Our Impact
Meet the people we empower
More than 43 million people in Africa, Asia, and Latin America now have access to safe water and sanitation at home, and greater resilience to COVID-19 and other diseases.
Read their stories to see how, together, we have transformed lives.
Latin America
Peru
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Queen of the hills
Joinab introduces herself as the “queen of the hills” and rightfully so as she has conquered her family’s water crisis high in the hills of Chittagong, Bangladesh.
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Access to sanitation brings comfort and safety
Andrea lives in Brazil. She provides for her family’s necessities like food and shelter, but beyond those things, she has not been in a financial position to save enough money to improve her family’s sanitation situation. Read how a small, affordable loan changed this.
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Giving babies a healthy start with water
For Sophon, there was nothing beautiful about the water-related burdens she endured much of her life in rural Cambodia. She wanted to end those burdens for her son.
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It's time for school
Water makes time for school possible for kids in Rasulpur and around the world. When kids have access to safe water at home they can walk to school instead of walk to collect water.
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Mumina's family still has access to safe water
When she’s not sewing to support her family's income, Mumina gardens a small vegetable bed, launders clothing, and cares for her children. This life—time to sew, water for clean laundry and fresh food, Mumina’s happiness—it is made possible by access to safe water. Something Mumina has known for a few years now, but at one time, she thought was impossible.
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Leah's family has safe water at home now
Leah lives in a rural village about an hour from Nairobi. She was once one of the millions who rely on unimproved water sources to survive. Read her story.
Impact Story Coming Soon
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Nelly's heart
Water is a smart investment. The best investment the world can make to reduce disease, increase income, keep kids in school, and change lives. Nelly believed this to be true, and now she knows it for a fact. Thanks to Water.org’s smart solution known as WaterCredit, the hardworking, loving, single mom who wanted to give her family safe water and a better life was able to do it.
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Elma
Elma’s courage gave her the strength to choose smiles over tears, to choose love over pain, and to champion safe water for her family, even when the battle seemed impossible.
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Obwiri
When COVID-19 reached Obwiri’s community, she had increasing concerns about her family’s sanitation situation. Read about how a small loan empowered her to solve her family's water and sanitation crisis at a critical time.
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Health and hope are flowing
Namulondo is a hardworking health assistant at a local hospital and a loving single mom who has dedicated her life to caring for her children. A small, affordable loan helped Namulondo pay for a rain storage tank, providing her family with enough water for several months.
We work in 11 countries on four continents
In 11 countries on four continents around the world, we are turning your generosity into opportunity.
Learn more about where we work and why.
Our solutions break down financial barriers and help people get safe water at home
For millions around the world, access to funds stands between them and safe water and sanitation in their home. Water.org offers a portfolio of smart solutions that break down the financial barriers between people living in poverty and access to safe water and sanitation.
Our solutions are working! More than half of our total impact — 20 million people — was achieved in the past three years.
Accelerating impact in three ways
Partnering directly with institutions that serve people living in poverty
We partner with local financial institutions by providing technical assistance, connections and small grants, where needed, so they can provide small, affordable loans to people in need of water and sanitation at home. We also partner with water and sanitation providers to enhance their capacity to obtain financing and improve service delivery for their customers.
Expanding partnerships to accelerate access
We work with partners across sectors, including water and sanitation and financial services, and other international development organizations to expand access to affordable financing for water and sanitation. We provide technical assistance, share best practices, and collaborate with stakeholders so they can develop, implement and scale effective solutions.
Strengthening the environment for water and sanitation solutions at a systems level
We work with governments, sector institutions, and other partners at a systems-level to influence public policy and practice changes that increase the flow of capital for household water and sanitation solutions.
We serve people living in poverty
Our solutions resonate with people living in poverty — specifically people who have enough income potential to take out a water or sanitation loan, but who often cannot access the funds at an affordable rate or pay for facilities and services upfront.
Millions of people who live in the countries where we work live on less than $3.73 a day and spend significant portions of their income to buy water. These are the people we work every day to empower.
The global water crisis affects billions of people
Today, 1 in 10 people lack access to safe water and 1 in 4 people lack access to a toilet. We give our everything every day to change this because we believe in the power of water. Access to safe water and sanitation can quickly turn problems into potential – empowering people with time for school and work, and contributing to improved health for women, children, and families around the world.
We will achieve our vision of safe water and sanitation for all by continuing to unlock more funding than what is currently dedicated to help solve the global water crisis — removing the financial barriers that stand between people in need and access to safe water and sanitation at home.
$25 helps one family get access to safe water.
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