Christian development agency Tearfund has welcomed a new global partnership aimed at bringing clean water and proper sanitation to billions of people.

Ministers and policy makers from 30 countries agreed at a meeting at the White House last week to make water and sanitation political priorities, and to assist in efforts to improve access to these resources in low-income countries and poor communities.

The Sanitation and Water for All partnership commits the countries to establishing a new funding mechanism to support the world’s poorest countries in providing sanitation and water for their people.

It comes as a report from the UN last week showed that only 42 per cent of aid earmarked for water and sanitation was going to low-income countries and that the level of aid being committed to these resources was in decline.

Christians have been praying and campaigning for more commitment from governments on these two issues as part of the End Water Poverty campaign. Aid agencies like Tearfund warn that unless governments do more, unclean water and poor sanitation will continue to kill millions of children.

Paul Cook, Tearfund’s Advocacy Director, said last week’s meeting was a “very welcome first step” in bringing water and sanitation to billions of poor people around the world.

“We know that God cares about our practical needs as well as our spiritual needs, and we believe that our Biblical mandate as Christians is to speak up for justice with and for those who are poor and oppressed,” he said.

“For too long, water and sanitation have been neglected by both rich and poor governments.
“This meeting provides a ray of hope that things could be about to change.”

Edward Kairu, Chairman of the African Civil Society Network on Water and Sanitation, called on developed countries to ensure the plan was implemented by committing fresh funds.

“People cannot drink promises, so the real test is whether today’s announcements will be translated into action on the ground,” he said.

“We need to put the meat on the bones of this agreement with clear plans and new money. Only then will we really begin to see progress in the form of fewer children dying, more girls in school, and communities able to work themselves out of poverty.”