Everyone,
Everywhere
2030
WaterAid’s Global Strategy
2015-2020

We are WaterAid
Our vision is a world where everyone, everywhere has safe water, sanitation and hygiene.
Our mission is to transform the lives of the poorest and most marginalised people by improving access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene.
Our values define our culture and unite us across the many countries in which we work. They are at the very heart of WaterAid – who we are, what we do and how we do it.

Respect

Collaboration

We treat everyone with dignity and respect and champion the rights and contribution of all to achieve a fairer world.

We work with others to maximise our impact, respecting diversity and difference in the pursuit of common goals.

Accountability

Innovation

We are accountable to those whose lives we hope to see transformed, to those we work with and to those who support us.

We are creative and agile, always learning, and prepared to take risks to accelerate change.

Courage

Integrity

We are bold and inspiring in our actions and words, and uncompromising in our determination to pursue our mission.

We act with honesty and conviction and our actions are consistent with openness, equality and human rights.

Front cover image: Janett, four, fills up a jerrycan with clean, safe water at the village’s new pump in Bugesera district, Rwanda.
WaterAid/Zute Lightfoot
Back cover image: Four-year-old Andreana (centre) and her friends play at a new waterpoint in Timor-Leste.
WaterAid/Tom Greenwood

Contents
4-7

Introduction

8-11  opportunities
The
and challenges
12-13 Our approach
14-15 How change happens
16-25 Our strategic aims
26-27 
Improving our operations 28-29 
Assessing our performance 30-31 
Developing our organisation 32-33 Where we work

The children of Basbedo gather round the borehole in Burkina Faso.
WaterAid/Andrew McConnell

A woman crosses over a gulley full of rubbish and human waste running through the middle of her community in Kamla Nehru Nagar, India.
WaterAid/Jon Spaull

500,000 children die every year from diseases caused by a lack of safe water, sanitation and hygiene.2

10% of the world’s population lives without safe water to drink.1

One in three

people have no decent toilet.1

5

Introduction
Extreme poverty cannot be eradicated without universal access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene. These basic services are human rights: everyone on our planet needs them to live healthy, dignified and productive lives.

W

hile one billion people have escaped extreme poverty in the last 20 years, at least 10% of the world’s population still live without safe water to drink and one in three people live without a decent toilet.1 As a result, 500,000 children die every year.2
This wholly unacceptable situation causes untold suffering, holding back human and sustainable development. It particularly affects the lives of women, who carry the burden of collecting water and caring for sick children, and the lives of girls who often fail to finish their education because of a lack of toilets in schools.
However, there is now real hope for the future.

The United Nations
Member States are committed to the new
Sustainable Development
Goals which aim to end extreme poverty by 2030 and unite countries around the world in tackling inequality.
WaterAid and our partners in civil society, government and the private sector are committed to seizing this historic opportunity to accelerate transformational change towards our shared vision of universal access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene.
Since being founded by the water industry over 30 years ago, WaterAid has worked alongside partners in some of the poorest and most marginalised communities to reach over 21 million people with safe water and 18 million

with sanitation.3 As the world’s largest civil society organisation focused solely on water, sanitation and hygiene, we have built a deep understanding of the issues that face communities living without these basic services and of the solutions needed.
In this strategy we will focus on both collaboration and challenge as we support communities to call for their rights to water and sanitation, and work with governments and serviceproviders to reach everyone, everywhere with adequate, affordable services. We will also prioritise the promotion of good hygiene behaviour to help stop the spread of deadly diseases and to improve people’s health and living conditions.

Crucially, we will champion universal access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene as fundamental to progress in all areas of sustainable development.
Ending extreme poverty and building a healthier, fairer and more productive world for everyone, particularly women and girls, can only be realised when safe water, sanitation and hygiene are available to all. Our focus will be on catalysing the changes required for this vision to be realised.
Our committed, generous supporters are behind everything we have achieved.
They have supported the evolution of WaterAid from its technical origins to the multi-faceted organisation it is today, focused on long-term lasting change.

Since 2009 our supporters have helped WaterAid and our partners to successfully deliver our previous Global
Strategy: reaching over 10 million people with safe water and 13 million people with sanitation, with a focus on sustainability and reaching the poorest and most marginalised people.3
Our evidence-based policy and campaigns work has influenced and inspired others to reach many millions more.
Our experience gives us the confidence to launch this ambitious new Global
Strategy. Over the next five years to 2020, we will strengthen our partnerships and focus on accelerating progress towards everyone, everywhere having access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene by 2030.

