Your Impact

Every person needs a sustainable supply of clean water: for drinking, washing, cooking and cleaning. It is a basic human right and there are still 750 million people that do not have clean water.

To date, governments, institutions and service providers around the world haven’t done enough to ensure clean water reaches the poorest and most marginalized people leaving millions of people underserved.

In many countries, taps, wells and pipes delivering clean water simply do not exist and even where they do, water supply services are often not affordable or accessible, or aren’t designed to last. With your support, you help to provide access to clean water to people in the poorest communities around the world.

See the transformational impact clean water has had for generations of mothers in a community in Zambia:

Almost one in four people globally – 2 billion – do not have a decent toilet of their own. Access to reliable sanitation is a basic human right that protects people from dangerous diseases and provides dignity.

For girls and women, the lack of toilets also affects their privacy and safety – they often wait until dark to find a quiet place to defecate, which increases the risk of being harassed or even sexually attacked.

Without toilets in schools, children are left to do their necessities out in the open. This makes them vulnerable to diarrheal illnesses and causes them to miss class, holding them back from realizing their full potential. Thanks to supporters like you, more women, children and families have access to decent toilets.

See the incredible difference having access to decent toilets and clean water has had on learners in Simango School in Zambia:

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Good hygiene maximizes the benefits of clean water and reliable toilets, keeping people healthy for generations to come.

Yet, hygiene promotion campaigns, where they exist, often fail to change entrenched practices such as going to the toilet in open areas around the community. They also often don’t address cultural taboos such as menstrual health and hygiene training for young women. And even when people have the knowledge to make positive changes, they often lack soap or access to washing facilities.

Unfortunately, hygiene remains one of the least prioritized areas of development. While it is, in theory, an integrated part of global water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) work, in reality this is often not the case. However, with your support, we are working to improve hygiene through education and access to facilities that promote good hygiene.

Hear a nurse in Malawi explain how critical access to clean water has been for maintaining good hygiene in her community, especially in preventing the spread of COVID-19:

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