We are committed to making a lasting difference to people most in need.
To have the greatest impact, we coordinate activities and make decisions collectively with six other national members of the WaterAid federation: Australia, India, Japan, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
We bring together our different experiences and expertise to build strong connections and stay focused on our vision of a world where everyone has access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). Together, our goal is to advocate for the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially Goal 6, that aims to achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water and sanitation for all.
The SDGs are a set of goals that were adopted in 2015 by all United Nations Member States to be achieved by 2030. They provide a shared blueprint to achieve peace and prosperity for people and for the planet, now and into the future. We have seen that real progress is possible when WASH policies and programs are prioritized in national development together with the necessary funding. But mid-way to the deadline set by the SDGs, there remains much work to be done.
WASH is the foundation for healthy, productive, and inclusive societies and is intrinsically linked to the most serious issues our world is currently facing. Water is at the core of achieving the SDGs, and investments in universal access to WASH services is crucial for effective and sustainable interventions across other SDGs, specifically those of education, health, climate action, and gender equality.
To make lasting change happen on a massive scale we:
- Influence governments to change laws;
- Link national and international policymakers with people on the ground;
- Change attitudes and behaviors;
- Work with others to pool knowledge and resources;
- Rally support from people and organizations around the world.
Our aims for impact
Over the coming decade, with communities, civil society, governments, the private sector and financial institutions, we will focus our efforts in four key areas where we will have the biggest impact:
1. Achieve universal, sustainable and safe access in focused geographic areas to influence wider change.
2. Prioritize WASH across the health sector to improve public health.
3. Strengthen the resilience of WASH to climate change.
4. Increase the quantity and quality of financing
A bold new strategy
We have the commitment, experience, resourcefulness and connections to change millions more lives – until everyone, everywhere has what so many of us take for granted.
We started because no charity like us existed. We’ll end when no charity like us is needed.
In 2017, we changed the way we measured the impact of our work, to provide more transparency about the types of projects we undertake and the end users.
In 2022, WaterAid launched a ten-year Global Strategy Ending the water, sanitation, and hygiene crisis together – for everyone, everywhere, that significantly increases our ambition and strengthens our approach to accelerating progress towards achieving Goal 6 of SDGs.
Instead of measuring our success by the millions of people reached with our service delivery work, we will measure our hundreds of millions of people we reach through systemic change.
And therefore, by 2032, we hope to see:
- 400 million more people with sustainable and safe WASH
- $15 billion more a year for WASH in low-and middle-income countries
Meet Gita from Bangladesh
“As a woman, I want to keep working to empower deprived women to have more control over their lives,” says Gita. “Having my own identity, earning my own income, and not depending on anyone for my needs is very satisfying."
Meet Esther from Uganda
“I’m glad that after the training WaterAid gave us gumboots, surgical and examination gloves, plastic reusable aprons, and face masks, these are very crucial in prevention and control or cross infections when working from one patient to another.”
Statistics
In 2022 to 2023, we reached 2,761,000 people with clean water, 1,876,000 people with decent toilets and 4,709,000 people with good hygiene.
In 2022 to 2023, we reached 2,761,000 people with clean water, 1,876,000 people with decent toilets and 4,709,000 people with good hygiene.
(WaterAid, 2023)
In 2021-22 we helped secure changes to 14 national policies, strategies or standards to benefit people living without water, toilets or good hygiene.
In 2021-22 we helped secure changes to 14 national policies, strategies or standards to benefit people living without water, toilets or good hygiene.
(WaterAid UK, 2022)
Since 1981 we've reached 28.5 million people with clean water and 29 million with decent toilets.
Since 1981 we've reached 28.5 million people with clean water and 29 million with decent toilets.
(WaterAid UK, 2022)