About Us

SWAN Canada is a coalition of Canadian non-governmental organizations united in the belief that improving global access to safe, affordable, and sustainable water supply and sanitation services must be a foreign aid priority for the Government of Canada. SWAN Canada’s goals are to:

• Raise the profile of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, specifically the target to halve the proportion of people without water and sanitation by 2015, to citizens and key decision makers in the Canadian government including parliamentarians, senators, and senior civil servants;
• Make the case for why the fight against global poverty is inextricably linked to improving access to clean water and basic sanitation for the world’s poor;
• Increase Canada’s foreign aid funding for water and sanitation initiatives in the developing world, and lay a strong foundation for broader poverty-fighting efforts.

SWAN Canada does not implement on-the-ground water and sanitation projects, nor does it seek funding for itself from the general public. Rather, our purpose is to provide like-minded Canadian non-governmental organizations with the means to come together and, with one voice, positively engage the Canadian government on the critical issue of access to clean water and basic sanitation

While SWAN Canada’s focus is on the water and sanitation crisis in developing countries, we recognize that Canada has its own share of challenges. To learn more about this , go to our Resources section.