2029
Millions of Afghans still drink unsafe water, lack toilets, and have no
access to basic hygiene. ASHAO is changing that — one well, one
latrine, one community at a time.
28M+
Afghans Lack Safe Water
67%
Face Water Access Barriers
9%
Practice Open Defecation
1 in 3
Afghans Without Soap
38%
Rural Unimproved Latrines
Strategic Overview
How We Deliver Clean Water to the Last Mile
Every ASHAO WASH intervention is co-designed with communities, informed by hydrological data, and built for long-term local ownership — not short-term donor visibility.
Well Construction & Rehabilitation
Drilling and equipping solar-powered deep tube wells and rehabilitating hand-dug wells and springs in drought-affected and conflict-displaced communities. All wells include community-managed water quality testing kits.
Latrine & Handwashing Station Construction
Constructing gender-segregated latrines with lockable doors, menstrual hygiene facilities, and adjacent handwashing stations in households, schools, and health facilities across target districts.
Hygiene Kit Distribution
Distributing context-appropriate hygiene kits including soap, chlorine tablets, jerry cans, and menstrual hygiene management (MHM) items to households and displaced families — especially women and adolescent girls.
Cholera & AWD Prevention Campaigns
Rapid hygiene promotion campaigns using community health volunteers in Acute Watery Diarrhoea (AWD) and cholera hotspot areas — reaching thousands of households with handwashing demonstrations and oral rehydration guidance.
WASH Committee Establishment & Training
Establishing and training gender-balanced community WASH committees with skills in operations, maintenance, minor repairs, water quality monitoring, and fee collection for facility sustainability.
Water Quality Monitoring
Regular testing of community water sources using field test kits and coordination with ASHAO's health program to link contaminated water findings to protective health responses in real time.
Measured Impact
Every Drop of Change Counted
These numbers represent real families with clean water to drink, children who
aren’t missing school, and communities freed from the cycle of waterborne
disease.
80K+
People with Safe Water
250+
Water Points Constructed
1200+
Latrines Builtr
45K+
Hygiene Kits Distributed
150+
WASH Committees Formed
200+
Schools with WASH Facilities
A Story of Change
"My Daughters No Longer Walk Three Hours for Water"
Before ASHAO arrived in Fatima’s village in the mountains of Badakhshan, her two daughters woke before sunrise every day. Their first task — before school, before breakfast — was a three-hour round trip to collect water from a shallow, often contaminated spring.
In spring 2023, ASHAO’s WASH team conducted a community assessment, sank a deep tube well with a solar-powered pump, and established a community WASH committee — with Fatima as one of its elected female representatives.
The first time clean water came out of that tap, my daughter cried. She said: "Mama, I can go to school today without being tired." That is what water means to us. It is not just water. It is a future.
Today Fatima’s daughters attend school regularly. The cholera cases that used to appear every spring in her village have not returned. And Fatima leads the WASH committee that tests water quality and maintains the pump — a community managing its own future.
The Bigger Picture
Why WASH Is the Foundation of All Development
Water, sanitation, and hygiene are not standalone services. They are the bedrock
upon which every other development outcome depends.
WASH & Child Survival
Waterborne diseases — cholera, typhoid, acute watery diarrhoea — are the leading preventable killers of Afghan children under 5. Access to safe water and handwashing alone can cut diarrheal deaths by more than 50%.
WASH Keeps Girls in School
Girls drop out of school at puberty when there are no safe, private toilets. When ASHAO installs gender-segregated WASH facilities in schools, girls' attendance and retention rates rise dramatically — unlocking their futures.
WASH Unlocks Economic Time
Afghan women and girls spend an average of 4–6 hours daily collecting water. A community well returns those hours to education, income generation, childcare, and rest — a transformative economic intervention.
WASH Builds Climate Resilience
Afghanistan faces worsening droughts, floods, and water table decline due to climate change. Community-managed solar-powered wells, water conservation practices, and groundwater monitoring are direct climate adaptation investments.
The Bigger Picture
We build wells that will still be running in twenty years — because we build the community capacity to maintain them alongside the physical infrastructure..
Community Needs Assessment First
Every intervention begins with a participatory assessment co-led by community members, women's groups, and ASHAO's hydrogeological team to determine the right solution for the right location.
Gender-Balanced WASH Committees
We require at least 50% female membership on all community WASH committees — giving women real decision-making power over water management and hygiene norms in their own communities.
Solar-Powered & Climate-Smart
All new water supply facilities are solar-powered and designed for Afghanistan's climate extremes — including drought resilience, flood protection, and accessible to people with disabilities.
Linked to Health Program
ASHAO's WASH and Health teams work in tandem — water quality data feeds into disease surveillance, and hygiene education is reinforced in community health sessions and clinic visits.
Post-Construction Monitoring
ASHAO conducts water quality tests and functionality checks at 6 months, 12 months, and 24 months post-construction — and provides rapid response support if any facility breaks down.
Emergency WASH Response — Always Ready
When floods, earthquakes, conflict displacement, or cholera outbreaks strike, ASHAO's pre-positioned emergency WASH teams deploy within 48 hours — bringing water trucking, emergency latrine kits, water purification tablets, and hygiene kits to affected communities before disease takes hold.
Strategic Overview
Clean Water Is a Human
Right.
Help Us Deliver It.
$50 provides clean water for a family for six months. $500 funds a community hygiene<b/>
kit distribution. $5,000 installs a solar-powered well serving 500 people for 20 years.<b/>
Every dollar goes to work in Afghanistan.