charity: water stories

Measuring Clean Water Impact in Data-Scarce Environments

How charity: water is using data from the most rural communities on earth to end the global water crisis.

by Scott Miller, Associate Director of Monitoring and Evaluation

We believe that access to clean water is a fundamental human right, yet millions of people around the world still regularly experience water insecurity. Without reliable access to clean water, people experience feelings of worry, anger, and shame; families are forced to change what foods they prepare, or how often they are able to wash their hands, clothes, and bodies; plans are regularly disrupted, and some days, households get by with no water at all.

These experiences remind us of our mission at charity: water – ensuring that every person on the planet has access to clean and safe drinking water. In order to end the global water crisis in our lifetime, we need to leverage data to better understand the experiences of those living in the most water insecure communities on the planet.

Data collection in the world’s most rural communities

charity: water’s local partners are working to bring clean and safe drinking water to some of the hardest to reach communities in the world. Whether perched on the side of a mountain in Nepal or enduring the extreme heat of the Sahel in Sub-Saharan Africa, these communities aren’t just water scarce, they’re also data scarce.

In many high income countries, data is a part of the fabric of everyday life – we can quickly access information on everything from the average income level in our city to the fastest route to work during rush hour. This wealth of data allows us to build a detailed picture of everyday life in our communities, as well as identify problems and find solutions that accomplish the most good.

But in the world’s most water scarce communities, reliable data is largely nonexistent. In order to understand the nuances of everyday life, and ultimately design solutions that will meet their needs, our partners need to manually collect data – community by community, household by household, water point by water point.

When we collect data in the same communities both before and after our partners install new water points, we can measure our effectiveness and ensure that every dollar that you donate is used to transform lives. For example, the images below show the average amount of time it takes for someone in our program areas to collect clean water, as well as the share of households that are able to collect water from a clean source within 30-minutes. Measuring these figures before and after clean water projects are installed, we can better understand the burden of water collection across our program areas, as well as measure the effectiveness of charity: water’s local partners in decreasing the amount of time that households spend walking for water each day. We work with our local partners to collect data across 19 similar metrics that help us better understand the effectiveness of our programs around the world.

How does charity: water measure water insecurity?

The Water Insecurity Experiences (WISE) Scales are a set of innovative tools that allow organizations like charity: water and its local partners to measure the experiences of water insecurity in our program areas. These scales assess the 12 most common experiences associated with a lack of access to clean water, allowing us to design programs that are targeting the most vulnerable communities and addressing aspects of water insecurity that are most disruptive to daily life.

The data collected through WISE provides unique insights into the everyday lives of those living without access to clean water. By understanding the nuances of water insecurity, and how these experiences vary from one community to the next, we can focus our efforts where they are needed most and develop strategies that address specific local challenges.

As of 2024, charity: water’s local partners are now measuring water insecurity in 22 countries across Africa and Asia. We are proud to be working in close partnership with the researchers who lead the development of this tool at Northwestern University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the London School of Tropical Hygiene and Medicine.

Through this collaboration, charity: water and our partner, Helvetas, were recently featured in the 2024 WISE Scales Impact Report which highlights global efforts to “bring the voice of the people to the water sector.” By collecting WISE data in Nepal, both before and after clean water projects were installed, our joint work demonstrated that clean water initiatives can lead to reductions in water insecurity experiences. This research showed meaningful decreases in all 12 components of water insecurity, including the experiences of worry, anger, and shame.

Image Credit: Helvetas Nepal

Centering water insecurity in the Sustainable Development Goals

In recognition of the value that measuring water insecurity adds around the world, the United Nations recently announced that it will soon include the WISE Scales as a recommended tool for measuring global progress toward Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6, which aims to achieve universal access to clean water and sanitation.

As a leading voice in the water sector, charity: water is currently working with Northwestern University to develop a comprehensive user manual that will allow our local partners, as well as governments and nonprofits around the world, to carefully and accurately measure the experiences of those experiencing water insecurity.

Image Credit: United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs

Turning Data Into Solutions: What Come’s Next?

We know that ending the global water crisis in our lifetime will require a deeper understanding of the communities that experience it every day. That is why charity: water and its local partners now measure water insecurity across more than 35,000 households in 22 countries each year, and we are working to expand the use of the WISE scales around the world.

This data will enable us to better target the most water insecure communities with solutions that are designed around their specific challenges, share evidence and insights with the global WASH sector, and tell data-driven stories about the transformative impact of clean water.

It’s Never Been So Easy To Change A Life

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