Clean Water, Sanitation & Hygiene
Growing up in a clean and safe environment is every child’s right.
Bringing life-changing clean water to the forgotten, the marginalized, and the vulnerable has been central to Source of Life Children Foundation’s mission and organizational identity since the inception of our Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) program. Access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation are vital for health, especially among children.
We believe it’s possible for every child and their family to have access to clean, safe water.
Clean water and sanitation: the keys to breaking free from poverty
Clean water is something many of us take for granted. If we’re thirsty we turn on the tap or open a bottle. We wash, flush, bathe and clean without thinking much of it, whether we’re in our homes, schools, workplace, or health care facilities. Yet around the world, millions of children and their families don’t have access to clean water.
Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) are a basic human right. Without access to water children’s health and nutrition are affected. Adequate sanitation is essential to childhood survival and development, and while good hygiene not only allows children to stay healthy and prevent the spread of infectious disease, but it also ensures they miss fewer days of school.
Children, particularly girls, are often denied their right to education because many schools lack private and decent sanitation facilities, while many women and girls around the world forced to spend a significant portion of their day fetching clean, safe water. But we’re working to change this.
Poverty and Lack of Clean Water & Sanitation | Source of Life Children Foundation
A number of studies conducted by organizations such as The World Health Organization, World Vision and Base Flow indicate that water, sanitation and hygiene are still an issue, a lot of communities globally lack access to safe drinking water points.
What Services Do We Offer?
Source of Life Children Foundation works around the world, particularly in Africa – including in some of the hardest-to-reach places – to help children and vulnerable people grow up healthy and happy.
Where is Our Office Located?
Source of Life Children Foundation is headquartered in Australia. It also has regional offices in Southeastern and Central Africa, including Malawi, Democratic Republic of Congo and others.
What are Our Opening Hours?
Our office and contact hours in Australia are Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm AEST/AEDT. However, you may receive calls from our teams up until 8pm in your state.
If you’d like to chat to us, you can call us on +61 411 589 619 or submit an enquiry; we endeavour to respond to all enquiries as soon as possible.
Take Action - Get Involved
We are making progress. But there’s more to be done. All children have the right to a safe, inclusive and quality health environment. We want all children to be healthy for life, in a safe and nurturing environment, in order to lead productive and fulfilling lives. Find volunteer or giving opportunities that use your time, resources, and talents to help children and families around the world.
There is lack of safe drinking water points etc.
There are several reasons why poverty has become an epidemic in Africa. It can be the result of political instability, ethnic conflict, climate change, and other man-made causes. But one of the main causes of poverty in Africa is also the most overlooked: lack of access to safe drinking water. Nearly one billion people lack access to clean, safe water that’s the equivalent of one in eight people on the planet!
For these people, poverty is a reality. The good news is that this problem can be solved.
Lack of water is an often-insurmountable obstacle to self-sufficiency. It’s impossible to grow crops, build homes, stay healthy, pursue education, and continue working.
Without clean water, the chances of breaking out of the cycle of poverty are extremely slim.
For women and children in particular, this crisis is real. With unsafe water sources often located miles from villages, many able-bodied members of a community are forced to spend hours each day simply collecting and carrying water. A jerrycan, the typical container used for water collection in Africa, weighs over 18 kilograms when fully filled.
The implementation of a water supply solution enables sustainable agriculture. Children return to school instead of spending the day collecting dirty water or suffering from waterborne diseases. Parents have more time to care for their families, develop minimal agriculture to sustainable levels, and even run small businesses.
The social and economic consequences of a lack of clean water are often the top priorities for African communities when they discuss their own development.
Access to Clean Water Improves:
- Education: With water directly on school grounds, students won’t miss classes to quench their thirst or clean their classrooms. With water at home, children don’t waste time doing homework and traveling long distances to collect water for their homes.
- Hunger: In our service areas in Africa, almost everyone has a farm or garden. For them, a lack of water means a lack of food. Better crop irrigation means healthier and more plentiful harvests.
- Health: Water supply projects close to home prevent people from drinking dirty water. More water also means less rationing, making it easier to stay hydrated, wash hands, and clean homes, thus preventing future illnesses.
- Poverty: Seeking water when it becomes scarce day after day reduces everyone’s time and energy. With water at hand, people spend more time investing in their households and livelihoods.
What Services Do We Offer?
The Source of Life for Children Foundation works to protect the rights of every child, especially the most disadvantaged and hardest to reach. We strive to help children survive, thrive, and achieve their potential across the African continent. We provide and advocate for education, health, and nutrition services. We protect children from violence and abuse. We bring clean water and sanitation to those in need and protect them from climate change and disease. We provide and promote the use of mosquito nets against malaria. We focus on education, gender equality, immunization, children with disabilities, early childhood development, nutrition, water, sanitation, and hygiene. With many years of on-the-ground expertise, a passion for innovation, and a network of teams, Source of Life for Children Foundation transforms its commitment into action.
Where is Our Office Located?
Source of Life Children Foundation is headquartered in Australia. It also has regional offices in Southeastern and Central Africa, including Malawi, Democratic Republic of Congo and others.
Information about contacting this business
Our office and contact hours in Australia are Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm AEST/AEDT. However, you may receive calls from our teams up until 8pm in your state.
If you’d like to chat to us, you can call us on +61 411 589 619 or submit an enquiry; we endeavour to respond to all enquiries as soon as possible.
Access to clean water is a right, not a privilege
Well with icon heading
We work in Central and Southeast Africa to improve access to safe drinking water and reliable sanitation in schools, communities, and health facilities. Without basic facilities, poor sanitation and hygiene, and poor-quality water, children often suffer from diarrhea and pneumonia – two preventable infectious diseases. Our water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) programs offer simple, large-scale solutions to provide children with drinking, handwashing, and toilet facilities, as well as personal hygiene education, reducing the risk of preventable diseases and improving the overall health of children and their families.
