Water-Share Ireland

(A GOAL Programme)

Delivering sustainable Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) programmes

Water-Share Ireland is a GOAL programme resourced through the support of its members from the Irish water resources sector. Members kindly contribute funding, technical resources and expertise in an effort to deliver sustainable WASH programmes to highly vulnerable communities in Sierra Leone, Eastern Uganda, and Northwest Syria. Since everyone needs clean, safe water for drinking, cooking and washing, WASH programmes are vital for the well-being of communities across the globe.

Why Water-Share?

Water-Share Ireland members help to amplify GOAL’s WASH programming in the world’s most vulnerable communities. By tapping into the talent, commitment and generosity of their employees, Irish companies are helping to transform thousands of lives every day.

Water-Share Ireland provides sector companies with unique opportunities for collaboration by providing funding, technical resources and expertise on a volunteer basis that supports GOAL’s programmes. These programmes work to improve public health, education, the local economy and quality of life by enabling the delivery of sustainable, safe drinking water and wastewater services to the most vulnerable communities.

The problem in numbers

Every 2 minutes

a child dies from a preventable diarrhoea-related disease

2.2 billion

people lack access to safe drinking water

3.5 billion

people lack access to safe sanitation

419 million

people are forced to practice open defecation

Key Achievements

3,500 people in Mulombi, Eastern Uganda now have access to clean and safe water.
In Sierra Leone, the FSM (Faecal Sludge Management) Plant in Kingtom is now under permanent operation by Freetown City Council, providing essential services to the community.
Innovative interventions in Idleb and Aleppo, Northwest Syria are addressing critical water challenges, including groundwater depletion and leakage.

Learn More

Our Water-Share Ireland video showcases our initiative's incredible work and impact in Eastern Uganda, Northwest Syria, and Sierra Leone.

In Molumbi, Namayingo District, Eastern Uganda, Water-Share Ireland and GOAL recently completed a solar-powered piped water scheme. The project is now providing access to potable drinking water to 5,200 people in the local community. Prior to the intervention, water-borne diseases, including typhoid, were rife in Molumbi.

In Sierra Leone, Water-Share Ireland and GOAL commissioned Sierra Leone's first-ever faecal sludge management (FSM) plant in 2021.

Today, it safely manages 20% of Freetown's liquid waste. However, the plant only solves half the problem. 80% of Freetown's liquid waste is still not safely managed, and 40% of the city's population lives in an informal settlement or a hard-to-reach area. To ensure that Freetown's most vulnerable communities can access safely managed sanitation and waste disposal services, the FSM plant needs to expand.

Want to get involved?

Water-Share Ireland is seeking new members from the public and private sectors to help us reach more families with life-saving support. We are aiming to secure a consistent funding capacity of at least €200,000 annually to improve access to water and sanitation services in the world’s most vulnerable communities.

Companies are offered the following Membership options:

Water-Share Patron:Commitment to annual funding of €5,000, which can include services on projects such as staff input, materials, research or secretariat facilities. Each patron is invited to nominate one member to the Water-Share Steering Committee.

Water-Share Supporter: Commitment to annual funding of €1,000 with staff afforded full opportunity to engage in the work where the opportunity is identified.

Please contact Jerry or John today to find out how your company can help transform lives.

Jerry Grantwatershare@jerrygrant.ie+353 87 234 9554

John Gowenwatershare@goal.ie+353 89 463 0953

What Water-Share Ireland membership means

The successes of Water-Share Ireland’s projects benefit thousands of people every day. Together, we are improving water quality while simultaneously providing access to safe water and sanitation solutions for countless vulnerable communities in partner countries around the world.

This meaningful engagement with Water-Share Ireland companies not only offers your employees an opportunity to help GOAL deliver essential WASH programmes to people in need but also gives members the chance to experience a tangible confluence between their businesses and GOAL’s development work. This can help fulfil CSR objectives and help enrich colleagues’ work experiences. Together, we are working together to deliver on UN SDG 6, Clean Water and Sanitation for All.

Water-Share Ireland contributes to GOAL’s work through a Memorandum of Understanding, whereby funds from sector members are transmitted directly to GOAL and accounted for as a separate funding stream. The Water-Share Ireland Committee notes and approves allocations of funding to projects while handling requests for support. Sector companies can make meaningful contributions to projects and involve their staff where there is a compatible skill-set overlap. This sector has a shared commitment to Environmental, Social and Governance benefits in their values and purpose. Water-Share Ireland gives meaningful expression to those values.

Thank you for your membership and financial support to Water-Share Ireland.

Water-Share Partners

Water-Share's Impact

Sierra Leone

Eastern Uganda

Northwest Syria

Sierra Leone

In Freetown, a city with a population of more than 1 million people, GOAL, with numerous Water-Share Ireland partners (including EPS, Nicholas O’Dwyer and other Water-Share members in their personal capacity), constructed and commissioned the country’s first faecal sludge treatment plant in 2021.

Working closely with the Freetown City Council, the plant has now treated over 5,500 tanker loads of sludge using a novel geotextile bag de-watering process. GOAL is currently evaluating how to expand the plant's capacity as demand is far outstripping supply.

The DCU Water Institute and RPS provided GIS services as part of GOAL's assessment of access to mechanised latrine emptying services across the city.

GOAL's work in Sierra Leone

Eastern Uganda

In November 2023, GOAL and Water-Share Ireland completed the construction of a water supply scheme in Mulombi Village. It currently supplies clean, safe drinking water to about 3,500 people. These areas, adjacent to the shores of Lake Victoria, have long suffered from insufficient access to safe drinking water. Water-Share Ireland and GOAL Uganda are currently working on final scoping and design for the scheme's expansion to outlying villages, including schools and healthcare facilities.

In Buwoya parish, a water supply scheme has been developed, with a report completed in September 2023. GOAL and Water-Share Ireland are currently seeking support from donors to implement the scheme.

Work to expand water supply projects into Northern Uganda is progressing, with plans for a Kaabang water supply scheme in development. A desktop study and geophysical survey have been completed and a groundwater investigation contract has been awarded. Selection of the exploration site is now in progress.

GOAL's work in Uganda

Northwest Syria

GOAL is providing clean, safe water to over 350,000 people across Idlib Governorate, which is severely affected by the ongoing conflict, drought, and earthquake damage.

GOAL is working with the local authorities to rehabilitate, operate and maintain the pre-war water infrastructure. In an effort to better understand leakage levels and prioritise the worst locations for rehabilitation with limited funds, GOAL started liaising with RPS for remote support and technical mentoring to GOAL’s Syrian WASH team in 2019. However, this work has been interrupted due to conflict and, most recently due to the 2023 earthquake, which resulted in a suspension between February and September 2023. Despite the project's interruptions, GOAL has now completed Phase 1 and is working to confirm the optimal way forward.

GOAL's work in Syria