“Governments are for the first time understanding that they must invest in clean water and hygiene programmes, and the importance of clean water has suddenly come to the forefront of everybody’s thoughts.”
WASH
WASH is the generic term for Water, Sanitation and hygiene. These three core issues are dependent on each other, and when introduced to a community, change the lives and futures of its inhabitants forever. Sadly, 785 million people across the world do not have access to clean water, meaning charities such as Project Waterfall have a big job to do. Through the introduction of these WASH programmes, we hope to end the water crisis in our lifetime.
COVID-19
The current COVID-19 pandemic has made matters worse. Clean water and sanitation are basic human rights year-round but when you add in an aggressively contagious virus to a community with no WASH measures in place, the results could be detrimental. In the UK, we spread messages on the importance of hand-washing and keeping healthy, but we forget that there are people who are living with no access to clean water. They have no way of washing their hands and they already have weakened immune systems due to poor living conditions. These communities will have no defence.
WaterAid
We recently joined an online seminar run by WaterAid and there is, however, positive news coming out of this crisis, with the belief that this pandemic could mean more opportunities. 15 countries have now launched hygiene campaigns linked to COVID-19, and significantly, these are supported by the governments. For example, Rwanda has introduced measures that haven’t been seen there before, such as healthcare programmes and free hand-washing stations. As well as this, governments are beginning to realise the impact that lack of clean water is having on businesses and the economy, due to this lockdown. Finally, the message on the importance of hand-washing is being listened to.
If we continue to advocate for these communities, and continue to support them during this exceptional time of need, then the momentum behind the importance of WASH will continue to grow. With this, we can hope to see some concrete and long-term change.
Current projects
In terms of current projects, construction is still going ahead in countries where there is no lockdown. By adapting to this ‘new normal’, we can create new approaches to the projects, and adapt our work until a vaccine is found. This is going to be done through advocacy. We must now advocate that water services are directed to the most marginalised areas, and we must encourage more hand-washing facilities and access to clean water in these communities by using the focus of COVID-19. WaterAid is actively working with governments of the affected countries on this, with the hope that by adapting our strategies and supporting the most vulnerable, our work can continue.
Conclusion
Overall, there have been short-term challenges such as the freeze of certain projects, and the lack of income due to the cancellation of events and nation-wide closures. However, we want to focus on the positives that can come out of this. With the negative effect the lockdown has had on the economy, governments are for the first time understanding that they must invest in clean water and hygiene programmes, and the importance of clean water has suddenly come to the forefront of everybody’s thoughts. All of these new challenges are hopefully going to result in positive change, as long as we continue to advocate for the improvement of WASH programmes and work with the momentum instead of against it.
If you would like to donate to Project Waterfall and help us continue to support these most vulnerable communities, you can do so here: http://www.projectwaterfall.org/donate