W
 HO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) Report 2014
C
 ommitting to Child Survival: A Promise Renewed - Progress Report 2014,
UNICEF, September 2014.
3
See previous WaterAid Annual Reports at www.wateraid.org/annualreport
1
2

7

Catarina and her granddaughters collect water from a scoop hole near their village of Cuvir Rainha, Niassa, Mozambique.
WaterAid/Panos/Adam Patterson

Karail in Dhaka is the biggest slum in Bangladesh. Our partner works with residents and government to improve access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene.
WaterAid/GMB Akash/Panos

Projected populations by 2030

1.4 billion
Sub-Saharan
Africa

4.9 billion
Asia

716 million
Latin America and Caribbean

9

The opportunities and challenges
Today, more than 750 million people live without safe water and 2.5 billion live without sanitation. However, there is real hope for the future, with countries across the world supporting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which pledge to tackle inequality and eradicate extreme poverty by 2030.

T

he water and sanitation crisis kills 500,000 children every year and costs Sub-Saharan Africa more than the entire continent receives in development aid.
This lack of basic services ruins people’s lives and undermines the possibility of sustainable development.
However, the Sustainable
Development Goals represent an unprecedented opportunity to accelerate progress towards universal access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene.
Realising this ambition will require determination, political will, significant resources and innovation in the face of major global challenges:

R
 apid urbanisation, population growth and economic development present increasing and competing demands for water. Based on current trends, by 2030 the population will be 1.4 billion in Sub-Saharan Africa,
4.9 billion in Asia and
716 million in Latin America and the Caribbean.4 Meeting domestic needs as well as those of agriculture, energy and industry presents complex and competing challenges for water resource management, environmental protection and the treatment of waste.

P
 ublic health depends on safe water, sanitation and good hygiene. Without these services, deadly outbreaks of diseases such as cholera and Ebola are likely to be more prevalent, and the impact of infectious diseases will be exacerbated.
C
 limate change is likely to lead to more frequent unpredictable and extreme weather episodes, with poor people disproportionately affected by floods, droughts and contaminated water.
It will be increasingly important that communities can access climate-resilient water and sanitation facilities and that action is taken to mitigate the impact of disasters.

Financing universal access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene will require a significant increase in public and private funding. It will be essential to target investment where it is most needed and improve coordination with programmes in health, education and the environment.
S
 ocial and economic inequality remains pervasive and is growing, with more of the world’s poorest people now living in middle-income countries.
The right to safe water, sanitation and hygiene is far from being realised, particularly for women.
Governments and their partners have a key role in addressing inequality and in ensuring fairer distribution of resources.

4

S
 ustaining water and sanitation services and good hygiene behaviour is a significant challenge in many developing countries.
More attention needs to be paid by governments and other service providers to skilled management and maintenance of facilities that are appropriate, affordable and accessible.
In addition, the key drivers behind sustained hygiene behaviour change are often overlooked, resulting in poor hygiene practices. 
Against this backdrop,
WaterAid’s strategy is to deliver four interconnected aims to influence change: addressing inequality of access; strengthening sustainable services; integrating water, sanitation and hygiene with other essential areas of sustainable development; and improving hygiene behaviour.

W
 orld Population Prospects: The 2012 Revision, Population Division of the
Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat, 2012.

11

Alizeta Bangre carries a jerrycan of dirty water collected from a partially-dried riverbed in Imbina,
Burkina Faso.
WaterAid/Andrew McConnell

Waterpoint maintenance training for women like Tika Gharti has helped increase female employment and improve sustainability of water services in Bardhya district, Nepal.
WaterAid/GMB Akash

Aid effectiveness principles: Our approach adheres to the internationally agreed principles of development effectiveness: O
 wnership
A
 lignment
H
 armonisation
R
 esults
M
 utual accountability5

13

Our approach
WaterAid believes that achieving universal access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene depends upon identifying and addressing the reasons why the poorest and most marginalised people live without these basic services.

To drive change and deliver lasting results, we work with a wide range of government, civil society and private sector partners.
We analyse the political, economic and social context of the countries and regions where we operate and work with our partners to develop responsive programmes of service delivery, capacity development, research, policy analysis and campaigning designed to influence sustainable transformational change. Our programmes of work promote changes to individuals’ lives and the systems needed for sustainable services.

