Shining the Spotlight on West Africa
In this newsletter, we’ll focus on World Vision’s work to provide clean water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) in West Africa.
World Vision works in 8 countries in West Africa (Chad, Central African Republic, Ghana, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Sierra Leone). These countries are mostly in the Sahel Region of Africa, one of the world’s harshest contexts and climates. For anyone who has traveled to the rural regions of these countries, you’ll never forget the juxtaposition of the needs of people in extreme poverty and their hope for a better life.
A prolonged dry season and very short rainy season stress the water supply, while political instability and extremist violence exacerbate the number and complexity of humanitarian emergencies. West Africa’s access to safe water is among the lowest in the world and many people do not have a toilet so they must defecate in the bushes.
Our Heritage in West Africa
Despite the challenges, World Vision’s work in West Africa has produced many of our most talented and successful staff. World Vision’s water efforts in West Africa began 35 years ago, with the USAID funded Ghana Rural Water Project that had a goal to eradicate Guinea worm and trachoma. We then developed long-term partnerships with the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, the World Health Organization, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and IRC WASH. Both Guinea worm and trachoma were eliminated from Ghana through the work of these and other partners representing a major public health achievement.
Our Plans for West Africa
West Africa is critical to World Vision’s Global WASH Business Plan for 2021-2025 and to continue to reach one new person with clean water every 10 seconds. We will reach more than 2.7 million people with clean water, a 35% increase from our work between 2016-2020 which reached 2 million people. We will provide clean water to more than 500 health care facilities and more than 1,000 schools, and train nearly 8,000 faith leaders. Our work with faith leaders is critical to achieving the behavior change needed for communities to adopt safe sanitation and hygiene practices. In several countries in West Africa, we are implementing WASH UP!, our school-based collaboration with Sesame Workshop to help children learn, practice, and model healthy WASH behaviors.
We’re grateful to our donor partners for West Africa that include charity: water, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, Procter & Gamble, UNICEF, UNHCR, and Wells Bring Hope.