Charitable Partner Spotlight: WaterAid
In honour of World Water Day, this blog post will be the first of a three-part charity partner spotlight series.
According to the World Health Organization and UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme, 3 in 10 people lack access to safe water and 6 in 10 lack safely managed sanitation. This global crisis disproportionately affects women and children. Safe, regular access to water and sanitation is essential not only to the health of a community but also to education and the overall economy.
For our first spotlight we want to introduce you to one of Fill it Forward’s valued charitable partners: WaterAid – an international non-profit organization, determined to make clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene normal for everyone, everywhere.
Since 1981, they have reached 26.4 million people with safe water. Since 2016, they have reached over 24 million people with decent toilets and 16.7 million people with good hygiene. In the past two years alone, they have provided 1.45 million people with safe water and 2.50 million people with good hygiene. Their work, however, does not end with those numbers. WaterAid’s vision is of a world where everyone has access to safe water and sanitation.
Together with local organizations, WaterAid uses practical, sustinable solutions to provide safe water, effective sanitation and hygiene education to the world’s poorest and most marginalized people. It is this integrated combination of water, sanitation and hygiene education that provides maximum health benefits to individuals and communities. In addition to involving local community organizations in every stage of development, WaterAid also works with government departments and some private contractors.
When Fill it Forward was introduced to WaterAid, we knew we had found our fit. Beyond their tremendous mission, we had found a cause and a brand that was meaningful, while authentic to us.
One of the stories that really moved us was when WaterAid started installing toilet facilities at a medical centre in Tanzania; helping to ensure the clinic was able to look after new moms and their babies safely and reduce the threat of water-related diseases and infections. This specific four year clean water initative is focused on addressing maternal, newborn, and child mortality in sub-Saharan Africa. And is something we are extremely proud to help support with our Fill it Forward initiative.
This World Water Day let’s Fill it Forward to help end the world water crisis and bring clean water to communities, where being without safe water is still a daily reality for some 760 million people. Every time you refill and scan your Fill it Forward tag between March 22nd and 29th, Fill it Forward will “double up” and give two cups of clean water to a person in need.
