The global water and sanitation challenge is a pressing issue that affects health, food, energy, security, economic growth, and environmental stability worldwide. Currently, 2.1 billion people live without access to safe drinking water, and approximately 4.4 billion people are without access to adequate sanitation. The burden of water collection falls mainly on women and girls, who are the most vulnerable when household sanitation is not available. Rapid growth in urban areas puts already stressed water infrastructure and services into a downward spiral.
USAID is actively addressing the challenge of improving water and sanitation access to a growing global population and engaging and empowering communities to become advocates, entrepreneurs, technical experts, change agents, and environmental stewards. The new U.S. Government Global Water Strategy and corresponding USAID Water and Development Plan aim to increase the availability and sustainable management of safe water and sanitation for the underserved and most vulnerable. The plan seeks to provide 15 million people with sustainable access to safe drinking water services and 8 million more people with sustainable sanitation.
In Fiscal Year (FY) 2016, USAID invested more than $441.5 million toward water and sanitation efforts in 47 countries and regions, including 13 high-priority countries. USAID programs made considerable progress on many water and sanitation fronts, including meeting and exceeding key strategic goals set forth in the Agency’s first water and development strategy two years ahead of projections. As a result of USAID programs in FY 2016, more than 3.1 million people received sustainable access to an improved water supply, and more than 3 million people received improved access to sanitation facilities.
The Global Water Strategy and USAID Water and Development Plan propose a new generation of water-related programming informed by lessons learned from USAID missions and the latest evidence in the water and sanitation sector. The plan presents multi-year, country-specific plans for each of the designated high-priority countries, which describe how USAID will meet strategic goals, align with host-country priorities, and complement programming by other USG agencies and departments. The new strategy was developed through a collaborative process involving more than 17 U.S. Government agencies and departments as well as USAID missions and other stakeholders.
In FY 2016, USAID’s water and sanitation efforts in Africa made significant progress, with notable achievements in Kenya, Mali, Ghana, and Southern Africa. In Kenya, small-scale water entrepreneurs were able to provide clean water to more people, while in Mali, a ground game was implemented to tackle malnutrition. In Ghana, USAID helped establish self-sustaining water supplies and communities, and in Southern Africa, conservation upstream helped feed users downstream. These efforts demonstrate the impact of USAID’s assistance on the global water challenges facing households and communities.