Our work

1. What is WaterAid?

2. What does WaterAid do?

3. Why water, sanitation and improved hygiene?

4. What are the aims of WaterAid's new Global strategy for 2009-15?

5. Does WaterAid carry out emergency work?

6. Where does WaterAid work?

7. Why do you work where you work?

8. There are other countries which need water and sanitation too. Why doesn't WaterAid work there?

9. Does WaterAid work with other organisations?

10. Do you carry out work with governments?

11. Why can't governments with considerable revenues from things like oil and trade afford to supply water and sanitation to their own people?

12. In democratic countries, why don't people demand better services from their government?

13. What has WaterAid done over the last year that has made a genuine difference?

14. Why do people in Africa and Asia have to contribute to their projects?

15. Isn't the real problem population growth?

1. What is WaterAid?

WaterAid is an international non governmental organisation focused exclusively on improving poor people’s access to safe water, hygiene and sanitation. We work in Africa, Asia and the Pacific region and campaign globally with our partners to realise our vision of a world where everyone has access to these basic human needs.

2. What does WaterAid do?

WaterAid enables the world’s poorest people to gain access to safe water and sanitation. Together with improved hygiene, these basic human rights underpin health, education and livelihoods, forming the first, essential step in overcoming poverty.

We work with local partners, who understand local issues, and provide them with the skills and support to help communities set up and manage practical and sustainable projects that meet their real needs.

We also work locally and internationally to change policy and practice and ensure water, hygiene and sanitation’s vital role in reducing poverty is recognised.

Find out more about what we do
Find out more about our technologies 

3. Why water, sanitation and improved hygiene?

Water and sanitation are human rights, vital to reducing poverty around the world. Together with good hygiene these essential services are the building blocks for all other development - improving health, education and livelihoods.

WaterAid and its partners are committed to working towards the Millennium Development Goals to halve the proportions of people living in poverty around the world by 2015. If the specific targets relating to water, hygiene and sanitation are missed progress on the other goals will stall. Improvements in water and sanitation reduce illness and deaths and free up time spent collecting water or incapacitated through sickness for education and other economic and social development.

4. What are the aims of WaterAid’s new Global strategy for 2009-2015?

WaterAid’s Global strategy, which was launched in October 2009, has four key aims:

1. To promote and secure poor people's rights and access to safe water, improved hygiene and sanitation
   
2. To support governments and service providers in developing their capacity to deliver safe water, improved hygiene and sanitation
3. To advocate for the essential role of safe water, improved hygiene and sanitation in human development
4. To further develop as an effective global organisation recognised as a leader in our field and for living our values

The new strategy underlines the importance of focusing more attention on developing new and innovative solutions to urban challenges, on prioritising sanitation and addressing water security. We will increase our emphasis on equity and inclusion, seeking to ensure our programmes reach the most marginalised and vulnerable people. We aim to significantly increase our income, with the aim of raising £100 million a year by 2015, and to expand operations from 17 to 30 countries by 2015.

The strategy recognises how working in partnership with others, particularly governments, is key to maximising our impact.  In everything we do, we will seek to influence decision makers at all levels to prioritise water and sanitation in their plans to reduce poverty by providing evidence of their essential importance to health, education and livelihoods.

Download a copy of WaterAid’s new strategy or watch a film about it.

5. Does WaterAid carry out emergency work?

WaterAid is principally a development organisation, working with communities on long-term solutions to water and sanitation problems. However, in the places where we work, we endeavour to respond to natural disasters and other emergencies where we can make a useful contribution, especially in protecting or restoring vital water and sanitation services for poor people.

If you would like to make a donation to our current emergency appeal relating to the the latest flooding in Pakistan's Sindh province, please click here.

6. Where does WaterAid work?

WaterAid currently works in 26 of the world's poorest countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific region. These countries are Angola, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Lesotho, Liberia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia in Africa; Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan in Asia. In addition, WaterAid in Australia has three country programmes in Laos, Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste in the Pacific region.

Over the next five years, we will gradually expand operations to other countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and the Pacific region, as well as investigating the potential to work in Latin America and the Caribbean. We aim to be working in 30 developing countries by 2015, as well as supporting networks in many more.

Read about WaterAid's new country programmes. 

 

7. Why do you work where you do?

The countries where we work are selected based on the following criteria:

• There is potential for WaterAid’s work to be effective and have a long-term positive impact.
• The country lies at the lower end of the United Nations Development Programme Human Development Index, or has pockets of extreme poverty, and a significant part of the population in the country lacks access to water and sanitation.
• There is an opportunity for WaterAid’s work to be coordinated with, and add value to, that of others.
• There is potential for us to influence other organisations to improve access to safe water and sanitation.
• There is an opportunity for WaterAid to widen our experience and knowledge,
  giving us greater credibility to influence global change.

8. There are other countries which need water and sanitation too. Why doesn't WaterAid work there?

We have just expanded operations from 17 to 26 countries and have plans for significant further expansion over the next five years. Our aims are that by 2015 we will be working in a total of 30 countries by 2015 and that 25 million more people will have access to safe water, be practising good hygiene and have improved sanitation services as a result of our investment in partner organisations.  

As the scale of the global water and sanitation problem is so vast, we are unable to reach everyone who needs support. However, through our global advocacy work we aim to change policies and practices around the world that impact upon people's access to water and sanitation. We aim for our influencing work to contribute to 100 million more people having safe water, improved hygiene and sanitation by 2015.

