Frequently Asked Questions about Water Brigades:
Q: What is Water Brigades?
A: Water Brigades is a movement of passionate students and professional volunteers from around the world dedicated to improving access to clean water and sanitation. Our mission is to unite students and under-resourced communities to develop and implement clean water projects through community assessments, water quality monitoring, water treatment, infrastructural development, community leader training, and hygiene, sanitation and water education.
Q: Who participates in a Water Brigade?
A: College students of all interests and academic disciplines participate in Water Brigades, ranging from International Relations to Engineering to Communications. Water Brigades are designed for students with any and all areas of expertise to be able to fully engage in the implementation of a community’s water project. The Water Brigades staff and community members also work alongside students throughout a Water Brigade in order to successfully implement the new water project.
Q: What are the community needs that Water Brigades addresses?
A: Lack of access to sufficient clean water is a global crisis. In the rural Honduran communities where Global Brigades works, 70-80% of all illness is water, hygiene and sanitation related. These communities depend on water systems, if they have a system at all, that deliver water of insufficient quantity and poor quality, forcing residents to collect water from nearby and often contaminated sources. As one of the most fundamental needs of life, access to safe water is paramount for the health of families, not only to drink but to cook, clean, bathe, and maintain basic sanitation in their homes. The health of entire communities is thus intrinsically linked to the quantity and quality of the water they can access. Frequently lacking support from government officials, poverty-stricken communities are often forced to accept their situation with little power and few resources to create a positive change for their health.
Q: How does Water Brigades address those needs?
A: Water Brigades designs and implements water systems to prevent water-related illnesses in communities with limited access to clean water. In-country team members work with community leaders to design large scale water systems for the entire community. Once planning and design is complete, volunteers work side-by-side with community members to construct the water system. Additionally, Water Brigades and its volunteers provide education and training so that the community can properly administer, operate, and maintain their water system. Water Councils and Basic Sanitation Committees are established in communities to ensure the sustainability of the community’s system as well as tospreadknowledge about proper water use and sanitation and hygiene practices.
Q: Is it safe?
A: There is risk associated with any international travel and community work. Risk experts within the international volunteer industry approximate that an organization may experience one catastrophic incidence such as death or permanent injury for every 100,000 volunteer months spent in-country. Most common are from car accidents and or extra-curricular activities participated in outside of programming. Each Global Brigades grantee entity in Honduras, Panama and Ghana have a strong track for risk practices and do regular staff meetings to ensure emergency policies are known by every coordinator.
A: Water Brigades is a movement of passionate students and professional volunteers from around the world dedicated to improving access to clean water and sanitation. Our mission is to unite students and under-resourced communities to develop and implement clean water projects through community assessments, water quality monitoring, water treatment, infrastructural development, community leader training, and hygiene, sanitation and water education.
Q: Who participates in a Water Brigade?
A: College students of all interests and academic disciplines participate in Water Brigades, ranging from International Relations to Engineering to Communications. Water Brigades are designed for students with any and all areas of expertise to be able to fully engage in the implementation of a community’s water project. The Water Brigades staff and community members also work alongside students throughout a Water Brigade in order to successfully implement the new water project.
Q: What are the community needs that Water Brigades addresses?
A: Lack of access to sufficient clean water is a global crisis. In the rural Honduran communities where Global Brigades works, 70-80% of all illness is water, hygiene and sanitation related. These communities depend on water systems, if they have a system at all, that deliver water of insufficient quantity and poor quality, forcing residents to collect water from nearby and often contaminated sources. As one of the most fundamental needs of life, access to safe water is paramount for the health of families, not only to drink but to cook, clean, bathe, and maintain basic sanitation in their homes. The health of entire communities is thus intrinsically linked to the quantity and quality of the water they can access. Frequently lacking support from government officials, poverty-stricken communities are often forced to accept their situation with little power and few resources to create a positive change for their health.
Q: How does Water Brigades address those needs?
A: Water Brigades designs and implements water systems to prevent water-related illnesses in communities with limited access to clean water. In-country team members work with community leaders to design large scale water systems for the entire community. Once planning and design is complete, volunteers work side-by-side with community members to construct the water system. Additionally, Water Brigades and its volunteers provide education and training so that the community can properly administer, operate, and maintain their water system. Water Councils and Basic Sanitation Committees are established in communities to ensure the sustainability of the community’s system as well as tospreadknowledge about proper water use and sanitation and hygiene practices.
Q: Is it safe?
A: There is risk associated with any international travel and community work. Risk experts within the international volunteer industry approximate that an organization may experience one catastrophic incidence such as death or permanent injury for every 100,000 volunteer months spent in-country. Most common are from car accidents and or extra-curricular activities participated in outside of programming. Each Global Brigades grantee entity in Honduras, Panama and Ghana have a strong track for risk practices and do regular staff meetings to ensure emergency policies are known by every coordinator.