Clean water for 1 new person every 10 seconds

As of the end of January 2021, we have fulfilled our commitment to reach 20 million people with sustainable sources of clean water. Together, we have helped transform the lives of 20 million people!

This phenomenal success has resulted in World Vision becoming the leading nongovernmental provider of clean water on the planet, reaching one new person with clean water every 10 seconds. It’s a testimony to the faithfulness of our donors, partners, and the more than 1,200 World Vision staff members who delivered this impact. The 20-million-people goal was always intended as an interim target to hold ourselves accountable to the larger goal of reaching everyone, everywhere we work—some 50 million people—by 2030. Based on the success of the last 5 years, we are on track to continue providing the leadership needed to end the global water crisis.

Of course, 2020 was a year unlike any other. Even so, we completed our water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) business plan for 2016-2020, reaching 19.5 million people with sustainable sources of clean water and an additional 3.9 million people with water during emergency situations. In many countries, our work continued during the pandemic as essential services. Despite challenges caused by restricted travel and gatherings, we exceeded our aggressive FY20 targets by reaching 3.4 million people with sustainable sources of clean water, 1.8 million people with water during emergency situations, and 2.7 million people with improved sanitation.

Everywhere we work, there was a greater emphasis on hygiene promotion and access to handwashing facilities, each critically important in preventing the spread of COVID-19. Thanks to our donors’ investment in building a world-class organization of WASH staff members, we reached an amazing 8.2 million people with hygiene promotion, provided handwashing facilities in 4,789 schools, and helped nearly 1 million households gain access to handwashing facilities. Each of these achievements was more than double our original targets.

We know from the effective response during the Ebola outbreak in West Africa that faith leaders can be key partners in sharing messages with their congregations that prevent the spread of infectious diseases. To address COVID-19, we engaged 21,138 faith leaders, nearly four times our original target. Since handwashing facilities are crucial for protecting frontline healthcare workers from infections, we stepped up our efforts and achieved 467% of our initial FY20 target, constructing these facilities at 2,480 healthcare sites. We also provided emergency hygiene supplies to more than 1.3 million people, or 1,140% of our target. This work will have a lasting impact, helping prevent the spread of the coronavirus and other deadly infectious diseases for years to come.

As we work to provide more sustainable, cost-effective alternatives to hand pumps, we completed a five-year commitment with Grundfos to reach 2 million people in Africa with solar-powered, mechanized water systems. We are pleased to share that we surpassed that target by bringing water to 2.4 million people. To maintain this momentum, we entered into a new four-year commitment with Grundfos to reach 4 million people in Africa with solar-powered, mechanized systems by the end of 2024.

In 2020, we made significant progress toward our plan to finish the job of reaching everyone, everywhere we work with clean water. This was especially true in Rwanda, where we garnered the funding needed from U.S. donors ($30 million raised or committed) and provided 234,000 people with clean water in FY20, making Rwanda our second-best overall country of impact. We are currently creating finish-the-job plans for Ghana, Honduras, and Zambia.

We remain deeply grateful for your support and hope you take satisfaction in the astonishing impact that we’ve had together over the past 5 years. We look forward to our continued journey together to provide WASH to vulnerable families across the world.

Dr Greg Allgood, Vice President WASH, World Vision U.S.