5

We believe that governments are responsible for creating an environment where public and private investments and civil society can all operate effectively to provide affordable and sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene services. We work with governments and service providers to meet demand affordably and sustainably and with civil society organisations and communities as they call for their rights to safe water, sanitation and hygiene.
People’s demand for safe water needs no encouragement as this precious resource is critical

Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, OECD, 2005.

for daily survival and requires careful management.
However, awareness and demand for sanitation and good hygiene practice may need to be stimulated through hygiene promotion and education.
During the next five years, we will work with existing and new partners in a way that is consistent with established aid effectiveness principles and which demonstrates an integrated, collaborative approach towards achieving universal access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene by 2030.

At a community meeting with the local authority, Naznin Naher joins around 200 other women to express her concerns over the water and sanitation services in
Paikgacha, Khulna, Bangladesh.
WaterAid/Habibul Haque

15

How change happens
To realise the goal of universal access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene, we believe certain conditions need to be in place. Our strategic aims seek to accelerate progress towards our vision of the future, where we will see the following:

Leadership

Equality

Integration

From local to global, from communities to the United
Nations, leaders from across society prioritising access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene, with a particular focus on the rights of the poorest and most marginalised communities.

Governments and other service providers fulfilling their duties to all their citizens and creating adequately-resourced, affordable and efficient water, sanitation and hygiene services.

Key sectors in sustainable development, especially water, health, education, and the environment, integrating universal access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene into their policies and programmes.

Active communities

Sustainability

Communities calling for their rights to safe water and sanitation and holding their leaders to account, as well as practising good hygiene and helping to maintain services.

Service providers having the skills, resources and systems necessary to deliver and maintain permanent water and sanitation services.

Our strategic aims

Sus tai n

y lit a

ces ervi le s ab Eq u Our four aims are based on our assessment of how we can best influence change.

Hy

gi en e

at ion Safe water, sanitation and hygiene for everyone, everywhere by 2030

gr e Int

17

Our strategy is designed to build on a leadership role for WaterAid as we work collaboratively and in partnership with others to drive transformational change towards everyone, everywhere having safe water, sanitation and hygiene by 2030.
Our aims are interconnected and complementary, and will be prioritised and resourced according to the context of the country and locality in which we are working.

Equality
We will tackle and challenge the inequalities that prevent the poorest and most marginalised people from realising their right to safe water, sanitation and hygiene.

Sustainable services
We will support governments and service providers to strengthen the systems and capabilities required to deliver sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene services.

Integration
We will work with others to develop plans and activities that accelerate change by integrating water, sanitation and hygiene into sustainable development.

Hygiene
We will positively influence hygiene behaviour to maximise the benefits of access to safe water and sanitation.

Reduce inequality Aim: We will tackle and challenge the inequalities that prevent the poorest and most marginalised people from realising their right to safe water, sanitation and hygiene.
Reduce inequalities in access
Water and sanitation services and hygiene promotion often fail to reach the poorest and most marginalised people and a lack of access has the greatest impact on the lives of women and girls. Frequently, their rights are overlooked and they miss out on basic services, marginalising and excluding them even further.

Reduce inequalities in distribution of resources
Inadequate and unequal distribution of resources within a country can result in failure to reach those in greatest need.

19

Margaret Among uses a ‘tippy-tap’ to wash her hands outside her wheelchair-accessible latrine in
Bobol village, Amuria, Uganda.
WaterAid/Eliza Deacon

What we will do
Provide evidence of the

underlying causes of inequalities in access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene between and within countries, and influence those responsible for addressing these inequalities.
Work with organisations that promote the rights of women and the poorest and most marginalised people to water, sanitation and hygiene.
Demonstrate gendersensitive and inclusive designs and approaches that meet the diverse needs of marginalised people.

Strengthen sustainable services
Aim: We will support service providers to strengthen the systems and capabilities required to deliver sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene services.
Strengthen systems
Millions of people living in extreme poverty are being failed by systems that cannot ensure sustainable, affordable and accessible water and sanitation services. Sustainable service supply is dependent on good governance, technical expertise, managerial skills and capacity, adequate resources, financial management, appropriate technology, and opportunities for innovation. Governments also have a responsibility to ensure the right enabling environment is in place for investment and accountability.

Strengthen planning
To extend and sustain services to all of their citizens, governments need to be properly resourced to develop robust planning, implementation and monitoring systems as part of their national development plans.

21

WaterAid’s Lucien Damiba
(left) and local government representative Edmond
Ouedrao fit a water-level monitoring device into a borehole in Basbedo,
Burkina Faso.
WaterAid/Andrew McConnell

What we will do
Work with our partners to

develop robust governance, financial, institutional, environmental and technical capacity and systems to reach those who may otherwise miss out, with a particular focus on women and children.
Work in a programmatic way

at community, district, town and city level to invest in our partners to deliver sustainable services, demonstrating effective solutions and encouraging innovation.
Use evidence generated from

our work to influence and inform national strategies and to support the strengthening of planning, implementation and monitoring systems.

