Water Aid works in 23 countries in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, with a total of 606 staff. Its mission is to ‘transform lives by improving access to safe water, hygiene and sanitation in the world’s poorest communities’
To give you an idea of what water aid does – watch this video
According to this 2010-11 annual review – Last year they spent about £50 million – of which £32 million went to water and sanitation delivery service, £11 million on fundraising and £6 million on governance. You might criticise the £11 million on fundraising, but given that nearly 3/4 of their income comes from donations (the rest mainly from grants – which still need to be chased) – one imagines that without this, they’d have considerably less to work with…
The stats really add up – Last year Water Aid helped 1.5 million people gain access to clean water, and improved sanitation for 1.6 million people.
I think this type of aid is crucial – the UN recognises the importance of aid for clean water and to improve sanitation – A few facts to further convince you….
- Diarrhoeal diseases are the leading cause of infant mortality and morbidity in low income countries – and the second leading cause of death overall
- 5000 children die a day from Diarrhoeal diseases
- If you look at worldometers – you’ll notice the numbers of people without access to clean water are going down! Partly thanks to the work of water aid –