Ending the water, sanitation and hygiene crisis together – for everyone, everywhere
We will be bolder and work differently to end the water, sanitation and hygiene crisis for good.
Here’s our strategy for the next decade.
With clean water, decent
toilets and good hygiene,
people can live a full
and healthy life.
This is why our vision is of
a world where everyone,
everywhere has these
three essentials.
A world where...
No woman is forced to waste her time walking and queuing to collect water.
No girl is excluded
from a better future
because her school
doesn’t have working
toilets that lock.
No community is held back by an endless cycle of sickness from dirty water, or poor sanitation and hygiene.
No one lives in fear
that a changing
climate will mean
a thirsty tomorrow.
Everyone can live a
dignified and fulfilling
life, with the fortunes
brought by clean water,
decent toilets and
good hygiene.
We are WaterAid and we exist for this purpose alone.
Matta, 9, plays with clean water from a pump in Tombohuaun, Sierra Leone, May 2017. (WaterAid/Joey Lawrence)
Matta, 9, plays with clean water from a pump in Tombohuaun, Sierra Leone, May 2017. (WaterAid/Joey Lawrence)
Despite collective achievements over the last two decades, global progress towards this vision is shamefully slow.
One in ten people still don’t have even a basic supply of clean water close to home.
Bintu Nasiru, 50, fetches water from the stream in Kissa community, Nigeria. February 2021. (WaterAid/Etinosa Yvonne)
Bintu Nasiru, 50, fetches water from the stream in Kissa community, Nigeria. February 2021. (WaterAid/Etinosa Yvonne)
One in five don’t have a decent toilet.
Jamila Begum, 35, in front of her toilet on the bank of river Rupsha in Khulna, Bangladesh. August 2020. (WaterAid/DRIK/Habibul Haque)
Jamila Begum, 35, in front of her toilet on the bank of river Rupsha in Khulna, Bangladesh. August 2020. (WaterAid/DRIK/Habibul Haque)
Nearly a third can’t wash their hands with soap at home.
Alex washes his hands using a tippy tap, La Guajira. Colombia. January 2021. (WaterAid/Keoma Zec)
Alex washes his hands using a tippy tap, La Guajira. Colombia. January 2021. (WaterAid/Keoma Zec)
One child under the age of five dies every two minutes because of these failings.
The clock is ticking.
We need to re-evaluate, refocus and work together to help end the water, sanitation and hygiene crisis, forever.
For everyone.
No excuses.
Girls play and sing together in Miangaly village, Madagascar. May 2018. (WaterAid/Ernest Randriarimalala)
Girls play and sing together in Miangaly village, Madagascar. May 2018. (WaterAid/Ernest Randriarimalala)
We are making a huge step change in our ambition and approach over the next decade.
Over the years, WaterAid and our partners have transformed the lives of tens of millions of people through clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene.
Over the next 10 years, we will reach hundreds of millions more, bringing closer the day when everyone, everywhere has sustainable access to these essentials.
We will focus on the people who are most affected, particularly women and girls and those who are often excluded from water and sanitation services.
This is how.
Safe and sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene
Many people still live without clean water and decent toilets because those with the power to deliver these services have not thought it important enough.
We will work with others – across whole districts, towns and regions – to strengthen the systems that bring reliable and safe water and sanitation services, and make good hygiene habits part of everyday life. This way, there will be clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene in every house, every school and every health centre.
Muluken Wondirad, utility manager of Debre Tabor Water, assesses the water pipe network map, Amhara, Ethiopia. August 2018. (WaterAid/Behailu Shiferaw)
Muluken Wondirad, utility manager of Debre Tabor Water, assesses the water pipe network map, Amhara, Ethiopia. August 2018. (WaterAid/Behailu Shiferaw)
We will strive for women and girls to be a central part of decision making and leadership within the water and sanitation sector, at all levels, so their voices are heard and their needs are met.
Husne Ara Begum speaks during a group counselling session, set up to bring awareness of various aspects of personal hygiene in Sunamganj Tahirpur, Bangladesh. October 2019. (WaterAid/Tapas Paul)
Husne Ara Begum speaks during a group counselling session, set up to bring awareness of various aspects of personal hygiene in Sunamganj Tahirpur, Bangladesh. October 2019. (WaterAid/Tapas Paul)
We will share our experiences of what works and what doesn’t, and how people’s lives are improved when they have a decent toilet and a source of clean water they can rely on.
We believe that consistently demonstrating how this can be done is key to convincing decision makers to prioritise and accelerate action to deliver these essentials.
In Lahan, Nepal, a collective effort is creating reliable and sustainable 24/7 water supply and sanitation services for the whole city – that's more then 90,000 people.
Co-funded by the Nepalese government, the Beacon Project brings together Anglian water employees, the Nepal Water Supply Corporation, the local government and experts from different countries.
I feel good about being a part of the water supply corporation. Serving water to the community is considered as a very good endeavour in our culture. The satisfaction of the customers is the best motivation. If they are happy, I feel encouraged to work in an even better way.
We’re all working together to help change whole communities for the better. Now, the government is using the lessons learnt from the project to bring water, sanitation and hygiene to other towns and cities across Nepal.
Over the next decade, we want to see these same changes in hundreds of towns, districts and regions around the world.
Image: WaterAid/Mani Karmacharya
Health
Sustainable and safe water, sanitation and hygiene are the foundations of good health and quality healthcare. Yet progress remains slow.
Today, 1.8 billion people are treated in a healthcare facility without clean water. This puts staff and patients at risk of infection and disease.
