Rotary Clubs
Founding Trustee and Rotarian, David Dixon, first visited Zambia in 2003. Shocked by the conditions he saw caused by dirty water, lack of good hygiene knowledge and proper sanitation facilities, when he returned to the UK he used his Rotary contacts to help raise enough funds to repair 20 broken water-points.
There are now 112 communities in Zambia, 97 villages and 15 schools, benefiting from safe water, sanitation and hygiene education thanks to Rotary sponsorship. Read the look-back study here.
By supporting a whole village, clubs are supporting a full programme of hygiene education, sanitation training, safe water and pump minder training, as well as follow-up visits to ensure changes are lasting.
Rotary Club Impacts
12
rural primary schools benefitted from the Lessons 4 Life programme, inspired by rotarians and funded entirely by clubs and their associates.
The unique programme established hygiene education as a core subject in 12 rural primary schools. The children then took the newly learnt messages back to their families, resulting in improved hygiene and sanitation in more communities. Each school also received a safe water supply for the first time, meaning children are hydrated so can concentrate in class, and do not miss school due to illness caused by dirty water.
25
thousand pounds was raised by Rotary clubs in 2014 for the Well Good Appeal. Village Water became the smallest charity to have a fundraising campaign match funded by DfID. During the 3-month long appeal, Rotary Clubs raised £25,000 which was then doubled by the UK government.
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rotary funded communities were monitored and, if needed, their water-points repaired thanks to Trustee and Rotarian Richard Pither. He cycled from Land’s End to John O’Groats in 2017 raising £8,524.24 towards a Rotary look back study (read it here). Our award winning mobile-to-web monitoring system allows us to collect data and track health improvements in the field, making it easier to adapt our strategy to maximise the sustained health of communities that we work in.
“We are happy with the training because we have learnt the importance of having these facilities and have started putting them in our homes and keeping our village clean. I think this program has really changed our lives.”
As an approved RIBI project partner, we have support from Rotarians all over the country. Our founding Trustee was a Rotarian too, so we’ve had a long history together. Get in touch with Beth to start your partnership with us today. We can’t wait to hear from you!
beth@villagewater.org
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