Applicant Profile: Millennium Water Alliance

The MWA is a cooperating group of U.S. humanitarian and faith-based NGOs working to assist poor communities in the developing world gain access to safe water and sanitation.

MWA Projects include:

A-WASH: The Ambassador’s Schools WASH initiative is a three year program that started in July 2009. It is intended to provide water, sanitation and hygiene education to children in 15 schools globally and to raise awareness about the importance of safe water and sanitation. The MWA is developing this project in partnership with GWC, WASRAG from Rotary and the Department of State (OES).

MWP-K: The Millennium Water Program—Kenya (MWP-K) is a USAID-funded initiative to provide safe water, improved sanitation, and hygiene education (WASH) to areas of rural Kenya impacted by drought and climate change. Its objectives are reducing water-borne illness, promoting integrated water resource management to improve livelihoods, and developing partnerships with beneficiary communities for improved sustainability.

SWASH+: Central America – Schools Water, Sanitation and Hygiene plus Community Impact is a pilot schools project launched in 2008 in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. It focuses its work in 46 municipalities within the four countries targeting 146 schools and over 15,000 students. The initiative builds upon experience and established relationships of three MWA partners: CARE, Catholic Relief Services and Water for People.

Circuit Rider in Central America: Recently adopted by MWA, this cost-effective program has proven over time to help sustain small water systems using highly qualified water technicians rotating through a circuit of communities providing advice and training to local operators on issues of sustainability, governance, treatment technologies, and operations and maintenance.

At the 2002 World Summit for Sustainable Development, then Secretary of State Colin Powell announced the U.S. commitment to the Goals for Sustainable Development. One goal is to “reduce by half, the proportion of people without access to safe and affordable drinking water and sanitation” by the year 2015.

To help reach these critical goals, leading U.S. based, non-governmental organizations formed the Millennium Water Alliance (MWA). The MWA is a cooperating group of U.S. humanitarian and faith-based NGOs working to assist poor communities in the developing world gain access to safe water and sanitation.

The Millennium Water Alliance (MWA) was created to help 500 million people obtain water and basic sanitation by 2015, also known as the Millennium Development Goal. Our vision mirrors our belief that no one should die or suffer chronic illness as the result of a water-related disease.