Last month, we announced that World Vision, through the support of our donor partners, has now reached 25 million people with clean water - halfway towards our 2015 commitment to reach 50 million people by 2030. This month, we provide updates on our plans to reach everyone, everywhere we work with clean water in Rwanda (1 million people by 2023), Zambia (800,000 people by 2025), and Honduras (650,000 people by 2027).
Rwanda Water
We are on track for completing our commitment in Rwanda next year. We have plans in place in all the areas still needing clean water in order to fulfill our commitment. The above map shows how we’ve been able to track our progress. We completed the funding needed from U.S. donors for this commitment in 2021.
Zambia Water
In Rwanda, it was relatively easy to figure out where everyone lived that we needed to reach with clean water but it’s much more difficult in Zambia. This is because Rwanda is the size of Maryland and is the most densely populated country in Africa with most people living near roads. Zambia is about the size of Texas and much more sparsely populated. We’ve used high resolution population data— developed using satellite imagery and machine learning—to create new maps in order to best estimate the number of people living in communities where we work. We then sent our field teams with GPS devices to map all water sources, helping us identify unserved communities and plan for new water sources. With these new maps, we have now been able to forecast the plan for reaching everyone in the targeted communities by 2025. Here is the new map.
We’re very grateful that we have raised half of the $50 million needed from U.S. donors in order to finish the job. We are on track with the work in the field having reached one-third of the people needed to finish the job.
Honduras Water
In Honduras, we have reached 10% of the total number of people to achieve our goal. We’re building a strong water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) team led by our new Honduras WASH Project Director, Tupac Mejia. In the coming year, we will begin to scale-up our work. We have raised $10 million of the $60 million needed from U.S. donors by 2027. Notably, the Honduras team has also been hard at work mapping existing access levels to clean water, including the mapping of over 9,000 water points in the past year alone.
Zambia Health
In integrating our water and health work, we have also developed a map in order to show the work needed to finish the job of reaching every healthcare facility, everywhere we work in Zambia with clean water on premises to help improve healthcare. We will upgrade 125 health clinics by 2025.
The below map shows each of the healthcare facilities in the areas where we work indicated by a “+”. While this map shows the indicator of water at the clinics, our comprehensive work to upgrade health clinics also includes many other efforts such as providing handwashing stations in all the areas where patients are seen, toilets, showers, training and equipping healthcare personnel on preventing infections, and training and equipping community health volunteers. Our staff did comprehensive surveys in 240 health clinics in the areas where we work to generate this never-before-created map. This will allow us to track our progress in upgrading the clinics in order to help ensure the safe and healthy delivery of babies and prevent the spread of deadly infections. We need an additional $11.3 million from U.S. donors to finish the job of reaching every healthcare facility where we work in Zambia.
Impact of Clean Water in Clinics
One year ago, our team visited Nurse Sunday Muwowo in northern Zambia. His clinic did not have water or handwashing stations or showers for women to clean themselves after birth. He broke our hearts when he said that our very presence gave him hope for the future. Now, thanks to the generosity of our donor partners, Nurse Sunday has an answer to his prayers – an upgraded health facility that he’s proud of. Don’t miss this 3-minute video.
Prayer Requests
Give thanks for the technology that allows World Vision to generate new, never-before-created maps to Finish the Job of reaching everyone, everywhere we work with clean water and improved health in Rwanda, Zambia, and Honduras.
Give praise for Nurse Sunday’s faith, that his prayers have been answered and this health hero’s burden has been eased as he provides essential healthcare.
Pray that the generosity of existing and new donor partners will enable us to meet our commitments in all 42 countries where we work to address the global water crisis and transform lives.
World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families, and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice. Motivated by our faith in Jesus Christ, we serve alongside the poor and oppressed as a demonstration of God’s unconditional love for all people. World Vision serves all people, regardless of religion, race, ethnicity, or gender.
In 2021, 90% of World Vision's total operating expenses were used for programs that benefit children, families, and communities in need. Learn More.
World Vision, P.O. Box 9716, Federal Way, WA 98063