From the Chair and Chief Executive
WaterAid started when no other water, sanitation and hygiene focused international NGO existed in our region. We are making substantial progress but now, more than ever, we need your support to continue to change people’s lives for the better.
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are galvanising efforts across the world to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity. When we look at the challenge ahead of us to achieve SDG 6 for universal access to water, sanitation and hygiene, we know huge challenges remain, with 844 million people lacking access to clean water and 2.3 billion people lacking a decent toilet.
Though the challenges and numbers are daunting, they should not be viewed as overwhelming. Together with our partners, WaterAid is making a difference. This annual report shows you how, through our collective efforts, we are making an impact on individual lives like those in Panderi village in TimorLeste. You can also see how our efforts are being scaled up as we work at provincial level such as in Kampong Chhnang in Cambodia. We are also catalysing change at a national level. For example in a number of countries we are working with government agencies to improve the accessibility and usability of water, sanitation and hygiene facilities in health care centres – resulting in services that are safe and desirable for all to use.
A key challenge we face is addressing behaviour change amongst service deliverers and people towards the delivery and use of water, sanitation and hygiene services. A case study from Cambodia shows the creativity and strategy our teams and partners are deploying to address this challenge.
This year has seen us strengthen and sharpen our program focus and priorities. We couldn’t have achieved all that we have without your support and partnership. We are delighted to deepen our engagement with the water industry and we are excited about our new ways of partnering to jointly address the vision of the SDGs in our region.
Our people remain focused on delivering our mission and living the WaterAid values in all they do. We couldn’t ask for more. We remain focused on ensuring that by providing access to water, sanitation and hygiene we can unlock the potential of the most marginalised communities and individuals to break free from poverty and change their lives for good. We couldn’t bring about the changes we have without your support.
This article is an excerpt from our Annual Report 2017/18. You can download the full document here.
