１０８１：水セクターの最強ＮＧＯのWaterAidの歴史

途上国の村落給水に従事しているコンサルであれば、どこかで必ずWaterAidの活動を知るはずである。

ＮＧＯだが、DfIDなどからも財政支援があり、ドナーに近い力を持っている。この国でもまさにその通り。ＮＧＯを仕切るところまでいっている無視できないＮＧＯである。

発足から今年で３０年だそうだ。８１年から活動している。僕がコンサルになった年だ。

ここでWaterAidの歴史を紹介しよう。

WaterAid's history

WaterAid's history stretches back to 1981 when on 21 July it was officially established as a charitable trust.

We have grown from strength to strength ever since to become one of the most respected international NGO's dealing solely with water, sanitation and hygiene issues.

The early years of the 1980s

1981 saw the Thirsty Third World Conference in the UK which was organised by the Government's National Water Council to see how the whole of the UK water industry should respond to the UN 1981-1991 Decade of Drinking Water and Sanitation. £25,000 was raised through water industry employees that year and David Collett, former director of Voluntary Service Overseas, was appointed WaterAid's first director.

Projects in Zambia and Sri Lanka became the first of many thousands to receive much needed support from WaterAid and its dedicated staff.

Throughout the 1980s the formation of regional WaterAid fundraising committees, based in many of the UK water industry's organisations (public and private), enabled more and more organised fundraising events to take place.

The resulting increase in donations enabled the organisation to grow, slowly at first, but by the end of 1985 WaterAid had funded projects in Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Kenya, Bangladesh, Nepal, India and The Gambia. Volunteer engineering advisors were helping communities decide on the most appropriate technologies to use in the field.

By 1987 WaterAid's yearly income had topped £1 million. The following year it was announced that since WaterAid's establishment over 350,000 people had benefited from its projects.

The privatisation of the water supply and sewerage authorities in England and Wales in 1989 saw the creation of nine companies, and government regulatory bodies - the National Rivers Authority [now the Environment Agency] and OfWat. The newly formed companies and government bodies and their many staff pledged to continue their support for WaterAid's work and to this day remain a valuable and pro-active group of core supporters. Water and sewerage services in Scotland and Northern Ireland remain within the public sector.

The 1990s - a time of growth

In 1991 HRH Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, became WaterAid's first president and was taken to see WaterAid projects in Nepal. He continues to offer his support in this role to this day.

With its new Royal blessings, WaterAid grew from strength to strength during the 1990s. It had begun its 1000th project by 1993, had already helped over 1.8 million people and had agreed to fund the Hitosa Gravity Scheme in Ethiopia. The Hitosha scheme was the largest single water supply scheme implemented in Ethiopia at this time reaching 50,000 people.

By 1994 WaterAid was getting its name known around the UK with the Children's BBC programme Blue Peter running an appeal that raised over £1.65 million for WaterAid's work. Coupled with this WaterAid became one of Glastonbury Festival's main charities along with Oxfam and Greenpeace in 1994 bringing its message home to thousands of revelers. This year also saw the beginning of our extensive advocacy work with WaterAid's first advocacy report on Mega-Slums: the coming sanitary crisis.

Throughout the 1990s the value of WaterAid's work was becoming recognised by larger international institutions and the mainstream media which was reflected in increased achievements and exposure including:

Being awarded the Stockholm Water Prize including a grant of US$150,000


Having our volunteer engineering advisers' work recognised by being awarded an MBE


Being invited by the World Bank to provide the secretariat for Business Partners for Development in the Bank's Water and Sanitation Cluster


Gaining entry into the Guinness Book of records with the WaterAid Munro Challenge


Being chosen for The Guardian newspaper's Christmas charity appeal


The WaterAid African kitchen garden being awarded a bronze medal at the Chelsea Flower Show in London

By the end of the 1990's, projects were also being funded in Nigeria, Mozambique, Zambia, Madagascar and Malawi and a more organised structure had formed. Country Strategies were developed and approved for all overseas work, a hygiene education policy was in place to ensure people gained the maximum health benefits from their water and sanitation projects, and urban water projects were initiated.

In the UK the organisational base was growing and in 1999 Jon Lane retired as director, later to receive an OBE for his work with WaterAid. Jon was succeeded by Ravi Narayanan from Action Aid. Regional fundraising offices opened around the UK and the London Office had moved in 1996 from Queen Anne's Gate to Prince Consort House, Albert Embankment to allow for the growth of the organisation.

The new millennium

The turn of the millennium saw WaterAid begin its work in Mali and Burkina Faso, bringing the total number of beneficiaries to over six million of the poorest people in the world.

2000 saw WaterAid's Director, Ravi Narayanan join the British Government delegation to the World Water Forum in The Hague. WaterAid received a National Lotteries Charities Board (NLCB) grant for the fourth year running in 2001 meaning that WaterAid has received more money than any other charity from the International Grants section of the NLCB.

In 2002 water was declared a human right. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set at the World Summit of Sustainable Development in 2000 set out to halve the proportion of people without access to clean water by 2015. Thanks to lobbying from WaterAid and other groups, sanitation was added to the list of MDGs in 2002.

Not only was the global political arena waking up to the importance of WaterAid's work but so were the general public. That same year over £1.45 million was raised through the BBCs Blue Peter WaterWorks appeal in aid of projects in Tanzania and Uganda and over £450,000 was raised through The Guardian and Observer Christmas appeal.

As well as charitable donations from public appeals WaterAid has benefited increasingly from larger sponsorship and grants from both the public and private sectors. The UK Department for Overseas Development (DFID) awarded WaterAid a £15.5 million grant in 2003 to expand its programme reaching vulnerable communities in Bangladesh.

By 2003 WaterAid had helped over 7.5 million people gain access to clean water and won UK charity of the year at the Charity Times Awards. Work was expanding in all 15 country programmes to strengthen projects in those countries and ensure that the poorest communities were being reached.

2004 saw new organisations in America and Australia join the WaterAid alliance and additional projects being funded in Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste. The same year the Education drain report was published highlighting the effects that poor water and lack of sanitation facilities had on the lives and education of children. Without a close supply of clean water children have to walk for miles to collect water that is often unsafe to drink. This not only takes many hours out of schooldays but can also make them ill and unable to attend lessons. The UK Independent newspaper's Christmas appeal helped to highlight these shocking facts and raised over £300,000 in the process.

2005 saw the launch of the United Nations Decade for Action on Water, which put water and sanitation at the forefront of achieving the Millennium Development Goals. In March the UK government announced a doubling of aid for water and sanitation projects in Africa following the production of WaterAid's Getting to boiling point report and to date WaterAid has helped over eight and a half million of the world's poorest people gain access to one of the most fundamental of human requirements.

Further changes were afoot in 2006. Ravi Narayanan retired after six years at WaterAid to be succeeded by Barbara Frost, formerly Chief Executive of Action on Disability and Development (ADD). Due to its huge growth WaterAid also moved offices to Durham Street and a new logo was introduced.

In November WaterAid was delighted to be voted Britain's Most Admired Charity 2006 by its peers in the voluntary sector.