World Water Day 2026 Explained — And How Malawi Is Solving the Water Crisis
- Fisherman's Rest Malawi
- 7 days ago
- 8 min read
World Water Day 2026 focuses on Water and Gender — a theme that reflects the daily reality for millions of women and girls in Malawi. On the 22nd of March every year the UN sets a theme, creates a report around the theme and raises awareness for the 2.1 billion people living across the world without access to water.
Every year in March, we participate in local sanitation and hygiene events in Malawi. We’ve hosted events, and we publish an annual blog about Madzi Alipo (there is water), our borehole repair and maintenance programme in Malawi, keeping water flowing for local people - always.
What exactly is World Water Day?
World Water Day is a global United Nations campaign held every year on March 22nd to raise awareness of the 2.1 billion people living without safe water.
It’s a global movement, in Malawi we can attest to that. World Water Day celebrates water (we can’t live without it) and inspires us all to take some form of action. Ultimately the UN wants to see this Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6: water and sanitation for all by 2030, met.
What is the World Water Day Theme for 2026?
The 2026 World Water Day theme is Water and Gender. An interesting one for us given our involvement with BRAVE and the Safe House at Mbame Police station.
We know (and you do) that women and girls are predominantly the ones you’ll find at a borehole filling buckets, pails and basins of all different colours and states of repair. It’s a perfect World Water Day theme for 2026.
In Malawi, water doesn’t flow outside your house. Water collection can consume much of a girl's or woman’s day.
The knock on of this is less time at home, less time to rest, less time to study, less time to be productive, less time to play and enjoy their children…
Even so. There’s much to celebrate with the 2026 Water and Gender theme. In Malawi, women are at the forefront of decision-making change when it comes to Madzi Alipo. Let’s get specific.
How Does Lack of Water Affect Girls?
For millions of girls across sub-Saharan Africa, including rural Malawi, access to clean water is not guaranteed. When a community water point breaks, it is most often girls — not boys — who carry the responsibility of collecting water for their households.
This daily task can take hours.
Instead of preparing for school, finishing homework, or simply resting, girls may walk long distances carrying heavy buckets in high temperatures. The physical strain is significant, but the long-term impact on their education and future opportunities is even greater.
Research consistently shows that when water is closer to home, school attendance improves — particularly for girls.
But the challenge goes deeper than lost classroom time.
Routes to distant water sources can be isolated, increasing vulnerability and safety risks. Early mornings and late evenings spent fetching water reduce time with family, limit opportunities to study, and restrict the freedom that childhood should offer.
Yet despite these barriers, we see something remarkable in the communities partnering with Madzi Alipo.
Women and girls are water collectors, yes, but they are often the strongest advocates for keeping water flowing.
We see more women in community participation and maintaining hand pumps than men. There may be underrepresentation of women at the top of government and in decision making bodies…
But on the ground, in villages, partnering with Madzi Alipo, we see women as strength. They are the core voices in their communities and the ones motivated to keep water flowing - always.
Women participate in water point committees, help oversee maintenance, and champion sustainable systems, like SaveMadzi that protect their villages for the long term.
When reliable water access is restored, the change is immediate:
Girls return to school
Women gain time for income-generating activities
Household health improves
Communities become more resilient
Access to safe water goes beyond health issues. It is an education issue, a gender equality issue, and a foundation for opportunity.
This is why community-led maintenance matters.
Because when water flows consistently, girls are freed to focus on what should have been theirs all along, learning, growing, and building their futures.
For over a decade, Madzi Alipo has monitored more than 2,000 water points across rural Malawi — increasing pump functionality from 40% to over 90%. And women have been (and still are) a key part in that.
Why do communities need to have an active role in their water points?
According to our current generation, access to safe water is a human right, and given global wealth, one we expect every human to have.
Yet 2.1 billion people still live without safely managed drinking water services, obviously a broken pump impacts a village. And when a village loses their water supply, pressure builds on the next village, and that pump breaks and so on and so forth until a whole nation is on its knees.
Yet for generations water points were drilled and installed without any education on how to manage finances, maintain the mechanical system or repair major faults.
Which is exactly why a decade ago we started Madzi Alipo (there is water) a programme dedicated to repairs, maintenance and education. Now in areas where only 40% of hand pumps worked, we have “up-time” or water flowing 90% of the time in all workable pumps.
