Aqua for All

Aqua for All focuses on people at the Base of the Pyramid in African and Asian countries: those who most often lack access to water and sanitation services. Ensuring access to clean water and good sanitation is step one in empowering people with the ability to improve their lives.5 x WATER AND POVERTY1. Water-poor communities are typically also economically poor, trapped in a cycle of poverty.2. Education suffers when children, sick of polluted water-related ailments, miss school.3. Economic opportunities are routinely lost to the impacts of rampant illnesses.4. Acquiring water from far away requires valuable time better spent going to school and/or working.5. Children and women are generally more vulnerable to disease and loss of opportunities.

Aerosan operates low-cost public sanitation facilities in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu, connected to wastewater treatment. During the COVID-19 pandemic, a lockdown was imposed, leaving the streets of Kathmandu virtually empty with consequently no users at the sanitation facilities. The Response Facility has supported Aerosan’s operators during this lockdown and has helped 20 highly trained and experienced staff in both the Nepal office and at the public toilets. The fund provided salaries during the lockdown and supported the training of new Dalit female members of the Sanitation Workers Co-op. As a result, Aerosan was able to resume operations immediately once lockdown came to an end.