Community Impact Report
Welcome to our 2020 Community Impact Report!
This past year, amidst unprecedented circumstances and uncertainty, you stood firmly with us and provided clean water for life (and so much more!) to our friends in Uganda.
Check out the video to watch a special message from our Executive Director, Richard Lau.
Enjoy!
With Your Support
Never before has access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene been more important. And, this past year, you helped our team in Uganda adapt to the changing conditions of COVID and reach over 100,000 people in remote parts of the country with life-changing education and tools to advance their own health and well-being.
What began as a project to use solar disinfection to provide access to clean water to people in remote areas where there wasn't any, has now grown into a holistic program with an expanded mandate of community transformation initiatives that truly change health and well-being on a large scale.
With the advances of this past year, your support has helped WaterSchool train over one million people in Uganda since we began in 2001.
For years, WaterSchool has been quietly teaching people to build simple, clean cookstoves in homes across rural Uganda. While not directly linked to our clean water focus, the impact of an energy efficient cooking stove, equipped with an outdoor exhaust chimney, cannot be understated for its impact on health and the environment. In typical Ugandan households, cooking stoves are energy intensive and the smoke it emits goes directly into the home. These new stoves reduce wood fuel needs by approximately 80%, and have drastically reduced the incidence of lung disease in women and children. These stoves were made by local people using local materials like termite dung, banana plants and locally made bricks. They cost just $4 each.
STEPPING UP DURING COVD-19
As the COVID-19 pandemic rocked the global community, our team pivoted quickly to help—thanks to your support. The ongoing pandemic has thrown into sharp focus the importance of having access to clean water, hygiene and sanitation (WASH) to stay healthy and safe during this crisis.
Here's how we used your support to respond to COVID-19 in Uganda:
Participating in Community Prevention:
Although Ugandan media has been transparent in their coverage of COVID-19, some of the families we work with believed myths about the virus, while others had no knowledge of what was going on concerning the pandemic. Our WASH Champions, in collaboration with other community-based organizations, spread information about COVID-19 using megaphones in 81 different villages.
Supporting Community Leaders:
We are working hard to train Sanitation Committees in different villages to help support and build community resilience in fighting COVID-19 and to ensure the promotion of WASH practices. We have reached 238 sanitation committees—who are responsible for sharing this information with over 24,000 households.
Continuing to
Promote SODIS:
Using safe social distancing measures, we continued to spread knowledge and tools around Solar Disinfection throughout the communities we work in. Over the course of the year, we equipped over 24,000 households with SODIS technology and training to ensure that more families have the tools and knowledge they need to access clean water throughout the pandemic.
Collaborating with
Local Governments:
Our collaboration with the district local governments got stronger as our field teams were included with district-level COVID-19 task forces to provide leadership and technical guidance on WASH related matters that are so crucial in the fight against the pandemic. During this period we offered support to 13 Health Centres with hand washing detergent and installed hand washing facilities (tippy-taps) to emphasize prevention.
We know that the more people we can reach with these basic tools and messages, the more lives will be saved. Your investment in clean water has never been more important—thank you for stepping up with us!
ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY, HEALTH & WELL-BEING
Overall health and well-being are rooted in access to basics—including the opportunity for economic development.
Years ago, WaterSchool began training communities to develop their own Village Savings & Loan Associations (VSLAs). The idea is simple—in a community, about 20 households will come together to create a VSLA. Each member-household buys into the association with a monthly investment of UGX 20,000 (approximately $7 CDN). They then meet regularly to manage their investment by approving loans, collecting repayments and interest, and then allocate the surplus to members or direct it to community projects.
While we know that VSLAs are great at providing the social bonds and capital to maintain WASH facilities, we also see that they provide access to capital for members to elevate their own personal economic activities. Access to clean water, hygiene facilities and good sanitation practices are tied to having the financial resources to afford things like soap, SaTo pans, and more. Investments in people's businesses, in turn, means more money in their pockets to reinvest in their own families' health and well-being.
In 2020, we supported the formation of 88 new Village Savings & Loan Associations.
Akoth Mary: 78 Years Old
“I borrowed UGX 10,000 from the Village Savings & Loan to start my business of making pancakes and mandazi (doughnuts). I realized that everyone was selling fish and I decided to choose a different business idea so that I make more profit. I am able to make a profit of UGX 3,000 per day from my sales. I am able to buy food for my household and also invest in my gardens by buying seeds such as maize and beans.”
Auma Juliette: 40 Years Old
“I borrowed UGX 50,000 to invest in selling onions, tomatoes and fish. I have paid back my loan and the profits I made have helped me to provide food and other essentials for my children. I pay their school fees much more easily now. I can also now hire someone to weed my garden while I attend to my business. I would like this VSLA to even grow bigger so that we are able to borrow more money and invest in bigger projects.”
