Following site visits to numerous projects in Tanzania, WEFTA President Peter Fant, P.E., was an invited speaker at a gathering in Rome of faith-based organizations and allies to accelerate progress on WASH in healthcare facilities. The conference took place April 22-23, under the patronage of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. Fant spoke at a session addressing secular partners supporting faith-based action.
In his remarks, Fant praised the sisters who have worked with WEFTA to address WASH needs in healthcare, humorously adding that perhaps WEFTA was morphing from the Water Engineers for the Americas and Africa to the “Water Engineers for the Sisters.” Highlighting their role in developing communities, he noted, “The reality is, [once] you find the sisters, you are digging into the community…” He said that it was a conversation with the Daughters of Charity a decade ago during a WEFTA project in Chiapas, Mexico, that led to WEFTA’s expansion into Africa.
In addition to the invaluable role of the sisters in the success of WASH projects, Fant cited the importance of networking and of interacting with small local businesses, which are intimately connected to their communities.
According to conference materials, ten years ago the lack of WASH in healthcare globally was an “unrecognized crisis.” Even today, across 60 “fragile context” countries, 37 percent of healthcare facilities do not have basic water services and 81 percent lack basic sanitation services. Fortunately, the gathering in Rome confirmed that “WASH in healthcare facilities is no longer a marginal concern, but a growing global movement.” WEFTA is proud to be a part of this critical movement to enhance human health and dignity.
Click here to review Peter Fant’s complete April 2026 Trip Report including Tanzania project site visits and the WASH in HCF meeting in Rome