On average, World Vision reaches one new person with clean water every ten seconds.
Every $50 you raise through Team World Vision will transforms a person’s life through clean, safe water.
This year, we are supporting water programs in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Menkao is a largely rural community on the outskirts of the capital city of Kinshasa. The community has few natural springs, and has suffered from a lack of investments in infrastructure. Our goal is to improve the lives of 13,834 people through access to clean water, and improved sanitation and hygiene facilities.
Only 55 per cent of the population in Menkao has access to clean water, and only 15 per cent can collect water within 30 minutes’ walk of their home. Women and girls, some very young, will walk for up to three hours to get water. This negatively affects their ability to work or go to school. Their long trek on isolated paths also increases the risk of abuse and rape.
Less than one in ten households in Menkao have access to latrines. This, along with a lack of proper hygiene facilities, causes illnesses such as diarrhea to spread rapidly, and with deadly impact.
World Vision is working with the community to change this situation. Together, our goals are to:
In 2018, Team World Vision helped improve the lives of 7,133 people in Mali, West Africa. Five boreholes (deep water wells) were rehabilitated and a mechanized water system was constructed. Community members were trained, and are now responsible for the maintenance of the water distribution networks. Two committees now carry out sanitation and hygiene trainings in the communities.
This was only possible with the support of Canadians like you through Team World Vision. The story of Chata (below) provides a glimpse into the changes access to water has made in Mali. Thank you for being part of the clean water story!
Chata Mohomone, a mother of four, sells goods in a market in northern Mali. Business is good, despite seven years of ongoing conflict from rebel groups seeking control of the region. But Chata can’t completely shake fears that the continuing turmoil will affect recent gains—like the improved access to clean drinking water. She works hard to ensure progress continues.
Team World Vision funds helped restore boreholes in Chata’s community, making it easier and safer for women and children to access water. One of the boreholes is located at a school, and children now have clean water and hand-washing facilities—both key to preventing illnesses.
Chata volunteers in the Water Management Committee that oversees her local water system. She received training on how the borehole’s hand pump system operates and how to repair it. And she was taught ways to resolve disputes that can arise around water usage.
Chata is determined that the entire community take ownership for the success of the water system. As she explains, “That’s why we put a rotation system in place, so different members can take responsibility for inspecting and cleaning the different boreholes.”
World Vision is a global Christian relief, development and advocacy organization dedicated to working with children, families and communities to overcome poverty and injustice. Our staff work in nearly 100 countries around the world.
Everything World Vision does is focused on one goal: the sustained well-being of children, especially the most vulnerable. We are committed to serving all children, regardless of gender, religion, race, ethnicity or ability.
We work in five sectors: water, health, livelihoods (income generation), education and child protection. The work is supported by generous donors and governments around the world.
Every child deserves clean water. It’s not only a basic human right, it’s an essential building block of life that allows children and their communities to survive and flourish. Yet more than 800 million of the world’s people lack access to basic drinking water services, and 2.5 billion people live without access to improved sanitation.
We believe the global water and sanitation crisis can be solved within our lifetimes. On average, World Vision reaches one new person every 10 seconds with clean water. Our goal, in alignment with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, is to provide clean water and sanitation to every person in every community where we work by 2030 — including those in the hardest-to-reach places.
Clean water helps children to be healthy and well-nourished. It helps improve sanitation and hygiene, reducing the spread of diseases and death. And children are freed from the burden of walking long distances to collect this valuable resource, allowing them to make school a priority.
Through our work, we’ve helped 15.7 million people reach clean water since 2010. We have an even more ambitious goal going forward: between 2016 and 2020, we are investing US$600 million worldwide to reach almost another 20 million people with clean water in 36 different countries.
World Vision’s community-based model means we are developing sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene solutions: Here are some of the ways we work:
Water
Sanitation
Hygiene