Splash envisions a world where all children have the opportunity to lead healthy lives. Clean drinking water, clean hands, and clean toilets in all places  including non household settings such as schools, orphanages, hospitals, and shelters - are important components towards that goal. It is not enough, however, to give a child one time access to the water, sanitation, or hygiene solution that he or she needs for immediate better health outcomes. An integrated approach comprised of multiple influencers and decision makers is necessary to create intergenerational change whereby kids learn the value of WASH and become advocates for it throughout their whole lives  including, someday, with their own children. Splash’s theory of change thus takes both the long view, with a focus on sustainability, and a broad view, with a focus on scale. Splash believes that scale is achievable through the replication of our model by other actors, and that sustainability is best ensured through the local ownership of locally appropriate solutions.

Splash works through a coalition approach (with relevant public, private, and social actors) to 1) improve WASH infrastructure for the long haul. We ensure that partner institutions have lasting access to safe drinking water, proper hygiene facilities, and child and girl-friendly sanitation facilities. In addition to creating this enabling physical environment, we aim to 2) change the behaviors of kids through the provision of training programs and activities that promote drinking clean water, washing hands with soap, and properly using toilet facilities. We do this while working closely with site staff and parents to 3) change the behaviors of adults who surround these kids. Adults are key players in maintaining WASH infrastructure and supporting positive WASH behaviors.

Our integrated WASH approach also relies on 4) leveraging partnerships with other funders, stakeholders and implementers, including governments. We believe that, in most cases, governments are the best entities to expand this work and carry it on for the long haul. We thus strive to 5) influence government practices as a core building block towards sustainability and scale. Finally, Splash builds the capacity of local teams, creating the conditions for successful 6) localized transitions so that the impact of these imperative solutions lasts far beyond the limits of international philanthropy. We measure our success globally via key performance indicators within these six outcome areas to ensure that we are achieving progress towards our core impact goals.