Alaska Working for WASH

Alaska Working for WASH

Alaska Working for WASH

Briefing Prepared for ______

Improving Access to Clean Water Is at the Top of Americans’ Global Health Priorities

People in the state of Alaska are leading the effort to solve the global safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) challenge. There are numerous faith-based, civic, and academic initiatives for WASH underway throughout the state. The top programs in the state include:

a) Rotary District 5010 of Alaska & Yukon partnered with the Choluteca Rotary Club to sponsor a WASH project in Honduras. The project is one of the first Rotary projects in Honduras to address water and sanitation challenges through latrine construction and hygiene education.

b) The Alaska Sudan Medical Project drilled 13 new water wells in South Sudan, which provided water access to rural communities.

c) The Diocese of Fairbanks supports Catholic Relief Services water, sanitation, and hygiene projects throughout Latin America, Africa, and Asia that help hundreds of thousands of people obtain access to WASH services.

Other notable efforts include:

Rotary Clubs in Alaska

  • Anchorage, Midtown, Gateway, and Anchorage South Rotary Clubs
  • Partnered with the University of Alaska-Anchorage Engineers Without Borders Chapter to provide clean drinking water to an orphanage in Cameroon
  • Rotary District 5010, Alaska & Yukon
  • Sponsored a WASH project in Honduras that installed 165 biosand filters, constructed 165 latrines, provided community workshops on sanitation and hygiene, supported WASH education in schools, and trained water and hygiene committee members
  • Traveled to Honduras for a work/study trip that involved visiting completed village projects and assembling latrines at current project sites

Faith-Based Organizations in Alaska

• Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish, Anchorage

  • Supports Avivara, an organization that awarded school improvement grants to 16 rural schools in Guatemala, benefitting 2,200 students
  • Funded the installation of a water delivery system that improved access to clean water for students in Guatemala

• University Baptist Church, Anchorage

  • Installed three water purification units on a mission trip to Thailand that increased access to safe drinking water for Thai and Burmese citizens living near regions affected by tsunamis

• Anchorage Grace Church, Anchorage

  • Supports Asian Outreach International, a Christian organization that implements community development projects, including water-filtration units, water wells, and sanitation facilities
  • Funded the training of 7,100 children on health, hygiene, and waterborne illness prevention through Asian Outreach International’s 2nd Chance Initiative

• First Presbyterian Church, Fairbanks

  • Supports International Friends of Compassion (IFC), a faith organization dedicated to providing assistance to Indonesia’s poor
  • Partnered with IFC to train 90 health care workers in Indonesia on proper cholera and diarrhea treatment

• Faith Christian Community, Anchorage

  • Partners with the Sudanese diaspora to train and equip members to develop wells, clinics, and schools within Sudanese villages

Schools & Universities in Alaska

  • University of Alaska-Anchorage Engineers Without Borders Chapter
  • Partnered with Rotary Clubs in Anchorage to install a rainwater catchment system in Cameroon from 2009-2013
  • Assessed, implemented, and monitored the rainwater catchment system
  • Juneau-Douglas High School, Juneau
  • Supports H2O for Life through the student-run Interact Club
  • Raised $1,000 that supported the construction of a new water well at an indigenous boarding school in Colombia, benefitting nearly 1,500 students and teachers
  • Raised $725 for a rain catchment tank, new latrines, and a handwashing station at a school in Kenya, benefitting 230 students and teachers

WASH-Focused Organizations in Alaska

  • Alaska Sudan Medical Project, Anchorage
  • Offers training and apprenticeship programs that teach locals how to drill and repair wells to increase the capacity of South Sudanese communities and ensure sustainable access to clean water
  • Constructs pit latrines and handwashing stations that improve community hygiene and sanitation
  • US Army Corps of Engineers, Alaska District
  • Implemented a clean water project in Sri Lanka that connected 371 families living below the poverty line to the town’s water supply
  • Reduced the amount of time that community members spend fetching water and provided water for nearly 5,000 people through their water project

For more information, please contact John Oldfield at WASH Advocates:

202.293.4049   Updated: December 2015

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