Integrate into sustainable development
Aim: We will work with others to develop plans and activities that accelerate change by integrating water, sanitation and hygiene into sustainable development. Integrate water, sanitation and hygiene with poverty eradication work

Good child and maternal health, women’s empowerment, education, nutrition, food security, housing and urban planning require safe water, sanitation and hygiene. Governments are responsible for playing a lead role in ensuring equitable access to domestic water and sanitation in the face of competing demands, and ensuring that good hygiene is promoted.

Integrate water, sanitation and hygiene with water resource and waste management
Sustainable management of shared water resources to improve health and prosperity and to reduce environmental pollution from untreated industrial, agricultural and human waste requires governments, the private sector and civil society to have a common interest in integrated planning and in the delivery of the Sustainable
Development Goals.

23

Nurse Mwamini Fussi sees new mothers and their babies at the Mlali Health Centre in Morogoro, Tanzania, where our partners recently installed a new water supply, latrines, laundry facilities and incinerator.
WaterAid/Eliza Deacon

What we will do
Strengthen our contextual analysis in the countries where we work to identify new partners and opportunities for influencing and accelerating change.
Champion the role of universal access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene and their integration within other sector plans.
Work with governments, civil society and the private sector from local to international level to promote sustainable development and access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene.

Improve hygiene behaviour
Aim: We will positively influence hygiene behaviour to maximise the benefits of access to safe water and sanitation.
Understanding and improving hygiene practices
Good hygiene practices are among the most effective ways to prevent the spread of common diseases.
However, approaches to hygiene promotion have often failed to change entrenched unsafe behaviour, such as open defecation, inadequate disposal of human waste and unhygienic handling of food and water. Changing and sustaining good hygiene behaviour will require new and innovative approaches.

Improve people’s ability to practise good hygiene
Even with awareness of good hygiene, factors such as poorly-designed toilets or a lack of safe water or soap can hold back progress in providing a clean environment and improving people’s health. This particularly affects girls’ and women’s opportunities, health and dignity.

25

A handwashing demonstration during a hygiene education session in Mymenshing,
Bangladesh.
WaterAid/DRIK/Habibul
Haque

What we will do
W
 ork with a range of women’s organisations, health, education, academic and marketing partners to support and deliver effective behaviour change and hygiene campaigns.
W
 ork with partners in governments, public institutions and civil society to promote good hygiene in their work and to ensure suitable water and sanitation facilities.
C
 hampion the development, implementation and monitoring of national hygiene policies, strategies and systems.

Operatives using a
‘gulper’ system to empty a pit latrine in Dar es
Salaam, Tanzania, and then take the waste to a treatment plant to be converted into biogas and fertiliser.
WaterAid/Eliza Deacon

27

Improving our operations
To deliver our four aims this new strategy requires
WaterAid to focus on five key areas.

Influencing
Influencing long-term sustainable change in the provision of safe water, sanitation and hygiene services is integral to everything we do. In this strategic period we will place a greater emphasis on designing our programmes of work to maximise our influence. We will use evidence from our research and our practical experience to influence governments, service providers and institutions to prioritise effective and affordable delivery of safe water, sanitation and hygiene. We will also campaign locally and globally and support civil society to do the same as they carry out their accountability and influencing work.

Sustainability
We will strengthen our capabilities and those of our partners and others to develop systems, leadership, management capacity and technologies

to be sustainable over the long term. We will share our learning and gather evidence and learning from others to improve the effectiveness of our work.

Capacity development
We will support our partners to develop the skills and systems they need to deliver, maintain and advocate for lasting services. We will also help them invest in monitoring, evaluation and research, so that together we can demonstrate what works.

Disaster resilience
WaterAid is not a disaster response agency. However, given the increasing frequency of natural disasters in the areas in which we work, we will assist our partners in developing more resilient water, sanitation and hygiene services. We will also strengthen our capacity to respond to emergencies and natural disasters when these have an impact on water, sanitation and hygiene in the geographical areas in which we are working.

Partnerships
Working collaboratively and in partnerships is fundamental to bringing about lasting change and to the achievement of our four aims.
We will collaborate with and, where appropriate, provide support and resources to many different types of partner organisations from civil society, private sector and government. It is the impact and effectiveness of their work which is fundamental to achieving our vision.

