victorian Water Industry Association, aid agency TEAR Australia and WaterAid.

Grant Hill founded and chaired the Steering Committee that pursued the formation of a water industry charity from October 2002. The Steering Committee hosted a round of consultations with industry representatives in April 2003 commencing at the Ozwater Conference.

The feedback from the consultations agreed the establishment of the new organisation. After receiving expressions of interests from industry representatives the Steering Committee selected an Interim Board. This Board held its inaugural meeting on the 4 of July 2003.

The Board embodies the partnership endorsed by the industry in the April 2003 consultations.

There are seven members from industry, three from the overseas aid sector and a member invited for their specialist expertise. The constitution specifies that the Board will always have a clear majority of water industry representation.

Annual report

Click on the links below to download WaterAid Australia's annual reports.

2007 Annual report ( PDF 1.3Mb)

2006 Annual report ( PDF 2.6Mb) 

2005 Annual report ( PDF 702Kb)

2004 Annual report ( PDF 1.3Mb)

Code of conduct

As a signatory to the Australian Council for Internationals Development (ACFID) Code of Conduct, we are committed to high standards in financial reporting =, management and ethical practice. Further information on the code and its complaints handling procedure is available at www.acfid.asn.au.