Splash

What is Splash?

An organization, on paper. In practice, it's people.

We build clean water, sanitation, hygiene, and menstrual-health systems inside schools in fast-growing cities like Addis Ababa and Kolkata, and now across Zambia. But a water system is only as reliable as the people who keep it running.

Every Splash program team is local. We hire in the communities where we work, train technicians and teachers on the ground, and design every system to be owned and sustained by the schools and governments themselves.

Founded in 2007, we've reached 1.2 million children so far, and behind that number is a network of operators, janitors, student leaders, and country teams.

Stick with us this month as we introduce the people behind the work.

Learn more about us at https://splash.org/about-us

Imagine being 13 and skipping school because you got your period.

Not because you're sick. Because there's no locking toilet stall, no water nearby, no one to talk to, and too much shame in the room.

Managing a period at school takes more than pads. It takes clear, age-appropriate education, private and safe toilets, water and handwashing, and supplies when they're needed, all working together. When they do, it shows: across our Addis Ababa program, girls missing school because of their period fell from 16% to 3%, and the share who feel able to manage it at school rose from 74% to 99%.

That's a girl in class instead of at home, every month. It's a core part of Project WISE, proven in Phase I and expanding through Phase II in Zambia.

Download our free Period Kit guide → https://give.splash.org/free-period-kit-guide

WASH is a sector: water, sanitation, and hygiene. WISE is Splash's commitment to making it work for every child.

Project WISE, or WASH in Schools for Everyone, is built on a simple belief: no matter where a child is born or goes to school, they deserve clean water and safe toilets. It brings water, sanitation, hygiene, and menstrual health into one system that schools own and sustain, designed for handoff and ongoing maintenance, not one-off installation.

And "everyone" means everyone. Instead of a select few schools, Project WISE commits to 100% of a city's public schools. Fast-growing city schools are often overlooked even as more students fill them each year, and that's exactly the gap WISE is built to close.

Phase I proved the model in Kolkata and Addis Ababa, where per-student costs fell 30 to 50%. Phase II is breaking ground now in Zambia. Every school, built to stay.

Swipe through the model and follow along as we go deeper this month.

Learn more at Splash.org

When the students at the heart of our work lead, everyone listens.

At a recent child-led policy dialogue in Lusaka, young WASH advocates sat across from government leaders, UNICEF, and partners and set the agenda themselves. Their message was clear: when water, sanitation, and hygiene fail in schools, children pay first.

In a country where over 40% of the population is under 15, WASH is fundamentally a child issue, and who better to lead the conversation than children themselves? Safe water, sanitation, and hygiene are foundational to children's health, dignity, attendance, and ability to learn, and to Zambia's future.

Splash is proud to support this growing momentum for stronger WASH in Schools systems through Project WISE, working alongside government, communities, partners, and most importantly, students, so every child can learn in a safe and dignified school environment.

Read UNICEF Zambia's announcement: https://www.unicef.org/zambia/press-releases/zambia-calls-greater-investment-water-sanitation-and-hygiene-schools

Scale, in real numbers.

Across Zambia, Project WISE (WASH in Schools for Everyone) Phase II is reaching more than 700,000 students: 6,233 toilets, thousands of new taps and drinking stations, 305 water storage systems, and 155 boreholes.

Every figure here is a child who can stay in school, stay healthy, and focus on learning. Next stop: 1M+ students by 2030.