Surge for Water

Surge for Water invests in communities with water, sanitation, hygiene, and menstrual health solutions to help end the cycle of poverty.

Surge’s vision is a world where every person has access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene. We e

Goal One: While Surge provides holistic access to WASH and MH in our existing communities, we will also scale to offer additional programs to new communities in partnership with locals.

Goal Two: To continuously deliver our mission, Surge will build financial and management capacity. We’ll do this through our Boards and additional field staff to scale our programs with our communities.

Goal Three: All Surge communities have a history of oppression. Surge will continue to strengthen community local capacity with a decolonization approach, addressing global access issues.

Surge has further formalized its Advisory Board, training members on outreach to support the Development function of the organization. This training has been led by a Board member on the Governing Board with experience in Development.

When COVID-19 began, Surge’s global communities were at a great risk due to compounded effects of the virus, given a lack of proper water, sanitation, hygiene and menstrual health. To address the spread, Surge expanded its existing programs and used megaphones, radio programs and other forms of program delivery to effectively teach and reinforce the message of how to stay safe. Surge equipped staff with the information and protective gear to keep themselves and their communities safe from COVID-19. As a result, we: delivered hygiene education; installed hand- washing stations at homes, schools, health centers, and markets; raised awareness through radio shows and megaphone campaigns; made and distributed cloth masks; and more. Once pandemic conditions improved, these staff members also resumed delivering long-term solutions, such as water, sanitation and hygiene infrastructure and education programs. As a result of all of these efforts, Surge had its best year of impact yet, impacting over 71,000 people across four counties (Dominican Republic, Haiti, Philippines Uganda). Programs included: - Water Access and Purification: 23 Wells, 48 Rainwater tanks, 96 Water Filters - Sanitation: 7 School Toilets - Education: Menstrual Health, Hygiene, Soap Making - COVID-19 Response: Handwashing Stations, Radio Awareness Programs, Cloth Masks, Soap Though Surge was at risk for a 50% budget reduction by the end of the year, pivoting fundraising activities as an organization allowed for Surge to continue to engage remote donors throughout the year and lower the budget gap. Surge has learned from adapted program delivery and new donor engagement tools, which will continue to influence the organization’s development.