Wasser für Wasser
Partnering for a shared vision
Wasser für Wasser and WSUP have been partners since 2013.
Initial small-scale investment to construct water kiosks in the low-income community of Kanyama in Lusaka has led to major support for multiple water supply improvement projects across Zambia and sanitation projects in Mozambique.
Wasser für Wasser (Water for Water) partners with restaurants and hotels in Switzerland who serve tap water to customers in lieu of a donation to water and sanitation projects in Zambia and Mozambique.
Blog: November 2018 – How Swiss tap water is contributing to clean water in Zambia
Lusaka, Zambia
In the Zambian capital of Lusaka, the population has tripled since 1990 to more than 2.5 million. Many newcomers move to informal urban areas where water and sanitation services are hard to come by. Around 60% of the people have no secure access to urban drinking water supplies and even more live without a secure access to basic sanitation.Around one and a half million Zambians living in cities lack easy access to safe, clean water.
Wasser für Wasser and WSUP have partnered to improve the lives of nearly 100,000 people living in Lusaka. This has been achieved by constructing water kiosks, extending the water network in low-income areas, and assisting the utility, Lusaka Water & Sewerage Company (LWSC) to sustainably manage the water system.
Blog: December 2018 – From shallow wells to safe water – improving lives in Lusaka
Maputo, Mozambique
In 2017, Wasser für Wasser, extended their support to WSUP by launching a new project in Maputo, Mozambique focusing on sanitation. The project will benefit approximately 15,000 residents of Aeroporto B, a low-income community in Maputo.
The project will help to improve sanitation conditions in schools and their surrounding communities. Sustainability of the project will be ensured by providing support to the school boards to establish effective management of water and sanitation facilities and implement hygiene promotion campaigns.
Blog: February 2019 – Community leaders: a vital bridge between residents and city authorities
Livingstone, Zambia
Despite the booming tourism industry created by Victoria Falls, an estimated 73,000 people in Livingstone (41% of the population) reside in low-income communities where majority live below the poverty line.
Erratic water supply is one of the biggest challenges faced by the community.
In early 2018, in partnership with Wasser für Wasser, WSUP expanded operations to Livingstone working with the regional water utility, SWASCO to improve their institutional framework to sustain the water supply improvement process.
Blog: June 2019 – A utility strengthening approach to tackling water scarcity
In 2014 we were looking for an organisation exactly like WSUP, an organisation who had local staff with good and specialised knowledge, is a connector to local water providers and with a specialisation and focus on peri-urban areas.
Water as well as health is one of the biggest challenges for the next generation and that’s why it’s so important to know about it, talk about it and change behaviours and systems around WASH.
WSUP’s approach of developing the independence of local structures, and ensuring financial sustainability is much longer lasting than if water supply was just given away for free.
We like that WSUP is working in this context, because it’s not about showing the communities that we are the big funders, but it’s just that we are the enablers, and that’s how I also see WSUP in this context, as an enabler for a self-sustaining water supply system.
We are excited to see that, even as a small organisation we can have a big impact in the peri-urban areas because they are limited in a geographical sense that’s why we still feel very fresh and very motivated to develop and progress with WSUP as partners.