👉 Read the details here in our handbook
👉 Find out more about what Madzi Alipo does on our website.
What is Madzi Alipo doing to accelerate access to Water?
Right now Madzi Alipo is an exciting project. Here’s what you are likely to already know if you follow along with our work in Malawi
💦 Repair water points
💦 Work with communities to establish and maintain water point committees
💦 Train committee members to maintain and repair their water points
💦 Water testing and chlorination advice and water management education
💦 Data logging on the Madzi Alipo Database MAMS (A clear picture of water point functionality in Malawi over the past 10+ years)
Here’s what we’re doing to accelerate access to clean drinking water for everyone - always.
💦 Manufacturing durable parts (in Malawi) that keep hand pumps working for long periods of time.
💦 Providing new jobs in rural locations.
💦 Holding open conversation with Government and key stakeholders in WASH to develop better maintenance and long term water provision strategy in rural communities
💦 Continue to be Malawi’s leading borehole repair experts
💦 Working with research teams in the UK and America to innovate and push technology to solve the water crisis in Malawi
💦 And still repair, monitor and sell parts rurally in Madziabango and Nankhumba zones to keep their water flowing, always
💦 Planting trees with the Tree Project bring water security to an ever-changing climate in Malawi, our goal is to balance and support the environment as much as humanly possible, while giving people the means and opportunity to profit and live sustainably off the land.
It’s an exciting innovative time in Malawi right now!
👉 Help keep water flowing for 2,000+ communities. Donate today.
How you can help improve access to Water.
We are biassed and what we do and the way we do it is pretty unique. To the point where you can come visit Fisherman’s Rest Lodge in Malawi and take part in Madzi Alipo day-to-day operations. It’s as transparent as you can get for an NGO/Charity.
So that’s one way you can connect with us and better understand water access in Malawi.
The other is to support the project, our efforts to develop, manufacture and help people purchase good quality parts as well as monitor 2,000+ water points and be on hand for complex repairs. You can donate here.
We thought it would be a lovely way to end this month's Blog on World Water Month with a Madzi Alipo experience from a 15-year-old who travelled to Malawi to take part in projects.
“Hi, I’m William. I’m 15 and I went to Malawi in early 2025 over Easter. Before my visit I was excited, however also a bit apprehensive as I didn’t have much travel experience and had little idea of what to expect.
Upon arrival I was excited yet also unsettled by the major differences between Malawi and England – the heat, the insects, the lack of running water and the regular power cuts! However, I quickly settled in because of the friendly welcome we received.
One day I remember fondly, we went out to work on the Madzi Alipo (There is Water) project. My family, along with some members of staff, got into the back of a pickup truck and drove off to a small nearby village where we had to replace the parts for a damaged well.
Before we began the repair work, we got to meet some of the residents who were very friendly and let us attempt to carry some buckets of water on our heads the way they do when transporting them. Each of us managed to do it without too much water spilt but far from as effortlessly as they had.
After that, it was time to get to work. We started by unscrewing and then removing the top of the pump, this was difficult as the screws were done very tightly but with the help of some of the staff we managed to get it off. After this the next step was to pull out the metal pole which ran all the way down the 30 or so metres of tubing. At the bottom we found the rubber seal had been pierced by a large chunk of metal which was why the pump had been faulty, so we replaced it with a new stronger one. Removing the pipe was the next step, it was pulled up with rope, we would then saw off the section which had been brought to the surface and repeat until we were done. After that we needed to replace the tube with a new one, which we did and then put back the long metal pole going down the middle and re-tightened the top.
Just as we finished, the village children returned from school and came to investigate the work we had done. They helped us test it out and played in the stream of water it created. Then they taught us some of their games, one of which was called “Like I do Like I do”. In this game one person stands in the centre of a circle and performs a set of actions which must then be repeated back at them. They then choose the next person to go in the centre, and it repeats like that. We played it a lot during our 2 week stay in Malawi and it was clearly very popular among the children there.
Overall, I remember the trip fondly and consider it a great and eye-opening experience. It really makes you think about how lucky we are and consider how we can help those less fortunate than ourselves. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to anyone interested.”
Thank you William for sharing!
👉 Help keep water flowing for 2,000+ communities. Donate today
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