Our environmental commitment We will develop and implement the systems necessary to continuously monitor and improve our ways of working both within our organisation and in our work with our partners, to enhance sustainable development and minimise our environmental impact.

Nurse Fatuma
Mshana weighs a child at the Mlali
Health Centre in Morogoro,
Tanzania.
WaterAid/Eliza Deacon

29

Assessing our performance
WaterAid works in a complex world that demands a coordinated global effort and sustainable local solutions. Assessing our performance is all about learning from our achievements and failures and sharing this with others.

O

ur work contributes to the global effort of many other organisations, and our approach to performance assessment requires a shift in our systems and processes to reflect the interrelated factors that underpin change.
We will draw on internationally-recognised global and national indicators of progress, such as UN and country progress reports and coverage data, to assess progress towards the realisation of everyone’s rights to safe water and sanitation. We will be accountable and respond to feedback on our performance to communities, partners, staff,

supporters, governments and other stakeholders.
At the global level, we will review the relevance and effectiveness of the approaches outlined in this strategy in effecting maximum change. This will enable us to build a more detailed understanding of how we have influenced change in three key areas:
C
 ommitment to safe water and sanitation as a fundamental human right at international, regional and national level.
C
 ollective effort of development partners, government, the private sector and civil society to deliver services that are sustainable.

R
 esource allocation for investments in water supply, sanitation and hygiene services that prioritise the needs of the poorest and most marginalised people.
At the country level, we will develop context-specific strategies and plans and report on the outcomes against national country measures, as well as against our own business and strategic plans.
At the operational level, management will report on progress against agreed plans and budgets.

Our Nicaragua team work with partners to help thousands of people every year to install and maintain rope pumps, rainwater catchment systems and eco-toilets, as well as drill new borehole wells and rehabilitate existing ones.
WaterAid/Rodrigo Cruz

31

Developing our organisation
We will continue to grow as a vibrant global organisation that is committed to upholding our values.
Our working practices will be people-centred and dynamic, drawing strength from our diversity.
We will establish WaterAid in new countries where we believe we can have the most impact towards achieving our mission.

People and culture
To deliver this strategy, we will develop our federated structure, building on our strengths and the great potential of our people.
We will further develop our culture based on our values and invest in leadership, good management, skills development and employee engagement. We will promote diversity on our boards, staff and volunteer teams. We will challenge ourselves to think creatively, innovate and take managed risks in order to further improve our effectiveness.

We will continue to develop our systems and processes to enable our people and partners to deliver what this strategy demands.

Governance
Our boards of governance across our federation will continue to evolve to support the delivery of our strategy. They will reflect the diverse skills and perspectives from across the global organisation.
We will continue to apply the highest principles of global governance and accountability, and will ensure that our work is

guided by the voices of those we serve, our partners and staff.

Growth
We aspire to do as much as we can to contribute to the changes required to realise our vision. Accordingly, we will strive for manageable growth and seek new partnerships and funding that allow us to deliver our country and global plans.
We will not be driven by the availability of funding or numerical targets at the cost of sustainable, quality work that reaches those who are often left behind.

1

4

2

3

8

13

6

Where we work

I

n 2015, WaterAid is working in 37 countries around the world. During this strategy we will be identifying additional countries where we can make a difference across Africa, Asia, the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean.

By 2020, we anticipate working in around 40 countries, transforming many millions more lives with our partners and through our influencing and advocacy work.
As a global organisation we will also continue to work beyond the borders of our operational countries to influence change across the world.

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10

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5

33
26

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28

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30

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31
32

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21
24

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35

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37

15

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14
16

36

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20

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2
3
4
5
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7
8

18

Canada
USA
Nicaragua
UK
Sweden
Burkina Faso
Ghana
Mali

9 Nigeria
10 Liberia
11 Niger
12 Sierra Leone
13 Senegal
14 Madagascar
15 Malawi
16 Mozambique

17 Zambia
18 Lesotho
19 Swaziland
20 South Africa
21 Ethiopia
22 Tanzania
23 Uganda
24 Kenya

25 Rwanda
26 Pakistan
27 Nepal
28 India
29 Bangladesh
30 Myanmar
31 Laos
32 Cambodia

33 Japan
34 Timor-Leste
35  Papua New
Guinea
36 Australia
37 Solomon
Islands

Everyone celebrating in the village of Nyeama, Sierra Leone.
WaterAid/Anna Kari

Help us reach everyone, everywhere with safe water, sanitation and hygiene by 2030.

Find out more at wateraid.org/strategy