Global Communities helps communities build lasting water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) solutions by strengthening local systems, improving services, and supporting practical innovations.
World Water Day is a global observance that spotlights why safe water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) are essential to health, education, and economic security. At Global Communities, we partner with communities, local governments, and the private sector to expand sustainable WASH services—so families can stay healthy, children can learn, and communities can thrive.
- Safe water and sanitation protect health and reduce preventable disease.
- Strong local systems are what make water services last.
- Hygiene behaviors—like handwashing and safe water storage—save lives.
What Is World Water Day?
World Water Day is a UN-recognized observance focused on the importance of freshwater and the urgent need for sustainable water management. It is observed each year on March 22.
World Water Day is more than awareness: it’s a call to action for solutions that keep water safe, affordable, and reliable—especially in places facing climate stress, fragile infrastructure, or unequal access.
Why World Water Day Matters
When water is unsafe, unreliable, or too far away, the consequences are immediate—health risks rise, time is lost to water collection, and schools and clinics struggle to function. Global Communities focuses on WASH because clean water and safe sanitation are foundational: they protect children, strengthen public health, and support community resilience.
Just as importantly, water can become a source of tension when access is unequal or systems break down—another reason sustainable, locally owned solutions matter.
How Global Communities Advances Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene
Global Communities is committed to the goal of universal access to clean water and sanitation. Our approach centers on strengthening the local systems that connect households and communities to sustainable services—because durable impact depends on long-term operations, maintenance, financing, and governance.
Our WASH work includes:
- Building stronger local systems that link communities to sustainable water, sanitation, and hygiene services.
- Working with communities, governments, and the private sector to improve health through safe sanitation and key hygiene behaviors.
- Supporting safer daily practices, including handwashing, food and water storage and safety, latrine use and maintenance, and approaches like Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) that help communities become open defecation–free.
- Advancing innovations in community-based WASH finance, managed water service provision, water resource management, and off-grid or revenue-generating supply solutions.
- Strengthening public sector capacity to partner with the private sector to deliver safely managed sanitation and water supply services.
- Promoting sanitation and hygiene in schools and health facilities.
Practical Innovation: Digni-Loo (A Proven Sanitation Solution)
One example of Global Communities’ practical innovation is Digni-Loo—a hygienic plastic toilet slab designed as an affordable, durable, and easy-to-maintain sanitation solution. Introduced in 2016 and developed with Ghanaian company Duraplast, it can be installed without special tools and is designed for rural community needs.
To date, more than 31,000 units have been sold across Ghana, and the Government of Ghana (with World Bank support) has purchased more than 25,000 units—demonstrating what’s possible when communities have access to practical, scalable sanitation options.
What “Sustainable Water Access” Really Requires
World Water Day is a useful moment to clarify what makes WASH solutions last. Sustainable water and sanitation are not only about infrastructure—they depend on the full life cycle of costs, operations, and local capacity.
In practice, sustainability means:
- Services that communities can operate, maintain, and finance over time
- Water quality monitoring and risk management built into local systems
- Partnerships among households, communities, government, and the private sector
How to Support World Water Day
Interested in partnering with Global Communities on WASH solutions—systems strengthening, sanitation innovation, or hygiene programming? Contact us to explore collaboration opportunities.
Support community-led solutions that expand safe water and sanitation—so families can thrive with dignity and security. Give today.