The Water for All way of working
Our guiding principle has since 1984 been that clean water is a human right. By providing access to water we create the conditions for large scale change, both on an individual level and societal level. Since the start we have helped more than 2 million people all around the world get access to clean water and improved facilities for sanitation and hygiene.
Local knowledge is crucial to our success
Water for All has projects in several countries at any given moment. We select partner organizations with as much knowledge as possible of the regions and the people who live there, in order to ensure that the money gets to where it is most needed. We are however convinced that the greatest knowledge of what needs to be done can be found locally. For this reason, we make sure to involve the local community in the planning, implementation and maintenance of the projects. This is to also a way to ensure sustainability. Our aim is ultimately to help people to help themselves.
We always work with a partner
We partner with non-political, not-for-profit organizations as we (normally) don’t do any work ourselves in the field. We have no employees, but work instead in our various country organizations on a voluntary basis. Each local Water for All organization selects its own projects to fund, which range from large-scale projects implemented over several years to smaller water installations. All projects must be about water and contribute to providing clean drinking water and sanitation to people in need.
The typical Water for All project cycle
- Employees within Atlas Copco or Epiroc in a particular country establish a local Water for All organization and facilitate voluntary donations from their fellow employees, preferably via the salary, which are then doubled by the local company.
- The local Water for All organization investigates and selects a partner to work with and subsequently a water project to support, often it is one project per year.
- A typical project could involve drilling or digging a well or protecting a natural water resource. It could also be building a system for rain harvesting, constructing basic water systems for villages or homes, or building sanitation or sewer systems.
- Water for All oversees the project implementation but the actual work in the field together with the local community is managed by the partner organization. This includes training and organizing the local community to use and maintain the new water source.
- The results of the project are reported back to the local Water for All organization which spread the information among its members to encourage continuous donations.