Nyadoi Loy Mary: 64 Years Old
“I joined the Village Savings & Loan in October 2020 and I borrowed UGX 60,000 to start a business selling fish. I made a profit of UGX 20,000 which I used to pay back the loan in bits. I then reinvested my profits and capital and now, I am able to pay for my three grandchildren’s school fees.”
Oboth Gideon: Chair of Village
Savings & Loan
"I borrowed money to restock my shop, which increased my profits. This has enabled me to pay school fees for my children in time and pay our medical bills. All our members have benefitted in various ways but most importantly, the Village Savings & Loan Program has improved all of our livelihoods—we have been equipped with knowledge on how to save and start projects that benefit our whole community."
STAYING IN SCHOOL. PERIOD.
In 2015, the Ugandan government signed the Menstrual Hygiene Charter. In partnership with organizations across the country, including WaterSchool, they committed to prioritizing normalizing menstrual hygiene for girls and young women.
While we may not typically think of a girl's period as being a barrier to education, in countries like Uganda, it is a leading reason for girls to drop out of school. Without access to clean and effective pads, facilities to change, safe ways to wash or dispose of pads, and access to soap and clean water to clean up and wash their hands, managing their periods can be a huge challenge.
WaterSchool has brought our unique approach to providing clean water into schools and is a trusted partner. To reduce girls’ embarrassment, fear, anxiety and distraction at school, WaterSchool has gone one step further to also provide dedicated rooms stocked with reusable pads, painkillers and hygiene products to ensure that girls can stay in school. Period.
““The girls are comfortable, feel safe and secure during their periods especially because they now have a private space to sort themselves out; they are able to clean and change their sanitary towels without inconvenience. For this reason, they freely interact with their teachers and fellow pupils, which has reduced absenteeism and improved class performance.””
WELLNESS
BEYOND WATER
Lack of safe sanitation and clean water at school has a disproportionate impact on women and girls—particularly when it comes to completing their education.
We know that for every year a girl spends in school, she raises her family income by up to 20 percent. Increased income often equates to increased health, opportunity and long-term prosperity for the entire family. Just as much as we believe that clean water changes everything, so too does education.
A few years ago, we were alerted to the fact that there were many adolescent girls being sexually abused, getting pregnant, being cast out from their families and then being pressured to marry their abuser.
Together with longtime WaterSchool advocate, Jane Otai, we started the Empowered Girls Initiative to provide the support and advocacy adolescent mothers (aged 12-18) need to complete their education or vocational training. This includes identifying and providing support to schools that will accept adolescent mothers as students, as well as working with families to find childcare.
Armed with an education, a young mom is then able to secure a better future for herself, her child and her community. We know that ensuring young women and girls have access to education advances the health and well-being of the most vulnerable Ugandan families and communities.
We started the year aiming to champion 120 very young moms to head back to school or into vocational colleges. But with schools shuttered due to COVID-19, we pivoted and used all the funds destined for school fees to instead help these moms start businesses. From dressmaking to food preparation, mask-making to animal husbandry, the participants were as creative as they were hardworking. As COVID-19 restrictions lift, we are looking forward to supporting these young moms in returning to high school, universities and vocational colleges in Uganda.
EGI Mom, Moreen, and her baby girl, Sharifa
EGI moms learning how to make soap and detergent in our vocational training school.
Jane Otai, Executive Director of EGI, meets with the young EGI moms at Mpoma School.
EGI moms, Eunice and Pheobe.
Mary, an EGI mom, at our vocational training school learning exterior painting.
EGI moms at Mpoma School.
EGI moms from Central College Kamuli with their new uniforms.
Viola and Zelida before learning mechanics training at our vocational school.
Zaina and Sarah making face masks at our vocational school.
Financial Review: 2020
All WaterSchool's administrative costs are specifically covered by generous donor-partners so that 100% of your donations goes directly and immediately to Board Approved programs that advance health and well-being in Uganda. WaterSchool and our implementing partner, Africa Water Solutions, have professional external audits conducted annually so you can rest assured that every dollar you give has maximum impact.
These statements are in Canadian dollars and reflect a surplus of $77,375 carried forward from 2019.
If you have questions about our financials or how we ensure that your generous support has maximum impact,
please reach out to us at hello@waterschool.com.
““Water is the most basic human necessity. Through our travels around the world, my wife, Jill, and I have borne witness to the impact that water has on countries and communities. Those that do not have access to clean water suffer on a daily basis. In supporting WaterSchool, we have seen the positive, life-altering changes to communities where WaterSchool is present. It brings us great joy to be able to support an organization that is really making a long term difference.””
