About us.

We are Simavi. It is our mission to fight for equality and overcome barriers for women and girls to claim their human rights to water and sanitation.

Mission

Powerful women, healthy societies. We believe that a world in which all women and girls enjoy their human rights to water and sanitation will result in healthier and just societies.

Focus areas

Equality, climate and power. In a fast-changing world confronted with climate, health and human rights crises, Simavi focuses on three areas where we believe we can create the most impact.

Approach: the way we work

Our work is women-centred, rights-based and builds lasting change. We focus on influencing institutions and people that hold power, building equitable partnerships and championing women and girls as the ultimate stakeholders of our work.

We collaborate with global activists and networks to make sure women’s voices are heard and human rights to water and sanitation are realised.

We focus on influencing, building equitable partnerships and championing women and girls as the ultimate stakeholders of our work. We collaborate with global activists and networks to make sure women’s voices are heard and human rights to water and sanitation are realised.

We work together with women’s networks, women’s organisations and other CSOs to increase the agency and leadership of women. We link up with women’s and feminist movements, joining forces in tackling the root causes of gender inequalities in women’s rights to water and sanitation.

We work with CSOs in their countries and within Dutch and global networks to assure governments adhere to their promises in the Paris Agreements and increase their investments in climate adaptation. We will advocate that climate adaptation funding should increasingly focus on locally-driven solutions instead of large scale technical solutions.

By measuring our results and impact, we understand how change happens and which interventions are most effective. At the same time, we use evidence from literature and take a close look at programme evaluations when designing new programmes.

Programmes: our work in local societies

Simavi’s projects focus on the rights to water and sanitation for women and girls with a strong emphasis on feminist leadership, social justice and climate justice.

We work in various African and Asian countries and collaborate with locally-led civil society organisations. They know the situation on the ground and can reach the right people with our projects.

Locations: where we work

Simavi works on improving the daily lives of women and girls in 10 African and Asian countries. In all our projects, we combine our experience and expertise together with local organisations. They know the situation like no other.

We believe strategic and meaningful partnerships are crucial to achieving our objectives.

We collaborate with like-minded organisations worldwide and want to shift the power towards shared global leadership. We collaborate with organisations that are trusted by their communities and governments. They always have specific expertise in our focus fields – water, sanitation and hygiene.

Currently, we have more than 50 long-term partnerships with local organisations in 10 countries. Over the past years, we started to co-create programmes with local partners. They play a key role in the design and implementation of our programmes and the evaluation. These partners are also the eyes and ears on the ground. Working closely with them helps us reach the most affected women and girls.

Simavi works in the following countries:

Africa

Ethiopia
Ghana
Kenya
Malawi
Tanzania
Uganda

Asia

Bangladesh
India
Indonesia
Nepal

Partners: working together

Realising maximum impact through our work depends on our partnerships and collaborations with like-minded organisations, networks, institutions and partners. Without partners, we can't achieve our mission.

We will work together with global and regional organisations to hold governments accountable for international commitments on human rights to water and sanitation. Together with local partners we will initiate campaigns and develop advocacy agenda’s that are locally driven.

We would not be able to develop our projects without funding from donors and sponsors. We also receive support from businesses that provide technical solutions, products and services that improve access to water and sanitation. All these partnerships maximise the impact of our work. We work together with universities and research institutes in order to stay objective and to be able to evaluate our projects better.

Overview of our partners

Become a partner

Support our mission to invest in powerful women for healthy societies.

Become a partner