"I am learning to repair the pump. Godfrey has been taught and he is now teaching me to look after the pump too. Soon I will be able to look after this pump on my own if I need to."
WaterAid concentrate their efforts in three main areas; Water, Sanitation and Hygiene that most of us take for granted. The statistics here are quite shocking. 768 million people do not have access to clean water, 2.5 billion people do not have access to adequate sanitation and around 700,000 children die every year from diarrhoea caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation - that's almost 2,000 children a day. At any given time, nearly half the people in the developing world are suffering from one or more of the main diseases associated with dirty water and inadequate sanitation such as diarrhoea, guinea worm, trachoma and schistosomiasis. WaterAid works together with the poorest and most marginalised communities to set up practical and sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene projects that meet their real needs. Hardware, such as taps and latrines, is always backed up by the promotion of good hygiene behaviour, making sure that the health benefits of safe water and sanitation are maximised.
WaterAid work with these local partners to ensure capacity and skills are developed at a local level:
- Local non-governmental organisations (NGOs)
- Local and national government departments
- Private utility companies
WaterAid invests in their local partner organisations to enable them to deliver their project work. They typically provide financial support, training and technical advice as well as help with planning, budgeting and institutional development.
As partners grow stronger they become less reliant on WaterAid's technical and financial support and can seek funds from other sources. When this happens, WaterAid will often start working with newer or less well-established partners and so the cycle of training and development continues.
