Our history
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Faith in Water developed out of the UK-based international charity, the Alliance of Religions and Conservation. ARC was set up in 1995 to help the faiths develop environmental programmes based on their own beliefs, traditions and practices. It works with 11 major religions around the world.
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'Potentially the biggest civil society movement |
How we developed out of ARC into Faith in Water
Long-term Commitments
In 2007, UNDP asked ARC to work with the faiths on environmental degradation and climate change. This resulted in the launch of 31 long-term environmental action plans by faith groups at an event in 2009 in Windsor hosted by Prince Philip and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
The plans were described as 'potentially the biggest civil society movement on climate change in history' by UN Assistant Secretary-General Olav Kjørven. |
Faith in Water workshop
In July 2009, ARC held the first ever workshop on Faith and Water, with religious leaders from seven key traditions – Buddhists, Catholics, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, Protestants and Zoroastrians, and 15 countries. Also participating were educators, water and sanitation experts as well as environment/development specialists.
The event, in Salisbury, UK, led to the development of ARC's WaterSchools programme working with faith-run schools. |
African Commitments
In 2010, ARC began working with faith groups in Africa on sustainable land and water management. This led to the launch of African Faith Commitments to Protect the Living Planet by 27 Christian, Muslim and Hindu groups in Kenya in 2012.
The plans were described as 'a new awakening that will help shape the beliefs, behaviour and actions for a greener and better Africa' by Dr Ali Mohamed of the Ministry of Environment and Mineral Resources, Kenya. |
Engaging young people
The African Commitments all made engaging young people a priority, both in their schools and via their informal networks such as Sunday schools, madrassas or women's and youth groups.
Following requests from the faiths, ARC developed the first teacher's resource, the Faith-based Education for Sustainable Development Teacher's Toolkit, to integrate faith values on caring for the environment with environmental education for primary school pupils. |
Faith-based ESD Toolkit
The Faith-based Education for Sustainable Development Teacher's Toolkit has proved a huge success since it was developed in partnership with the Kenyan Organisation of Environmental Education.
WASH issues are a key focus of the Faith-based Education for Sustainable Development Teacher's Toolkit, launched in Kenya in July 2013. The Toolkit was showcased as an example of good practice by UNESCO's at its World Congress in Japan in November 2014 – one of 25 chosen out of a possible 900. |
WASH mapping website
In 2010, UNICEF invited ARC to attend a WASH meeting in the United States. It soon became clear that there was no web-based resource tracking all the WASH activities undertaken across the world.
So, led by Rev Al Bailey, a team from the New Psalmist Baptist Church in Baltimore, US, set one up on behalf of ARC, UNICEF and the WASH in School Partnership. The WASH in Schools mapping website gathers data on WASH around the world. |
Engaging the community
Using the Toolkit, ARC's faith partners began focusing more on water, sanitation and hygiene in their schools. They also began engaging their wider faith community in environmental awareness.
Faith leaders began preaching on the subject. Communities began supporting schools by providing soap for pupils to wash their hands, for example. They also started developing their own initiatives, such as introducing water harvesting to help grow more crops. |
Scaling up our impact
As a result of this work, ARC saw a role for an organisation dedicated to scaling up faith action in this area, and also to helping secular groups working in this area to build stronger partnerships with faith communities.
And so Faith in Water was born as an independent project in 2015. Our experience is that when action arises out of people's most heartfelt beliefs, then it is far more likely to have long-lasting impact. |
Image credits, left to right from top: Many Heavens, One Earth Celebration, by ARC. Prince Philip and Ban Ki-moon, by ARC. Faith in Water workshop,
by ARC. Choir girls, by ARC. Washing hands, by Mary Bellekom. Drinking water, by Mary Bellekom. Wash in Schools Mapping logo. Harvesting
vegetables, by the Kenyan Organisation for Environmental Education. Pond sand water filter built by Save the Children USA, by Shawn.
by ARC. Choir girls, by ARC. Washing hands, by Mary Bellekom. Drinking water, by Mary Bellekom. Wash in Schools Mapping logo. Harvesting
vegetables, by the Kenyan Organisation for Environmental Education. Pond sand water filter built by Save the Children USA, by Shawn.
