Over the last ten years, the International Federation has established and consolidated a water and sanitation vision, policy and capacity to better address two principle global challenges.

1. Acute water and sanitation challenges, mostly related to crises and disasters, where there is the urgency to provide basic needs to save lives, contain or reduce health threats and restore dignity.

2. Chronic water and sanitation challenges, mostly related to the fact that still a large proportion of the world’s poor do not have access to adequate safe water and sanitation, causing death, disease and loss of productivity. Around four million people die every year as a result of poor water and sanitation access; many are children under five years of age.

View a mapping of the International Federation's water and sanitation activities from 1993 to 2006.

The GWSI outlines a common approach among National Societies to establish larger-scale, longer-term sustainable water and sanitation programs to contribute more effectively in meeting the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The GWSI, in combination with the MDG initiative and the launch of a second UN decade for water (2005-2015), intends to generate more available resources for Red Cross and Red Crescent water and sanitation projects. During this time, the International Federation plans to target at least an additional five million vulnerable people worldwide.

Find out more about the Global Water and Sanitation Initiative by downloading the documents below.

Global Water and Sanitation Initiative (1 Mb, 14 pages)
Ensuring safe water and sanitation in the millennium (463 Kb, 4 pages)
Basic logical framework (79 kb, 3 pages)
Checklist: a project planning tool (144 kb, 5 pages)
PHAST baseline survey (695 kb, 8 pages)

Our GWSI partners

	ACP-EU Water Facility
	Nestlé
	Red Cross Red Crescent Societies