About us

Who we are

WaterAid Australia is non-government organization which works to transform lives by improving access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene in some of the world’s poorest communities.

Our vision is a world where everyone, everywhere has safe water. So for over 10 years, we’ve worked alongside partner organisations and local communities, to help give families in the world’s poorest countries access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene.

This is life-saving work. Because the fact is, dirty water costs lives.

Over 650 million people in the world don’t have access to safe water (that’s roughly 10% of the world’s population). These people risk deadly waterborne disease each time they drink from a dirty borehole, a polluted stream or a dangerous well. Children are most vulnerable –tragically 315,000 children under five lose their lives each year from diarrhoea caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation.

You can see why we’re passionate about this work. And over a decade of work has taught us that empowering people to make change within their own community is the first vital step out of poverty.

Find out more at www.wateraid.org/what-we-do/the-crisis

What we do

We’re in the business of giving people access to clean, safe water and sanitation. And teaching hygiene to protect children and parents from diseases that take thousands of lives each day.

With a tenth of our world needing clean water, we know we can’t do this alone.

So we work with local partners, who understand local issues and know the right people to get the job done. We provide them with skills and support to set up and manage practical and sustainable projects that meet their real needs.

We also work locally and internationally to change policy and practice and ensure water, hygiene and sanitation’s vital role in reducing poverty is recognised.

Our Gifts for Life range gives a brilliant overview of our work, and is a very clever way you can get involved. If you’d like more detailed information about our work and how your gifts will change lives, you can visit our website: www.wateraid.org/what-we-do

How your gift for life will help

“I have to fetch water for my family down the hill at least three times a day,” Esther says bravely.

‘Sitting on the muddy stoop with her children, Esther looks much older than her 29 years’.

“For me it is really tough because I have to fetch water with my young children,” she adds.

When she says she walks “down a hill”, what she means is that she straps her baby girl to her back, and carefully picks her way down a steep, slippery mountainside.

When she gets to the bottom, she fills a large container from the contaminated river, and lugs it back up the hill for her children to drink.

“It’s very tiring for me,” she admits, “I often have neck and back pain you know and my children are often sick… They are so weak as we don’t have that much stuff to eat – bellyache and diarrhoea are something that we have to deal with … it is like every day.”

Esther knows that children in her village have died from dirty water. Can you imagine her worry for her own little ones?

There is some good news. If dirty water costs lives, clean water saves them!

Your Gift for Life will help keep mothers like Esther and her children safe from deadly diseases found in dirty water and set women and girls free from the burden of collecting it!

Each item is carefully chosen to help fund WaterAid projects that save the lives of children like Esther’s. And by giving a Gift for Life to friends and family, you’ll help spread the joy all around the world!

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