The Story of NPO WaterAid Japan’s Strengthening of Organizational Foundations
“WaterAid Japan,” an international NGO that has been working on water and sanitation issues around the world. In order to spread the word about the current situation in developing countries, WaterAid Japan has established a “Speaker Club,” which conducts on-site classes. We asked them about their efforts to strengthen their public relations infrastructure, which is steadily increasing the number of volunteers and revitalizing their activities.
[This is a re-edited version of an article originally published in No. 339 edition, THE BIG ISSUE JAPAN (July 15, 2018).]
800 Children Die Every Day Due to Poor Water and Sanitation Conditions
Japan Is the Largest Donor in the Field of Water and Sanitation
WaterAid is an NGO founded in 1981 with the support of British water utilities with the goal of providing “access to safe drinking water and sanitation for all.” Ms. Kaoru Takahashi, Secretary General of WaterAid Japan, explains the history of the organization.
“WaterAid Japan was founded at the same time that the United Nations launched a plan to address the drinking water crisis from 1981 to 1990, and it was expanded in the 2000s to include the United States, Australia, Sweden, and other countries.”
Preparations for the establishment of WaterAid Japan began in 2012. After completing her development studies course in the U.K., Ms. Takahashi worked for another NGO in charge of fundraising and corporate partnership projects, as well as a staff member of a correspondence high school, before becoming involved in the establishment of WaterAid Japan. WaterAid Japan began its operations as an NPO in 2013.
Secretary General of WaterAid Japan
“Even today, 844 million people worldwide do not have access to clean water, and 2.3 billion people, or one-third of the total population, do not have access to proper sanitation. Diarrhea due to lack of water and sanitation claims the lives of as many as 800 children a day. Japan is actually the largest donor in the field of water and sanitation. In order to achieve Goal 6 of the SDGs*, ‘Ensure access to water and sanitation for all,’ Japan needs to communicate the high priority it places on this issue.”
* International goals for the period 2016-2030 set forth in “the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” adopted by the United Nations.
WaterAid operates in 34 countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Oceania, providing access to water supplies, sanitation facilities, and hygiene practices to people who have been discriminated against or left behind from development in rural areas and urban slums due to poverty, disability, ethnic origin, or caste.
“When implementing projects, we collaborate with local NGOs to learn about the local culture and society, as well as to listen to the needs of the people involved. Using as many locally available materials as possible, we will investigate optimal solutions such as drilling wells, installing rainwater harvesting tanks, and natural runoff using mountain spring water, and developing a system for resident maintenance and management.”
In this way, she said, the local NGO will acquire problem-solving skills, and the project will expand.
Training Speakers Nationwide
Turn Volunteers Into Successors to Provide On-Site Classes
In many countries, fetching water is considered a job for women and children, and some children are unable to attend school because of this. Another problem is the lack of toilets in the schools, which causes girls to stop going to school as they get older.
“In Madagascar, for example, girls between the ages of 12 and 13 were fetching water. They carried 20-liter tanks on their heads and carried them barefoot for an hour on dirt roads five times a day. Some of the children fell and injured themselves. We worked with the local people to dig a well and build a water supply system so they could go to school.”
In order to spread awareness of this situation and WaterAid’s activities in Japan, Ms. Takahashi came up with the idea of establishing a “Speaker Club,” where volunteers conduct classes at events and schools.
“WaterAid is a similar organization in the U.K., and I knew from the start that I wanted to see it in Japan as well. We were finally able to recruit volunteers and hold our first workshop to create educational materials in 2014.”
In 2015, the “Speaker Club” was officially launched with 20 volunteers, but at the time, there were three staff members. It was difficult to expand the activities significantly, recalls Ms. Kasumi Tachibana, in charge of communication.
“Therefore, in 2016, with the help of a grant from the Panasonic NPO/NGO Support Fund, we held our first workshops in Hokkaido, Tokyo, Yokohama, Aichi, and Osaka, and 48 new people became members of our speaker team. Some were school teachers and high school students, and others worked for sewage treatment and toilet companies.”
The workshop was conducted over a full day in a workshop format, incorporating “peer teaching” methods. One team gives a lesson, the other team provides feedback, and after team discussion and practice, the team tries to give the lesson to the same team again.
They also incorporated participants’ feedback into the workshop content. “In addition to instructor materials, we were able to create a script that introduced what to say and when to say it, which was well received.”
WaterAid Japan
Core Speakers Active in the Community
High School Student Speakers Also Provide Classes
As a result, activities were revitalized, but the administrative burden on the speaker’s club increased, and it was clear that the club would be ground to a standstill. Therefore, the club received another grant the following year, and in 2017, it was decided to recruit and train six “core speakers” from among the registered speakers. They would play a central role in their respective regions.
“In the future, we would like to ask them to negotiate with schools for on-site classes, select class content, and communicate with other speakers. We would also like to establish a system to increase the number of speakers in each region on a voluntary basis by entrusting them with the management of speaker training sessions held in each region,” said Ms. Tachibana.
In 2017, the core speakers assisted the secretariat staff at events to learn how to organize the event and also made sample videos of the classes. In the third year of the grant, the secretariat will follow up with the core speakers, and they will take the lead in organizing the speaker workshops.
Ms. Takahashi explains the significance of the speakers’ presence, which has now grown to 160.
“For our organization, which is still in its early stages, having 160 people from across the country who have spent an entire day with us and have a thorough understanding of what we do is a huge asset. Some of them have become recurring donors, and horizontal connections have been formed among the speakers.”
The “Speaker Club,” which is also a means of providing opportunities to participate in activities, is gradually becoming known as a unique initiative, Ms. Takahashi said.
Sumida-ku, Tokyo, where WaterAid Japan is based, has been holding “water circulation courses” for ward residents in recent years. WaterAid was in charge of planning and organizing these courses in fiscal years 2016 and 2017. “This March, as part of the course, high school student speakers gave their own classes. Many participants were so moved by the content of that class that they were ‘moved to tears,’ so we would like to increase the number of young speakers in the future.” Ms.Takahashi said enthusiastically.
“In addition, when we talk about developing countries with local governments and organizations that are working to improve the health of the water cycle, we see many commonalities. We would be happy if overseas examples can serve as an opportunity to review our own water usage, and we would also like to deepen our ties with those who are active in Japan.”
[Organization Profile]
NPO WaterAid Japan
Established in 2013 as the Japanese subsidiary of WaterAid, an international NGO founded in 1981 in the U.K., WaterAid is working in 34 countries around the world to ensure that “everyone has access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene everywhere” by 2030.
