Introduction

Viva con Agua de Sankt Pauli e.V. is an organisation committed to ensuring that all people worldwide have access to clean drinking water. To achieve this goal, VCA promotes water projects and actions at home and abroad. They are firmly convinced that even serious topics in the world can be treated with joy.

Viva con Agua supports water projects with the vision “WATER FOR ALL – ALL FOR WATER!”. Viva con Agua pursues the vision that all people have access to clean drinking water, hygiene facilities and basic sanitation.

Problem

In addition to the air we breathe, water is the basis of all life and a central human right.
2.2 billion people worldwide do not have secure access to clean drinking water. Of these, around 579 million people lack access to any drinking water infrastructure.

4.2 billion people worldwide do not have secure access to sanitation. Around 2 billion people do not even have access to basic sanitation.

3 billion people worldwide do not have secure access to hygiene facilities.

Solution

Viva con Agua promotes holistic WASH projects (WASH stands for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) to give people long-term access to clean drinking water. Clean drinking water improves and protects health, gives children the opportunity to go to school permanently, empowers women, strengthens the local economy and enables a better future. 

Impact

WASH forms the basis of Viva con Agua’s international projects. The triad of these project components enables long-term success of WASH projects, because only with this holistic approach the drinking water stays clean. This concept enables the long-term improvement of living conditions within the supported communities: Because water must be permanently accessible and, above all, clean. Sanitary facilities can counteract contamination of (ground) water. Hygiene, for example through regular and effective hand washing, reduces the spread of bacteria, keeps drinking water clean and improves people’s health.

A significant improvement in people’s health has fundamental consequences: healthy people can do a regular job, healthy people can eat better, are better protected against infections, healthy children have significantly fewer absenteeism from schools – girls in particular are not absent from class during their menstruation .

This enables positive sustainable development within the supported communities.

History

The association Viva con Agua de Sankt Pauli e.V. was officially registered in 2006 and recognized as a non-profit organization. The Viva con Agua family has grown steadily since those early days. There are voluntary Viva con Agua crews in countless German cities and independent registered associations in Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands, Uganda and South Africa.

VCA relies on the universal languages ​​of music, art and sport to activate people for clean drinking water and to generate donations.

Through joyful campaigns, we generate funds that ultimately flow into WASH projects in more and more Viva con Agua countries. WASH stands for water, sanitation and hygiene and thus improves the living conditions of many people in the long term.