25 ways our customers change lives with Just a Drop
“Life without water is an endless struggle. With it, almost anything is possible.”
When people don’t have access to water, they have to spend hours every day fetching it, and when they don’t have access to toilets and cleaning facilities they cannot build healthy, thriving communities.
They seem like such little things, but they make a huge difference. And for more than 25 years, the water and sanitation charity Just a Drop has been showing just how communities flourish when people have access to safe water.
We’ve been with them since we first founded Naked Sprout. Every time you buy a box of toilet roll, tissues, or kitchen rolls from us, part of the revenue from this purchase goes to support their work.
Today we’re celebrating 25 years of Just a Drop with 25 reasons our customers can take pride in their support.
- Supporting community-led projects: Just a Drop’s projects are led and maintained by members of the communities that they benefit. This ensures high-quality projects that are relevant, long-lasting, and a source of local pride.
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Cutting out the walk: If you don’t have access to clean water, someone in your family is going to have to fetch it. In 2023 Just a Drop made a splash with their “Walk to the Well” campaign, illustrating the hours that it takes Ann, a woman in Kenya, to make the walk every day.
And while we’re talking about the walk…
- Uplifting girls and women: The job of fetching water is often done by women. By providing clean water close to homes, Just a Drop helps women and girls avoid long, unsafe journeys by foot. This means they have more time to go to school and join in the life of their communities.
- Making farming more resilient: Around the world, climate change is reducing the quality of soil and increasing soil erosion, making it harder to grow food. By delivering local access to safe water with boreholes, piping systems, and sophisticated rainwater capture, Just a Drop strengthens community resilience against climate shocks, providing the security people need to put down roots and flourish.
- Reducing disease: Access to safe water dramatically reduces waterborne diseases. This means that more children grow up, and go on to lead healthier, happier lives.
- Expanding menstrual health and hygiene: When girls don’t have adequate access to menstrual products they tend to miss school on the days they have their period, adding up to an average of one month of missed school days over a year. Just a Drop supports menstrual hygiene projects, making sure girls get the education they deserve and desperately want.
- Mitigating climate change: By delivering projects grounded in local communities and local environments Just a Drop is able to help people mitigate the effects of climate change. In Cambodia, for example, they have designed wells and latrines with elevation that means they won’t be swamped and contaminated during times of flooding.
- Driving for Net Zero emissions by 2040: Naked Sprout are on a path to achieving net zero CO2e emissions, and Just a Drop are right alongside us, with a plan to reach net zero by 2040.
- Improving schools: All children deserve to go to schools with safe water and toilets, so they can learn and focus without interruption. Just a Drop work to improve water facilities in schools around the world, like the ABC Ilalambyu Primary School in Kenya, where huge rainwater harvesting tanks have been installed, providing a reliable supply of safe water on school grounds.
- Income-generating loans: Just a Drop offers income-generating loans to people with small business plans in the communities they work in, helping to support a flourishing local economy.
- Biosand filters: By securing local sources of water like wells and rainwater collectors communities become more resilient, and proper filtration means that they can be sure the water is clean. Just a Drop support simple, effective filtration technology, like the 1,242 biosand filters they have built in Cambodia, each one providing clean water for a family home.
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Less deforestation: When people need drinking water but they don’t have a safe, clean source, often the only option is boiling impure water instead - usually using natural gas or trees that have been chopped down in the area. Better access to clean water means less money spent on fuel, and less deforestation.
And not boiling impure water also means…
- Less indoor air pollution: Boiling unsafe water in the home releases pathogens into the atmosphere. Cleaner water means cleaner air as well!
- Better health centres: Local access to good quality healthcare allows communities to grow with peace of mind. Just a Drop help deliver improvements to local healthcare in projects like the one at the Airabet Health Centre in Uganda, where they installed and upgraded seven latrines as well as a 2000 litre water tank for handwashing.
- Hygiene education: Once a project is in place in a school or a health centre Just a Drop makes sure everyone knows how to get the best out of it. They supplement their infrastructure projects with local hygiene education like menstrual hygiene training and soap making classes.
- Tree planting: To survive and flourish, water projects need to be based in a healthy local environment. Just a Drop plant trees in the areas where they work, which means soil holds together better and less rainwater is lost to runoff. Many of the trees chosen to be planted are fruit trees, so there’s fruit to eat as well!
- Rock catchment collection: People who live near rocky hills can benefit from these features by making use of rock catchment harvesting; systems of stone gutters that collect and direct rainwater so that it can be stored in water tanks. Through projects like the Nzui Mumyu Rock Catchment and the Wendo Wa Mwau Rock Catchment Extension in Kenya Just a Drop have helped to provide a reliable water source for 8,000 people.
- Repairing what they can: Part of Just a Drop’s plan for reducing their climate emissions is to repair boreholes, wells, and other infrastructure wherever possible, rather than digging or building new facilities. In 2023 they repaired a borehole at Airabet primary school that meant 278 students had access to clean water again.
- Realising UN SDG 6: Just a Drop's mission to provide clean water and sanitation supports the UN's Sustainable Development Goal 6, which aims to ensure access to water and sanitation for all.
- The “multiplier effect”: There’s a good reason the UN marks access to water and sanitation as a development goal. When you have the basics sorted, life can flourish and communities can expand. Just a Drop calls this the “multiplier effect,” the families, businesses, and civic projects that shoot up and grow when clean water and sanitation is secure. They see it in every community they work in.
- Reaching 33 countries: With projects completed or underway in 33 countries, Just a Drop's global reach allows our donations to contribute to a worldwide movement towards clean water and improved sanitation. They are currently working in Cambodia, India, Kenya, Nicaragua, Uganda, and Zambia.
- Impact on a grand scale: The projects started by Just a Drop have made a lasting impact on the lives of almost 2 million people, a remarkable legacy of change. Naked Sprout’s customers have played a huge role in this, with our own support directly leading to interventions improving the lives of more than 367,000 people.
- Proving businesses can make a difference: All of us at Naked Sprout are incredibly proud of our partnership with Just a Drop. Working with them provides us with a clear focus for fundraising efforts, and a sense of meaning and impact that reaches far beyond our balance books.
- Engaging our customers: Our partnership allows customers to make a tangible difference with every box they buy. In 2023 alone the donations made possible by these purchases helped Just a Drop reach 81 communities, with projects in 76 schools and 5 health centres. You can read more about this in our 2023 Impact Report!
- And still growing: In 2025 Just a Drop will be expanding their vital, life-changing work to more countries, including Tanzania. We’re delighted to help support their growth. .
Conclusion
Water is life. It’s the foundation upon which health, education, and opportunity are built. The tireless efforts of Just a Drop show how clean water can transform entire communities, helping people and their families reach their full potential.
We believe that businesses should find ways to give back, and we know that our customers feel the same way. So we’ll end the post with a huge thank you to everyone who has ever purchased a box of Naked Sprout, and to Just a Drop for everything they do.
Here’s to many more years of making waves together, and to the lives that will keep getting healthier, happier, and safer - one drop at a time.
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