Clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene should be a normal part of everyone’s daily life. Without all three, people can’t live dignified, healthy lives. With all three, they can unlock their potential, break free from poverty and change their lives for good.With clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene, children are born healthier. They get the chance to go to school and grow up to become adults. Women and men get to earn a living. Whole communities start to thrive. It sounds normal and it should be.

I was lucky to have seen WaterAid's work first hand in communities in rural Mozambique recently. I saw how off the grid villages now have solar powered pumps that provide clean water to communities and toilet blocks to their schools. It was hugely inspiring.

In one town I met the regional minister for water. WaterAid presented him with an alternative solution for getting water to his town using solar powered pumps rather than waiting for the national utility company to connect the region to the grid.

Twice a day communities can collect water from a central pump in the village - plenty to use for drinking, cooking & washing. Children go to school, villages are clean and hygienic, adults can be more productive and the elderly are looked after because everyone there has time to do so rather than walking miles to collect water every day, twice a day.

Great things start with clean water and decent toilets!