9. Does WaterAid work with other organisations?

We are continuously seeking ways of working in partnership with others so that our work has as much impact as possible. This is why we work with local organisations, through the structure put in place by country governments. In 2009/10, WaterAid funded over 400 partners: a portfolio of national and local governments, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), networks, research and academic institutions and community-based organisations, among others. We built their capacity to be more effective in service delivery and in advocacy and campaigning.

As local governments in many of the countries in which we work have been given the responsibility, but not the skills or resources, to develop water and sanitation in their regions, WaterAid has plans to work more closely with them in the coming years to develop their capacity to carry out their work effectively.

We also work with other international NGOs, research institutes and alliances on our campaigns, reports and advocacy work – both in the countries where we work and internationally.

We are also a founding member of the End Water Poverty campaign, a coalition of like-minded organisations calling for water and sanitation for all. Find out more. 

10. Do you carry out work with governments?

WaterAid does work with many different levels of government in many different ways.

We receive government funding for our programmes, including from the UK Government’s Department for International Development, the Big Lottery Fund, the Dutch Lottery and the EC.

For examples of our work with governments see the Annual Report.

11. Why can't governments with considerable revenues from things like oil and trade afford to supply water and sanitation to their own people?

WaterAid believes that governments should fulfil their responsibilities to provide basic human rights like water and sanitation to all of their citizens. However, among national governments and across the aid sector, water and sanitation are often given a lower priority than other development sectors, such as health and education. This is despite overwhelming evidence of water and sanitation’s fundamental role in helping people to overcome poverty.

WaterAid campaigns with our partners locally and internationally to change governments’ policy and practice. We work with our partners to influence the development agenda on every level and ensure that water, hygiene and sanitation’s vital role in reducing poverty is recognised.

In many of the countries where we work the national government has given responsibility to local governments to provide water and sanitation services. However, many are under-resourced and do not have the skills, capacity or finance to manage this work. We therefore work in partnership with many local governments to help them gain the necessary skills and experience to carry out their work effectively.

For example we map the location of existing water and sanitation facilities to see where facilities are required so that any new work reaches the people who are most in need. We then work with local governments to build their capacity to deliver on their responsibilities to provide these essential services.

12. In democratic countries, why don't people demand better services from their government?

Often, poor people are not made aware of their entitlements to basic services. ‘Citizens’ Action’ is a WaterAid initiative where we work with communities to build awareness of their rights and to facilitate dialogue with those government agencies responsible for delivering it.
 
Read about how WaterAid and local partner DSK have helped squatter communities in Dhaka, Bangladesh gain legal access to safe water supplies.

Also See the Annual Report 

13. What has your charity done over the last year that has made a genuine difference?

In the year 2009/10 WaterAid and its partners helped 924,000 people gain access to safe water and 1.24 million people gain access to sanitation.

For examples of our impact, see the Annual Report.

14. Why do people in Africa and Asia have to contribute to their projects?

Community involvement is vital to the success of our projects. In places where wells or latrines have simply been built without community involvement they will often fall into disrepair as there is nobody there to maintain the services or fix them when they break.

Our projects work around community ownership. In the early project stages we discuss problems and solutions with communities. When they fully understand how poor water, sanitation and hygiene fuel diseases they will want to change their environment themselves.

WaterAid and our partners then help communities to develop the skills to set up, operate and maintain their own water and sanitation facilities and learn about good hygiene. In this way, communities themselves own the projects and will use them properly and maintain them long into the future.

Often, to ensure that the project operates effectively, community members will be asked to contribute to the scheme, either by making regular small payments or contributing at the start of the project. The amounts involved are small, and when people are unable to pay they can often contribute labour or materials instead, or are subsidised by others. The money collected pays for the set up costs and maintenance of projects, and often the salaries of staff, often from the local community, who keep the schemes in good working order.

Often these contributions are significantly less than the communities were paying already for their water, particularly from expensive vendors in urban areas or indeed for medicines for treating the sick. In addition communities with water and sanitation in place often report being better off. Without spending hours each day collecting water women can carry out other work and generate an income and children can go to school.

15. Isn't the real problem population growth?

Currently standing at nearly seven billion, the world’s population is likely to reach nine billion by 2050, with most of the increases taking place in the developing world. Every human being has a right to life and a right to development. There are enough resources in the world for everyone if they are used efficiently and shared equitably. However, uneven distribution of resources and varying rates of population growth mean that in some areas the rate at which renewable water resources are being consumed threatens to exceed the rate at which they can be recharged and reused. The central challenge therefore is not about controlling population growth, but rather promoting social, economic and technological developments necessary to ensure efficient and equitable resource use.

High birth rates can be a symptom of a lack of women’s empowerment. This can be the case if they are not able to choose how many children they have, due, for example, to a lack of education or lack of access to contraceptives. High birth rates can also be a symptom of poverty and underdevelopment. In situations where child mortality is very high people tend to have more children. Poor households also tend to have more children in order help grow food and earn money for the family.

Studies have shown that improvements in women’s rights and economic development are among the most important factors leading to a reduction in population growth. Both of these are contributed to by improved access to water and sanitation, which has been shown to improve girls’ school attendance, to help empower women, and to free up their time for economic activities. The demographic transition model shows how falls in birth rates lagged behind falls in death rates following industrialisation in the USA, Europe and Japan. If the same proves true for developing countries, we can expect a delay of several years before the impact of economic development is seen in terms of reduced population growth.    

WaterAid believes that in the context of the sharing of water resources, everyone has a right of access to safe and affordable drinking water and basic sanitation.  All countries must have a national water resource management plan to enable appropriate allocation of water resources, manage competing claims and ensure all have their basic entitlement to drinking water secured.