Clean Water for Ethiopia

Help us bring the life-saving gift of clean water to the people of Ethiopia.

The global water crisis is one of the biggest public health crises of our day. Every day, more than 800 children under 5 die from diarrhea caused by contaminated water, poor sanitation, and unsafe hygiene practices.

1 of every 10 people on the planet have no access to clean water. That’s 771 million people who lack basic drinking water access, with 122 million people still using surface water as their source. The global water crisis disproportionately impacts women and girls, who spend an estimated 200 million hours hauling water every day.

In Ethiopia, of the 84 million people living in rural areas, 69% (58 million) lack access to clean water or rely on unimproved water sources, and 96% (80.6 million) lack access to safe sanitation (WHO/UNICEF, 2017). In 2019, hundreds of thousands of children under the age of 5 died from infectious diseases like diarrhea, dysentery, and typhoid fever (World Health Organization, 2020)—diseases that are largely preventable when children and families have access to safe water and sanitation and adopt healthy sanitation and hygiene practices.

As a Christian, faith-based organization, World Vision is uniquely positioned to work with local religious leaders of all faiths as agents of change and advocates for the importance of clean water, improved sanitation, and healthy hygiene behaviors. In fact, 8,763 faith leaders participated in water, sanitation, and hygiene efforts in 2021. World Vision is also the leading nongovernmental provider of clean water in the developing world.

Every 10 seconds World Vision reaches one new person with clean water and hygiene education!

What we have accomplished together so far

In the first half of fiscal year 2022, we have:

• provided 123,316 people in Ethiopia with clean water access—154% of our target,
• reached 8,942 children with clean water access across 12 schools, and,
• 33,460 people gained access to hand-washing facilities.

Additionally, 130,482 people gained access to household sanitation, 21 schools now have sex-segregated latrines, and more than 1,200 faith leaders were trained to share WASH messages with their communities through sermons. None of this would be possible without your partnership!

In Ethiopia, about 26 million people lack access to clean water. With your help, our goal is to reach more than 1.8 million Ethiopians with clean water between 2021-2025.

“…I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink…” —Matthew 25:35 (NIV)