Founded in 1990, Living Water International provides safe water, sanitation, and hygiene training throughout Africa, Latin America, India and Haiti.

Priorities

Regional focus

Living Water believes that the most effective way to see communities transformed is by focusing on specific areas within each country, working until all communities are served by water, sanitation, and hygiene interventions (WASH).

Appropriate Technology

We believe that using supply models (boreholes, spring protection, rainwater harvesting, point-of-use filtration, etc.) and hardware (hand pumps, standpipes, etc.) that are culturally and technologically appropriate makes water points more sustainable and strive to use the most appropriate technology that meets maintenance and sustainability standards.

Community Involvement

Our goal is to install community-owned water systems determined by community need and demand; this begins with the discovery of local community resources through an asset-based approach. In addition to leading and participating in the design and installation of their water systems, communities may be asked to contribute financially toward installation
and ongoing maintenance of hardware, at levels that are determined to be locally appropriate. We learn from members of the community what water solution will be the most appropriate, practical, and functional—then work with the community towards financial models and a network of response for when repairs are necessary.

Maintenance and Sustainability

We believe that sustaining our impact in communities and regions demands that our approach also includes a focus on partnering with communities for a longer term to increase community ownership and increase self-sustainability.  In addition to working with water committees, community leadership and caretakers, Living Water is building regional service delivery programs that ensure the performance of preventative maintenance and repairs when needed. These programs will always seek the involvement and investment of the local church and may be composed of Living Water teams, private sector businesses, or local NGO partners. These teams will operate separately from Living Water implementation teams and may be established locally as independent entities in order to reduce reliance on NGO support and build local capacity.

For more information about Living Water, please visit www.water.cc.