Global Water Strategy

Resource Collection

USAID Water and Development Annual Reports

Water impacts health, food, energy, security, economic growth, and environmental stability around the world. USAID’s work to address the challenge of improving water and sanitation access to the 2.1 billion people without safe drinking water and the estimated 4.4 billion people without adequate sanitation is documented in its annual report. In addition to taking a comprehensive look at USAID water programming over the past year, the annual report breaks down funding by country and region and provides results of its work in water, sanitation, and agricultural water management.

Resource Collection

Strategy & Guidance Materials

Under the U.S. Government Global Water Strategy, USAID seeks to increase access to sustainable water and sanitation services, promote key hygiene behaviors among the world’s poorest and most vulnerable, billions of whom remain unserved or underserved, and enhance the effective management of the water resources that are essential for the sustainable provision of drinking water, as well as for other objectives such as food security, nutrition, resilience, education, and economic growth.

Blog

2019: The Year in Review

USAID is working to improve the lives of millions of people around the globe by addressing the most basic of human needs—access to water and sanitation.

Article

Strengthening Collaboration in the Transboundary Tisza River Basin, Eastern Europe

The Tisza River is a major tributary of the Danube whose watershed is shared by five countries: Hungary, Slovakia, Ukraine, Serbia, and Romania. The basin is alternatively subject to severe urban flood risk and drought—imperiling critical economic sectors. As with all shared waters, the uneven distribution and quality of water resources has the potential to magnify conflicts, generate population dislocations, and threaten fragile alliances in the region.

News Link

USAID Designates New Priority Countries under the Water for the Poor Act

On October 23, 2019, USAID announced its annual list of high-priority countries for assistance in safe water and sanitation. These partner countries will be the primary focus of the U.S. Government’s investments to build a more water-secure world.

Blog

USAID Appoints New Global Water Coordinator

On September 12, 2019, USAID announced the appointment of Jennifer Mack as the USAID Global Water Coordinator. The announcement was made by the Agency Counselor Chris Milligan at an event in Washington, D.C., that focused on water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) partnerships, and marked nearly five years since passage of the Senator Paul Simon Water for the World Act of 2014.

Fact Sheet

Water Security and Sanitation at USAID

USAID’s water and sanitation assistance has resulted in millions of people gaining access to improved drinking water and sanitation services. Reliable access to safe water and sanitation saves lives, reduces extreme poverty, and makes communities more resilient. Investments in water and sanitation are critical for progress in nearly all aspects of global development.

This fact sheet provides data to describe the water crisis and to illustrate the success of USAID's efforts in helping communities around the world to access improved water and sanitation services.

Infographic

USAID Water and Development Timeline

This timeline visualizes key milstones in USAID and the U.S. Government's efforts to tackle to global water crisis, starting in 2005 when Congress signed the Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act into law.

Video

Implementing the U.S. Global Water Strategy: A First-Year Review

In November 2017, the U.S. Department of State and the USAID released the first U.S. Global Water Strategy. With contributions from more than 17 U.S. government agencies and departments, the Global Water Strategy lays out four interrelated objectives to support a more water secure world: increase access to sustainable safe drinking water and sanitation services, and promote hygiene; protect freshwater resources; promote cooperation on shared waters; and strengthen water governance and financing.

Blog

USAID Releases New Standard Indicators for Water and Sanitation

Success in the water and sanitation sector cannot be defined by only the number of boreholes drilled or toilets built. In addition to helping communities gain first-time access to improved water and sanitation services, USAID is focusing on building strong, self-reliant, systems to deliver services beyond the life of our projects. That not only means adapting our approach, but also expanding how we measure outcomes.