20 Years of Impact | WaterAid Australia

Externally Published URL

https://www.wateraid.org/au/stories/our-impact

Our Impact

Together with our supporters and partners, we're reaching millions of people around the world with clean water, decent toilets, and good hygiene.

We've been working alongside communities worldwide to reach everyone, everywhere with safe and sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene. We make a bigger impact because we know the power of working together. Our collective efforts with local partners and global allies have meant that millions of people have built better lives and futures.

Together, we’re installing taps, toilets, boreholes and wells. And to make lasting change happen on a massive scale, we:

Convince governments to change laws.
Link policy makers with communities and local partners.
Change attitudes and behaviours.
Pool knowledge and resources.
Rally support from people and organisations around the world.

Global Impact

Since 1981, WaterAid has directly reached

^{WaterAid/Tariq Hawari}

28.9 million

people with clean water

^{WaterAid/Tariq Hawari}

29.2 million

people with decent toilets

^{WaterAid/Dennis Lupenga}

^{WaterAid/Denis Lupenga}

28.7 million

people with good hygiene

Last year we reached

Globally, between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024, WaterAid reached

^{WaterAid/Tariq Hawari}

Access to clean water

685,000 household members

110,000 household members

767,000 patients in healthcare facilities

^{WaterAid/Tariq Hawari}

Improved hygiene

967,000 household members

456,000 household members

1,248,000 patients in healthcare facilities

^{WaterAid/Dennis Lupenga}

^{WaterAid/Denis Lupenga}

Improved Sanitation

267,000 household members

136,000 household members

941,000 patients in healthcare facilities

WaterAid Australia's impact across 2023-24 has included...

^{WaterAid/Tariq Hawari}

^{WaterAid/Tariq Hawari}

We continued our work to improve WASH facilities in Cambodian factories, benefitting 17,837 workers, mostly women, and reaching 26,047 workers with activities to change WASH behaviours.

WaterAid worked with factory management across three
factories to provide recommendations for improved WASH conditions. As a result, these factories have upgraded access to clean drinking water, provided reusable drink bottles for workers to encourage hydration and reduce plastic wastage, expanded the number of toilets available to workers to meet minimum standards, and provided facilities for safe and dignified menstrual hygiene management.

WaterAid also delivered WASH awareness and behaviour
change programs, including training factory
line managers to become team champions on WASH topics.
Line managers have in turn run training and competitions
within their teams to share the messages further, including to workers’ families and communities.

We worked with partners to address water security and climate challenges in Timor-Leste by rehabilitating, protecting, and revitalising community water resources.

Throughout the communities, we found the biggest impacts of our work to be:

1. Improved understanding of water resource management
2. Improved availability of water, including in the dry season
3. Strengthened understanding of how village-level Tara Bandu laws can build community ownership and commitment to water resource management
4. Strengthened coordination between village and municipal actors.

In the past year alone, the solutions brought about by the project have reached a total of 4,227 people with improved water resource management, including by planting trees, creating retention ponds, and constructing terraces.

^{WaterAid/Timor-Leste}

^{WaterAid/Timor-Leste}

We have been working closely with the Department of National Planning and Monitoring in Papua New Guinea to introduce its first WASH Management Information System (MIS).

We delivered a series of regional training sessions to public servants, with the aim to support government decision makers to invest in effective monitoring and form long term planning processes to guide service delivery, effectively prioritise underserved communities, allocate more financial resources and improve services through better infrastructure.

Through the program, 203 senior public servants from 52 districts received training, which contributed to mobilising over AUD$3 million in public funds from national and subnational government, for districts to undertake large scale data collection and work towards improved water, sanitation and hygiene service delivery in the future!

We first met Noilia from Timor-Leste when she was just eight years old, all the way back in 2013. At the time, our teams had just finished installing taps with flowing clean water in her community. Noilia's family had clean water close to home for the first time, opening up a world of possibilities for her future.

Last year, we were lucky enough to travel back to that community to visit Noilia again. It was truly remarkable to see the difference clean water had made on her life, and the lives of others in her community.

Local expertise for local solutions.

We know that to make long term change on a massive scale, you need solutions tailored to local contexts. That's why we've worked with local partners, including NGOs, governments and private utility companies, to help create lasting change in their communities.

Phai Camroeun, Cambodia

With support from WaterAid, Phai Camroeun has become an advocate for WASH (Water, Sanitation, Hygiene) in her district. She trains leaders, raises awareness in the community, and educates households on WASH issues.

Mana Esmenia, Timor-Leste

WaterAid works with Mana Esmenia to strengthen the WASH (Water, Sanitation, Hygiene) sector in Timor-Leste through gender equality and social inclusion.

Meach Soutieng, Cambodia.

WaterAid works with Meach Soutieng to support her business as a private water operator in Cambodia. By providing skills training and capacity building the company now supplies a growing number of communities.