Help WSUP develop its new website

Dear WSUP friends and supporters, we are redesigning our website! We are in the process of building a new website, easier to use and more attractive, and we would love to have your help. In order to better understand where and how you and other readers would like to find content on the new WSUP […]


A path to faster and more effective change: fighting non-revenue water

This year’s theme for World Water Day, Accelerating Change, reminds us all of the urgent need to improve provision of clean water and safe sanitation around the world. At WSUP, we believe that combating waste of water and resources is essential if governments, utilities and communities are to speed up their journey towards water, sanitation […]


Annual Report 2021-2022 shows progress of WSUP’s work in Africa and Asia

WSUP’s 2021-2022 Annual Report has been launched, showing how our organisation’s work in Southern Africa and Asia has advanced even more, with different initiatives in water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in low-income urban areas. It was a particularly important year for WSUP’s activities promoting good WASH services for women and girls. Another highlight was its […]


From climate adaptation efforts to a stronger push for better living conditions for women and girls, in 2021-2022 WSUP advanced further in its work providing clean water and decent sanitation and promoting appropriate hygiene in low-income urban communities.

Our 2021-2022 Annual Report shows the result of WSUP’s activities, benefitting more than 1 million people in the past year, across Africa and South Asia. In the period, we achieved:

618,418 people with improved water access;

580,730 residents with improved sanitation services;

168,454 people with improved access to good hygiene;

and mobilised more than $12 million in additional investment.

Lord Paul Boateng, WSUP’s chairman, wrote:

“In addition to our work with households and families, we are also investing more and more in providing clean water and decent toilets in schools, helping reduce student absences and improving the educational chances for children, particularly girls.”

Ed Mitchell, who in 2022 assumed the position of WSUP’s CEO, writes:

“Together with our supportive partners, we can take pride in what we’ve done so far, but we also need to raise our sights and ambitions to reach many more people in desperate need.”

Under pressure from climate change, capacity building pays off in Uganda

By Philip Oyamo, in Kampala On a chilly dawn in Kyenjojo, western Uganda, the electromechanical technician at Mid-West Umbrella for Water and Sanitation (MWUWS), the regional water service provider, assembles his small unit and equipment, ready to drive off to Kigorobya scheme, some 176 kilometres away. This follows a report received at 2am from the […]


Water in Uganda: the challenge of offering services to small towns

By Bridget Teirney Life in small towns is rapidly changing for communities across Africa. In the next twenty years the urban population is expected to double, and urban land cover to triple. But urbanisation isn’t just impacting the continents’ large and mega cities. Small towns are also undergoing significant transformation. Straddling both urban and rural […]


The WSUP Advisory report The challenge of small towns: Professionalising piped water services in Western Uganda tells the story of the recent progress made by the Mid Western Umbrella (MWU), one of the recently established Uganda’s structures of water utilities management. The improvements made in water provision in the country come as a much needed response to the challenges presented by the rapid growth of small towns.

Straddling both urban and rural life, small towns are at the forefront of a major change in population distribution, marked by increasing growth in urban populations, and systems and structures need to be adapted to keep up. Provision of water supply is one example of an essential service that needs to adapt to this evolution.

There are five key recommendations the WSUP Advisory report makes to help other utilities serving small towns:

  1. Adopt a decentralised management structure to remain lean, cost-effective and responsive
  2. Develop talent and empower middle management
  3. Start with short-term performance improvement and track simple metrics
  4. Meet operational costs to create breathing room
  5. Align support programmes with operational priorities

The publication provides further insight into each of these recommendations and provides specific experience and insights for all those concerned with sustainably managing water supply in small towns across Africa.

Download WSUP Advisory Uganda report

WSUP publishes 2020-2021 Annual Report

WSUP has launched its 2020-2021 Annual Report, presenting our operations and impact in the year up to March 2021. Through work in our core countries Bangladesh, Kenya, Ghana, Madagascar, Mozambique, and Zambia, plus our emerging presence in Uganda and consultancy work in Malawi and Cambodia, we were proud to improve the lives of 6.7 million […]


During 2020-2021, WSUP’s work became more vital than ever before, with the Covid-19 pandemic driving increased need for general good hygiene practices.

Our Annual Report shows where, how, and how much WSUP’s work has benefited the communities it serves across Africa and south Asia.

In the year to March 2021, despite global challenging circumstances, WSUP reached:

515,000 people with improved water access

721,000 residents with improved sanitation services;

5.5 million people with improved access to good hygiene;

and mobilised $8 million in additional investment.

Lord Paul Boateng, WSUP’s chairman, says in his opening message:

“As a world leader in research and practical assistance in the market-led delivery of access to urban water, sanitation and hygiene, our efforts are critical to the achievement of SDG 6, clean water and sanitation, and SDG 11, sustainable communities and cities.”

Neil Jeffery, WSUP’s CEO, adds:

“Covid-19 highlighted how vital water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) is, how central it can be to combating disease and how WSUP’s expertise is fundamental to overcoming that challenge in urban areas.”

Download WSUP Annual Report 2020-21

 

Access to water and sanitation: the missing link in urban climate adaptation

Ahead of COP26, WSUP has released a new report highlighting the importance of water and sanitation services in helping cities adapt to climate change. Drawing on evidence from seven countries the report, entitled The missing link in climate adaptation: How improved access to water and sanitation is helping cities adapt to climate change finds that […]