Founded in 1987, WaterAid Canada is one of seven WaterAid member branches that coordinate and fund operations for WaterAid’s country programs. WaterAid Canada’s mission is to improve access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene in the world’s poorest communities. WaterAid’s overarching goal is to provide safe water to everyone in the world by 2030. Through local partnerships, WaterAid Canada helps poor and marginalized people develop practical and sustainable water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) projects to improve the community’s well-being. International WASH programs made up 94% of program costs in F2019. Canadian public engagement activities accounted for the remaining 6%.

WaterAid Canada breaks down its international programs into three major groups: safe water, sanitation, and hygiene. In F2019, the charity reported activities in its four main countries: Madagascar, Mali, Ghana, and Tanzania.

In Madagascar, WaterAid Canada constructed 24 water supply systems and 22 handwashing facilities. Also, the creation of 19 WASH health training committees helped provide capacity building support and training to local communities. In Mali, water infrastructure has reached a total of 27,673 people. The charity has also empowered women and youth to make income through the creation of two new micro-credit cooperatives focused on developing soap. WaterAid Canada provides training to each cooperative on governance, financial management, and procedures. In Ghana, the charity has collaborated with Ghana Health Service to train 204 healthcare workers on the delivery of quality health care. The charity also formed and trained 20 Water and Sanitation Management Teams, each with 35% female representation. In Tanzania, WaterAid Canada has successfully connected eight of the twelve health centres to a water source. In addition, radio hygiene education messages have reached 1,583,757 people.

WaterAid Canada is a Medium-sized charity, receiving $4.9m in donations and fundraising revenue in F2019. 48% of donations came from Canadian foundations. Further, 30% of donations came from individual donors and 22% came from other WaterAid chapters. The charity also received $2.4m in funding from Global Affairs Canada. Administrative costs are 3% of revenues and fundraising costs are 30% of donations. For every dollar donated, 67 cents go the cause. This is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending. Funding reserves of $3.5m can cover 6.8 months of annual program costs.

This charity report is an update that has been sent to WaterAid Canada for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on June 25, 2020 by Tenzin Shomar.