Can you describe your association in a few words?

Our focus is to facilitate water access in Central Africa with Cameroon as a pilot country. What sets What Water ASBL apart is its commitment to ensuring that the majority of the proceeds go directly to the communities in need, with minimal intermediaries. The organization raises funds through various channels, including art promotion, corporate sponsorships, and institutional funding. We accompany funds all the way to the ground, where we coordinate projects with local contractors.

Also we cofinance Water projects together with our partner communes, doubling the impact of our fundraising efforts!

“Empowering communities by addressing the global water crisis is not just our mission; it’s a commitment to creating positive, lasting change”

How are your members’ expectations changing and how are you adapting to them?

Currently, a third of world population does not have access to safely managed drinking water, facilitating its access is one of the 17 UN sustainable development goals. It should be common knowledge that clean water access also supports education, health, woman empowerment, peace and sedentarism. Water is an obvious root to rural economic growth and has the potential to revolutionize societies. Hence our motto: It’s about What Water can do! In terms of technological trends, Water desalination has made substantial progress. We also come across a growing number of providers for air-to-water solutions. As solar energy becomes cheaper to produce and stock, these technologies have the potential to become best-in-class in numerous parts of the world.  At this stage, we prefer to focus on facilitating access to underground water. It still is today the quickest and most reliable means to quench a dire need. We prefer to build water towers with solar powered pumps. We are also working on a digital project to improve maintenance and sustainability of rural water facilities

What is your association’s vision for the next 5 years?

800 million people don’t have access to clean water within a reasonable distance to their home.

Our goal by 2030, reaching 1%.  We aim to impact 8mio people by giving access to clean water and raising awareness on its importance. Already recognized of public utility in Switzerland, we hope to become ONGD in Luxembourg by mid 2024, with the intent to professionalize our initiative and widen our impact. The association is also committed to establishing local What Water chapters throughout Europe and Central Africa with discussions to start activities in Togo, Ivory Coast, Congo, France, the UK, and more recently in Canada!