Dirty water is used to wash medical equipment at Mulotana Health Centre in Mozambique before a rainwater harvesting tank was installed at the clinic. October 2016. (WaterAid/Sam James)
Dirty water is used to wash medical equipment at Mulotana Health Centre in Mozambique before a rainwater harvesting tank was installed at the clinic. October 2016. (WaterAid/Sam James)
Our work will make it unthinkable for any health ministry to leave a healthcare facility without water, sanitation and hygiene – no matter how small or remote.
We will work within the health sector to find solutions and demonstrate how crucial these services are for public health. We will encourage governments to invest in these essentials for every healthcare facility.
Madhubala Awasti, head nurse, washes her hands after assisting patients at a community health centre in Uttar Pradesh, India. June 2021. (WaterAid/Anindito Mukherjee)
Madhubala Awasti, head nurse, washes her hands after assisting patients at a community health centre in Uttar Pradesh, India. June 2021. (WaterAid/Anindito Mukherjee)
We will also work with national health departments to re-prioritise innovative hygiene behaviour change programmes, champion the health and needs of women and girls, and make handwashing with soap a part of everyday life, for everyone.
The Nkome dispensary in the Geita region of Tanzania was once like most other healthcare facilities in the area – struggling to care for patients without a reliable source of clean water. Doctors and nurses had to fetch water from a rainwater harvesting tank 100 metres away, which often ran dangerously low during the dry season.
Working with the Tanzanian government and our local partners, WaterAid installed a large underground water harvesting tank, connected to a solar pump, to supply the clinic with tap water all year round.
We need water to clean anything in order to stop the transmission of infections. We use water from the taps at the dispensary and it is available all the time. There is enough water for all our needs. It makes me feel happy to come to work here every day now these services are available.
WaterAid will use these changes at Nkome dispensary to promote the benefits to whole communities and health systems of having sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene services in healthcare facilities.
Image: WaterAid/James Kiyimba
Climate change
Climate change makes life harder for those who already struggle to access clean water and decent toilets. We will work with communities to make sure they have a reliable source of clean water and a sanitation service that functions through floods, storms and droughts, so they can protect themselves from an uncertain future.
Mariam Sogoba, 55, and the Benkadi women’s group are now more resilient to the impacts of climate change thanks to the construction of sustainable and safe water points in Kakounouso Village, Mali. February 2019. (WaterAid/Basile Ouedraogo)
Mariam Sogoba, 55, and the Benkadi women’s group are now more resilient to the impacts of climate change thanks to the construction of sustainable and safe water points in Kakounouso Village, Mali. February 2019. (WaterAid/Basile Ouedraogo)
We will also work with others to make sure every country in which we operate has the plans and money to create gender-responsive and socially inclusive water and sanitation systems that will withstand the effects of climate change – now and in the future.
The residents of the village of Dundass, in the Zinder district of Niger, have seen their world change over the last decades as water becomes scarcer and trees disappear from the landscape.
To protect the community against the growing impact of climate change, WaterAid has worked with its partners on a disaster risk reduction strategy that monitors water levels and makes sure it is available to the community all year round.
Ali Sabo, pictured right, is part of a volunteer group that keeps an eye on the amount of water available, taking surveys whenever it rains. The group tallies the readings at the end of each month to compare them to the previous year and show the findings to local technical agencies and the community.
When we present the water monitoring data, many people understand that climate change is real, and they ask for advice to adapt. People are advised to not waste water and use improved fertilisers and seeds that mature quickly. However, this is the beginning and there is still a lot of work to be done.
This invaluable information helps communities make decisions about how to use the water available to them and plan for times of shortage. It also helps governments and researchers better understand how climate change affects people’s lives, and how they can take preventative action.
Image: WaterAid/Basile Ouedraogo
Finance
A lack of money and how it is used is one of the biggest barriers to progress. We will work with governments, donors and the private sector to unlock significant funding for clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene – locally, nationally and globally.
We will ensure funding for water, sanitation and hygiene is used efficiently and transparently, and in a way that prioritises women, girls and others facing marginalisation.
Mickson Jakalasi collects water from an accessible water point at Simulemba Health Centre in Kasungu, Malawi. July 2018. (WaterAid/Dennis Lupenga)
Mickson Jakalasi collects water from an accessible water point at Simulemba Health Centre in Kasungu, Malawi. July 2018. (WaterAid/Dennis Lupenga)
Working together, investors and governments will know that their funds will be spent well, and that investing in water, sanitation and hygiene brings great returns to economies and whole communities.
Through the Resilient Water Accelerator, we are working with global investment funds, banks and climate change experts to ensure that more money given to help people adapt to the climate crisis is spent on water and sanitation services.
Together, we will work to convince some of the world’s biggest investors to put money into well-planned schemes that reach everyone – not just those with power and wealth.
Climate change means more floods, more droughts and more severe storms and dramatically increases the risks to communities that already do not know from one day to the next whether they will get enough clean water for their basic needs. This initiative aims to reach 50 million people, in some of the world’s most marginalised communities, with reliable and sustainable water services, by 2030.
Image: Fatimata Coulibaly, a member of the Benkadi women's group, oversees the management of the water tower’s meter in Kakounouso, Mali. February 2019. (WaterAid/Basile Ouedraogo)
We know that it is possible for everyone, everywhere to have clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene, forever.
We will call on others – from individual supporters to the biggest of global entities – to play their part in bringing an end to the water, sanitation and hygiene crisis.
We will push those with power to act – and we will call out a lack of progress.
We are working with determination, passion and focus towards a day when our work is no longer needed.
Will you join us?
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