Waterless Sanitation Assistance Fund
WSAF Eco-Village Program
Working alongside low-income rural and remote communities to help create healthier, more resilient and environmentally sustainable villages in which safe sanitation, freshwater stewardship, appropriate technology and human dignity become part of the foundation for a flourishing future.
The Mission
Helping today’s villages move towards healthier, more resilient and more sustainable futures.
A village is much more than a collection of houses. It is where children are born and grow, where families support one another, where knowledge is passed from one generation to the next, and where people develop a shared sense of identity and belonging. When a village thrives, it creates opportunities that extend far beyond its own boundaries. When it struggles, the consequences are often felt for generations.
Around the world there are countless rural and remote communities whose people work extraordinarily hard to build better lives for themselves and their children. Yet many continue to live without access to sanitation that most of us would regard as basic. This is not because they lack determination, ingenuity or care for their community. More often, poverty, geographic isolation and limited infrastructure have placed safe sanitation beyond their financial reach.
These communities are not necessarily recovering from earthquakes, floods, famine, drought, conflict or other sudden emergencies. Their hardship is quieter and more enduring. There may be no television cameras, international appeals or emergency response teams, yet families may continue year after year with unsafe sanitation, polluted surroundings, scarce freshwater and preventable risks to health and dignity.
The WSAF Eco-Village Program has been established with these communities in mind. Its purpose is to help direct financial assistance, technical knowledge, practical technologies and collaborative partnerships towards villages that recognise the need for better sanitation but cannot afford to make the transition without outside support.
Sanitation is the starting point, but the larger vision is to help strengthen the conditions in which communities can become healthier, more resilient, more self-reliant and better able to protect the natural environments upon which their future depends.
A Broader Vision
Safe sanitation can become the beginning of a much wider journey.
It is easy to think of sanitation as a single technical problem requiring a single technical answer. In reality, it is woven into many aspects of village life. Poor sanitation can affect health, school attendance, personal safety, the dignity of women and girls, the quality of local water sources and the confidence with which a community imagines its future.
Improving sanitation can therefore become part of a much larger process of community renewal. Waterless and environmentally responsible systems may help protect scarce freshwater, reduce contamination and provide practical solutions in places where sewers, treatment plants or water-intensive infrastructure are neither affordable nor realistic.
The program also recognises that technologies alone do not create flourishing communities. Lasting change depends upon listening, cultural understanding, local participation, education, maintenance, appropriate design and the willingness of partners to remain engaged beyond the moment when equipment is delivered.
Every village has its own history, traditions, strengths and aspirations. For that reason, the program does not begin by imposing a predetermined model of what an eco-village should be. It begins by learning how people live, what they value, which challenges they most wish to address and how improved sanitation might fit within the future they themselves hope to create.
The Long-Term Vision
An international network of learning, partnership and practical action.
Over time, we hope the WSAF Eco-Village Program will bring together villages, community leaders, humanitarian and development organisations, engineers, health professionals, educators, philanthropists, manufacturers, transport providers and sustainability advocates who recognise that meaningful change is best created through collaboration.
Within that network, one community’s experience may help another avoid costly mistakes. A technical specialist may help adapt a solution to local conditions. A donor may help fund a project that would otherwise remain beyond reach. A transport or construction partner may make implementation possible, while educators and local leaders help ensure that knowledge remains within the community.
The goal is not to transform villages according to an outside ideal. It is to help existing communities strengthen the foundations of health, dignity, resilience and environmental responsibility in ways that respect local culture and expand opportunities for generations to come. In this sense, the WSAF Eco-Village Program asks how today’s villages might, through respectful partnership and practical support, become the healthier and more sustainable villages of tomorrow.
Tell Us About Your Village
Every Eco-Village relationship begins with listening.
We would be pleased to hear from village leaders, community representatives, local organisations, humanitarian and development workers, or others who know of a low-income village living with poor sanitation and limited financial means. Tell us about the community, the way people live, the sanitation challenges they experience and the difference that practical assistance could make.
An expression of interest does not guarantee immediate funding, but it helps us build a clearer understanding of where need exists and where future partnerships may be able to make a meaningful and lasting contribution.
Every village has its own story, and every community deserves the opportunity to shape a healthier, more dignified and more sustainable future.