Please find below a detailed update from World Vision on the work being done globally to bring access to water to communities in need.
Mid-year global water impact
We are excited to share the results of our first half of the third year of World Vision’s 2021-2025 Global Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) Business Plan (Fiscal years 2021–2025). This is also our first reporting period since our new commitment to reach 30 million people with clean water between FY2023 and FY2030. And, importantly, we are celebrating this year achieving our 2018 commitment to Finish the Job of reaching everyone, everywhere we work in Rwanda.
In the first half of FY2023, we met or exceeded our global targets by reaching 1,104,840 people with access to clean water (103% of target), 929,172 people with improved sanitation (148% of target), and 1,127,878 people with handwashing facilities (104% of target).
In line with our commitment to deepen our focus on the most vulnerable, nearly 95% of water participants live in the most difficult and dangerous places to reach. In response to humanitarian situations that included civil water, drought, and famine, during this reporting period, we’ve reached 313,972 people with emergency water and 491,406 people with emergency hygiene supplies. This included significant efforts in Angola, DRC, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, and Somalia.
We are thrilled to share that we have exceeded the commitment we made with our donors, partners, and the government of Rwanda in 2018 to reach 1 million people in Rwanda with clean water. Before the year is out, we will complete the work of reaching everyone with access to clean water in the 39 sectors where we are working. Over the course of this five-year effort, we have seen the number of people gaining access to clean water increase from an average of 50,000 a year to more than 200,000 each year.
Our next Finish the Job country is Zambia. Despite some delays caused by flooding during this reporting period, we are on track to finish the job, having now reached 494,073 people of the total 800,000 people that we need to reach with clean water by 2025. This will enable us to reach everyone, everywhere we work in 125 wards (similar to counties) in Zambia.
We are also working to finish the job in Honduras. This work has started more recently, and we have reached 42,640 people of the total 650,000 people that we are planning to reach with clean water by 2027. This will enable us to reach everyone, everywhere we work in 49 municipalities (similar to counties) in Honduras.
Consistent with our business plan goals to increase the level of water supply, only 3% of water points were hand pumps, while 28% were community taps, and 69% were household water connections. To support operating and maintaining water systems, we’ve worked with communities to establish and train 2,201 water committees (164% of target). Given their important role as influencers in their communities, we’ve trained 4,524 faith leaders (185% of target) on hygiene and sanitation behaviors.
On top of our efforts to deliver clean water for households, we also provided 469 schools with clean water access and 1,381 schools with handwashing stations. Our work to help children develop healthy habits in water, sanitation, and hygiene with Sesame Street called “WASH-UP!” has expanded to 18 countries impacting 1.5 million children and families, including people living in conflict areas and people who are marginalized such as girls and children with disabilities.
Another top priority and commitment is to empower women. To that end, we saw 1,194 women become active in WASH businesses and 1,914 women trained on WASH advocacy. During this reporting period, we began implementation of the work funded by Strong Women Strong World™ to intentionally combine our water and economic empowerment efforts and measure the impact on empowerment of women and girls through a collaboration with Emory University.
Mid-year global health impact
We continue to make progress in our global health efforts. This is our first reporting period since we have committed to upgrade 3,000 healthcare facilities between FY2023 and FY2030 and finish the job of reaching all the healthcare facilities everywhere we work in Niger, Zambia, and Rwanda.
During this six-month reporting period, globally, we‘ve reached 164 healthcare facilities with access to water and 256 healthcare facilities with handwashing stations. We also worked with 145 healthcare centers to provide cleaning policies and protocols to help prevent the spread of infections in the facilities.
In Niger, we’ve reached 10 clinics with clean water access on premises and nine with handwashing stations. We have now reached a total of 41 of the 150 clinics that we need to finish the job in Niger. In Zambia, we’ve reached six clinics with clean water access and 14 with handwashing stations. We have now reached a total of 50 of the 125 healthcare centers that we need to finish the job in Zambia. In addition, in Niger we’ve reached 258,969 people with essential healthcare, trained 4,075 community health workers, and screened and treated 40,265 children for infectious disease or malnutrition. And in Zambia, we’ve reached 1,295,886 people with essential healthcare, trained 4,910 community health workers, and screened and treated 72,546 children for infectious disease or malnutrition.
We continue to obtain an additional $3.50 for every $1 given to the World Vision Global Health Fund. Each $1 investment is combined with funding from grants, child sponsorship, foundations, and corporations to deliver a total impact of $4.50. For example, World Vision is partnering with The Power of Nutrition and Kirk Humanitarian Foundation to deliver a $2.8 million program addressing malnutrition in Zambia, leveraging our work in upgrading healthcare facilities and training health personnel and community health workers.
