Everyone needs safe water to survive. It is an essential component for health, development and shared prosperity, but poor resource management, limited infrastructure and regular maintenance and climate change can result in a lack of safe water services for households, schools and healthcare facilities. The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation Safe Water Initiative focuses on supporting government and non-government stakeholders to provide reliable, affordable and sustainable water service delivery to key rural areas in Sub-Saharan Africa.
2.2 billion people, or 1 in every 4 people globally, lack safe water.
Children are particularly affected: more than 273,000 children ages five years or younger died in 2019 due to poor water, sanitation and hygiene.
Our work in Ethiopia, Ghana and Uganda—where nearly 150 million people combined live in rural areas—serves communities that are high need, hard to reach, and underserved.
Connect and strengthen local, national and regional efforts to deliver reliable, professional, climate-resilient and safe water services to underserved communities.
Achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water in alignment with United Nations SDG 6.1.
Address systemic challenges related to Safe Water, including sustainable water resource management, climate change, policy and regulatory frameworks, infrastructure and data systems.
Partner with stakeholders to develop and test models that provide safe water services with great value and potential to scale.
Bring together equity-focused funders to replicate solutions for those with the greatest needs, regionally and nationally.
Advocate for the shared dividends that come from safely managed water services.
Between 2021 and 2025, our safe water strategy focused on ongoing partnerships, long-term investments and flexible financing mechanisms for safe water delivery. The result was a locally led, replicable model with proven results:
Our goal: By 2031, 5.2 million people in rural Ethiopia, Ghana and Uganda will have safe drinking water.
