Today is World Water Day. This year’s theme: “Leveraging Water for Peace”. On this occasion, the Wilo-Foundation is making a donation for the rehabilitation of damaged buildings in Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine. Buildings will be repaired and basic WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) services will be made available again. The aim is to ensure decent living conditions for the population and facilitate the return of internally displaced persons to their home regions. The measures are being implemented by the association arche noVa e.V., which specialises in WASH, in collaboration with local partners.

Currently, 16 million people in Ukraine are in urgent need of WASH support. In February 2023, the arche noVa team conducted a needs assessment in eight selected communities in Kharkiv Oblast in order to identify the most urgent humanitarian needs. Since then, activities have focused on WASH and shelter, drawing on arche noVa’s expertise in these areas. The need for measures is both huge and complex: people need drinking water (distributed in bottles or through water trucking), and public utilities require technical and material support. Moreover, there is a need for WASH facilities in emergency shelters to be enlarged and adapted to make them inclusive, and for hygiene sets to be distributed to the local population. In the areas concerned, people are at increased risk of contracting diseases that are transmitted by contaminated water.

Further information on project activities in Ukraine and donation options is available here.

Our funding partner: In the past, the Wilo-Foundation has provided funding for various water projects of the association arche noVa – Initiative für Menschen in Not e.V., including in Kenya and Ethiopia and, before the beginning of the war, in Ukraine (Rehabilitation of school toilets and health centres).