Oxfam is widely recognized as a leading organization supporting people affected by humanitarian emergencies to access water, sanitation, and public health service and resources. From drilling wells for Palestinian refugees in Jordan in 1962 to the present-day, Oxfam and partners have been at the forefront of humanitarian WASH responses worldwide. In 2023, Oxfam and partners have supported 7.7 million people with WASH through enhanced humanitarian action. Many others have benefitted from sustainable development interventions, such as Oxfam’s work with governments and the private sector to deliver long-lasting services. Innovation has been at the center of Oxfam’s work in WASH, with advances in technology and approaches to WASH implementation now being widely adopted by the WASH sector such as Oxfam tanks and community engagement in WASH.
Water, sanitation and hygiene are the core components of WASH, a critical sector both for saving lives in humanitarian crises and for achieving sustainable development goals 3 and 6. WASH work is essential for promoting health, dignity, and socio-economic development worldwide.
In humanitarian contexts, WASH interventions are vital for saving lives and alleviating suffering during emergencies and disasters by reducing deaths and illnesses. WASH encompasses enabling access to water and sanitation services; access to hygiene and health information and services, including to prevent and respond to outbreaks; supporting on solid waste management and vector control as measures to protect public health. Additionally, these efforts aim to enhance people’s dignity by reducing protection risks faced by people in higher situations of vulnerability, safeguarding the environment, and promoting social cohesion.
Oxfam’s work is carried out in the context of conflict, natural disasters and a climate crisis. The climate crisis is both a water crisis and one which will lead to an increase in disease outbreaks. Oxfam is committed to climate justice by focusing on programming in the countries where people are most vulnerable to climate-induced shocks by addressing water insecurity, sanitation, and public health. Oxfam’s commitment to WASH continues to save lives and improve health outcomes in crisis-affected communities globally.
What Does Oxfam’s Wash Programming Include?
Oxfam has expertise in countries, regions, and globally across a broad range of specializations within the WASH sector. Oxfam’s WASH teams are composed of experts on water and sanitation through Public Health Engineering (PHE) staff; and experts on public health (including epidemic response), socio-anthropology, behavior change and sociology through Public Health Promotion (PHP) staff. PHP & PHE staff work jointly with communities to provide highly targeted, adapted, high-quality and innovative WASH response in emergencies while working to make WASH services sustainable and climate-resilient. Oxfam works hand in hand with national partners, including, but not limited, to ministries of health and water and sanitation as well as contractors, local NGOs, and civil society.
The impact of Oxfam’s WASH programming derives from the collective delivery of all three subsectors described below. We will be better able to meet public health outcomes with joint water, sanitation, and public health programming.
Water
Oxfam works to ensure people affected by humanitarian emergencies have access to safe water in sufficient quantity to meet basic needs. This can include drilling boreholes, solar pumping, rainwater harvesting, water treatment, water distribution and engagement with end users so that they have safe water at the point of consumption. Oxfam works in collaboration with local partners including utilities, water ministries and state appointed service providers to sustainably manage water resources and services and undertake climate-resilient interventions to achieve water security.
Sanitation
Oxfam’s work in sanitation encompasses the entire sanitation chain, starting with excreta disposal by building toilets and through emptying, transport, and the end treatment of faecal sludge, wastewater, and solid waste. We work to improve the quality of services at each step, including the potential for waste to value re-use. Critical to our work is consulting and working with all people, including those most vulnerable, to ensure they have safe and equitable access to sanitation services both to protect public health and to maintain dignity.
Public Health Promotion
Oxfam’s work on public health promotion supports the engagement of affected populations in the planning, design and most effective use of water, sanitation and hygiene infrastructure and products, and brings them together with key stakeholders to identify and reduce public health risks. It encompasses WASH-related disease preparedness and response, through providing sufficient and accurate information around disease, health, and hygiene, and creates space for two-way dialogue around community needs and pre-emptive actions to reduce the occurrence and impact of disease.
Oxfam’s Humanitarian Wash Strategy
Vision
Women, men, and children affected by disaster, conflict, and the impacts of climate change will have access to safe, appropriate, and high-quality WASH services that enable them to mitigate public health risks in a dignified way. Affected population in a heightened situation of vulnerability will be actively engaged, influencing Oxfam and partners’ response to meet their specific WASH needs through a community engagement approach.
Goal
Oxfam will continue to be a leading player in humanitarian WASH, demonstrating rapid and high-quality emergency responses that respond at scale to community needs. Oxfam aims to continue influencing the WASH sector with evidence of effective programming that supports community resilience in disaster prone and fragile contexts and enhancing national capacity to reduce (or mitigate) public health risks through improved WASH services for those in heightened situation (or position) or vulnerability.