Pilot WASH Project in Chimwenje, Malawi, Will Leverage Water Mission’s Safe Water Delivery Model

CHARLESTON, S.C. —  Water Mission is partnering with Compassion International on a global safe water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) alliance through a pilot project initiating in Chimwenje, Malawi. The alliance will strive to bring holistic care to children and families experiencing poverty through safe water access.

The newly piloted program will reach Chimwenje’s more than 6,000 residents upon completion in 2024. The project will mainstream Water Mission’s well-established safe water processes and standards in Compassion’s program in Malawi and help to refine and align operational standards and processes for joint church and community engagement.

“Water Mission’s technical excellence, church engagement strategies, and presence in vulnerable communities makes them a wonderful, strategically aligned partner for Compassion,” said Herb Ehresman, Director of Strategic Alliances at Compassion International. “We can reach exponentially more children and families through this partnership than we could on our own. We’re looking forward to working together to provide sustainable WASH programming to Compassion’s local church partners and participants in our child development program. Clean, safe water and improved hygiene and sanitation behaviors reduce diarrheal disease and help us to release children from poverty in Jesus’ name.”

WASH solutions change lives and create opportunities that can help break the cycle of poverty. Increased water security is linked to gains in food security, economic development, and improved health. Safe water access also enables and encourages healthy hygiene and sanitation behaviors. This access is particularly critical for children as they are less likely to experience malnutrition, disease, and death.

Children are less likely to miss school due to deadly water-related illnesses, increasing education outcomes. Parents are more productive at home and work, spending less time gathering water, freeing up time for women and children when they no longer spend hours a day walking in remote areas to gather water that often makes them sick.

Fifteen-year-old Rabecca is a student living in Chimwenje. She experiences the challenges of water scarcity daily, struggling in school because she spends so much time collecting water and cannot make it to school on time. “I wake up in the morning at 5 a.m. to fetch water, but there are many people there, so I go to school late,” Rabecca explained. “If you’re too late, the teachers send you home, so you miss a whole day of learning.” She collects water from a borehole that is downhill from a latrine, so the runoff contaminates the water. “My family gets sick, my younger sister especially. It just pains me when I miss school. I don’t feel good at all. When writing exams, I don’t perform well. [If I do well in school], I want to be a doctor.”

Water Mission and Compassion International have a history of serving together, most recently in 2023 while responding to extensive flooding from Cyclone Freddy. Compassion International provided a $150,000 grant for continued disaster response safe water projects, creating new safe water access for internally displaced people affected by the storm. This new WASH alliance will grow their shared work as faith-aligned organizations serving in remote, rural areas in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

“As our partnership with Compassion International continues to grow, we are excited to serve alongside them, blessing people with safe and Living Water and meeting physical and spiritual needs,” said Water Mission CEO and President George Greene IV, PE. “The new WASH alliance will facilitate the sharing of information and best practices with the goal to accelerate our shared work to other countries beyond Malawi.”

As part of the project, there is a strong church engagement strategy designed to empower local church leaders with training and focused resources. Water Mission will mobilize the church in Chimwenje as a model to aid in WASH advocacy and training, which can positively improve community health.

Water Mission’s Living Water Program creates an environment where churches can share the gospel. These training activities empower local church leaders, which will lead to greater engagement in their local communities. Water Mission’s Living Water staff will collaborate with Compassion International’s Church Leadership Network to conduct a community survey to identify and eventually address needs in communities.

About Water Mission
Water Mission is a Christian engineering nonprofit that builds sustainable safe water solutions for people in developing countries, refugee camps, and disaster areas. Since 2001, Water Mission has served more than 8 million people in 60 countries, sharing safe water and the message of God’s love. Water Mission’s global headquarters is in North Charleston, SC, and the organization has more than 400 staff members based in Africa; Asia; and North, South, and Central America. Charity Navigator has awarded Water Mission its top four-star rating 17 years in a row, a distinction shared by less than 1% of the charities rated by the organization. To learn more, visit watermission.org, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, or X.  

About Compassion International
Compassion International is a Christian child development organization dedicated to releasing children from poverty in Jesus’ name. Founded in 1952, Compassion partners with more than 8,500 local churches in 29 program countries to deliver spiritual, economic, social, and physical care to over two million babies, children, and young adults in poverty. Ranked No. 13 in Forbes’ America’s Top Charities List in 2023, Compassion is a founding member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability and an accredited charity with the Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance. For more information, visit compassion.com or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, X, and TikTok.

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Contact:
Gregg Dinino 
Water Mission
843.805.2097
gdinino@watermission.org

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