The core activity of WASH emphasizes the teaching of basic sanitation and hygiene to communities and school children with a particular focus on girls' education and gender equality, as a necessary complement to the success of water and sanitation infrastructure projects.

This integrated approach to the delivery of basic services is the product of "lessons learned" from the International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade (1981-1990). While advancements were made in increasing the access to safe drinking water, less progress was made on the provision of sanitation services and in hygiene education and training. These valuable lessons are now the focus of a global effort to improve the health and productivity of the urban and rural poor in the developing world.

The core activity is complemented by a recent initiative to deliver by 2015, safe, affordable and reliable water, sanitation to over 1.1 billion people who have no access to water supply and to more than 2.6 billion people who have no adequate sanitation. A WASH Partnership, jointly agreed between the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) and UNICEF, seeks to contribute towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) seven, target 10, through a combination of actions directed at influencing policy at national level and global level, and effecting behavioural change at the grassroots level. The WASH Partnership supports coalition-building among multi-stakeholders at national and grassroots level. With advocacy at the centre of these main activities, it focuses on demand-creation, behavioural change, capacity building and implementation, to reach 15 million people with sanitation and hygiene by 2015 (â??15 by 15 projectâ??).

Governments:
Government of Bangladesh
Government of Brazil
Government of Bulgaria
Government of Burkina Faso
Government of Colombia
Government of Ethiopia
Government of Ghana
Government of Guatemala
Government of Guyana
Government of India
Government of Indonesia
Government of Jamaica
Government of Kenya
Government of Kyrgyzstan
Government of Lesotho
Government of Madagascar
Government of Malawi
Government of Maldives
Government of Mauritius
Government of Morocco
Government of Mozambique
Government of Myanmar
Government of Nepal
Government of Nigeria
Government of Philippines
Government of Senegal
Government of South Africa
Government of Sri Lanka
Government of Trinidad and Tobago
Government of Uganda
Government of Ukraine
Government of United Republic of Tanzania - Tanzania
Government of Uzbekistan
Government of Zimbabwe

Major Groups:
CINARA (Colombia)
Centre for Environment Education (CEE) (India)
Sulabh International (India)
TERI (India)
NETWAS (Kenya)
Nepal Water for Health (NEWAH) (Nepal)
Gender and Water Alliance (GWA) (Netherlands)
IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre (Netherlands)
Streams of Knowledge (Philippines)
Centre Regional pour l'Eau Potable et l'Assainissement (CREPA) (Senegal)
Water Research Commission (WRC) (South Africa)
International Water Management Institute (IWMI) (Sri Lanka)
SANDEC/EAWAG (Switzerland)
SKAT (Switzerland)
Tearfund (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland)
Television Trust for the Environment (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland)
Water Aid (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland)
Water, Environment and Development Centre (WEDC) (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland)

UN System:
United Nations Educational, Scientific, Cultural Organization (UNESCO) (France)
United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) (Kenya)
Water and Sanitation Program (WSP)-Africa, World Bank (Kenya)
World Health Organization (WHO) (Switzerland)
UN- Water Interagency Task Force on Gender and Water (United States of America)
United Nations (UN) / Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) (United States of America)
United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) (United States of America)
United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI) (United States of America)
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) (United States of America)
World Bank Group (United States of America)

Other intergovernmental organizations:
Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) (Switzerland)
European Union (Belgium)
African Development Bank (AfDB) (Ethiopia)
World Water Council (WWC) (France)
Water and Sanitation program (WSP) Africa, World bank (Kenya)
Asian Development Bank (ADB) (Philippines)
Global Water Partnership (GWP) (Sweden)
Swedish International Water Institute (SIWI) (Sweden)
South East Asia Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) (Thailand)
WELL (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland)
Inter-American Development Bank (United States of America)

Other:
International Secretariat for Water (ISW) (Canada)
Global Rainwater Harvesting Collective (GRWHC) (India)
International Federation of Environmental Journalists (IFEJ) (India)
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland)
International Trachoma Initiative (ITI) (United States of America)