Walk for Water | WaterAid UK

How it works

1. Choose your goals: Sign up and set your distance and fundraising targets.
2. Share: Share your fundraising page with your friends and family so they can sponsor you and track your progress.
3. Walk for Water: From 1 March, walk for water every day for a month – it’s flexible where and when you want to walk. Track your miles on Strava or through the manual tracking on your fundraising page.

It's flexible

Complete your Walk for Water challenge at a pace that suits you. You can reach your pledged distance in as many or as few days as you like. Do a few kilometres each day during the week, or go for some long walks on the weekends. The choice is all yours!

Teams

Taking part as a team is a great way to stay motivated. You can create a team right from your own fundraising page, you’ll then be able to send this new team page to your teammates who can join the team from there.

Your team page will let you see how much each team member has raised and how far each of you has walked for your challenge. Challenge your teammates to go that little bit further and see who will walk the furthest!

You'll all get matching Walk for Water shoe laces too!

Included

• Your very own online fundraising page with tracker - to show your progress
• Your place on the challenge leaderboards - get competitive if you like!
• Fundraising guide, toolkit and inspiration - to help you have fun getting sponsored

• Walk for Water blue shoelaces for every participant who raises £5 - to wear with pride

• Distance tracker - to pin on your fridge

• Social media images - to spice up your social pages and share your progress

WaterAid

All distances reflect a walk that women and girls around the world have to take each day to reach water. Women and girls like Lal Kumari, Zeitu and Seido.

When you Walk for Water, you’re helping to give Lal Kumari, Zeitu, Seido and others across the world the power to change their own lives, forever.

Walk 4km a day

I feel exhausted when I reach home. The path is not easy; it is steep and uneven. Many times, I have fallen on the way. But what to do? I have no other option. Without water we cannot live.

Walk for women like Lal Kumari, 60, who lives in the mountainous region of Dolakha, eastern Nepal. For half the year, the system that supplies Lal Kumari’s community with water runs dry – leaving her with no choice but to make the tiring, treacherous journey to a river an hour’s walk away.

Walk 8km a day

Walking the same route for two hours every morning is very tiring. But there is no choice. I hope it will change soon. Until then, I will continue to do it.

Walk for mothers like Zeitu, 37, who’s been making the arduous daily journey to fetch water for three decades. Early each morning, she sets off for a spring 4km away from her home in central Ethiopia, hoping to get there before herds of cattle do. The dirty water makes her family sick; her seven-year-old daughter fell seriously ill. But without clean water close to home, Zeitu simply has no other option.

Walk 12km a day

The rest of my siblings go to school, and I want them to get their education. I don’t go to school; I’ve never been. I made the choice to stay home and support my mother with collecting water.

Walk for girls like 16-year-old Seido, who is responsible for fetching water for her family. The water source is so far away from her home in rural Ethiopia that it takes around five hours to get there – meaning Seido spends almost all day, every single day, on the road. Seido dreams of going to school like her siblings – but, for as long as her days are dominated by walking for water, her education will be on hold.

When you sign up, your very own bespoke Walk for Water fundraising page is created for you.

This is where you can keep track of your activity tracking and fundraising, all in one place. You can set up a profile page – adding an image and personal story – and start earning virtual badges and climbing up our distance and fundraising leader boards.

You can also share your profile page with friends and family, so they can see the amazing challenge you're undertaking – as well as the progress you’re making - and show their support by making a donation.

Entry fees

Why did I Walk for Water? It's a heartbreaking reality that in many communities it's girls and young women who bear the burden of collecting water. Having to walk miles every day and giving up education and healthcare just to get something we all take for granted - it's not right. And it's not fair.

So, I took part in Walk for Water to support all those that don't have a choice but to walk every day just to fetch water. Apart from the odd ache and pain I've loved walking every day. The tranquility and mood-boosting nature of walking is perfect! Glynn Trow, WaterAid supporter

Take on the Walk for Water challenge so that others don't have to.

WaterAid will support you every step and every kilometre of the way.

Good Luck - happy walking and fundraising!