7. CARE’s policy commitments

CARE has identified WASH as one of the four priority sectors (along with food security, shelter and sexual and reproductive health & rights) in the CARE International Emergency Strategy. In line with this commitment, it is recommended that CARE would contribute to between 10% and 25% of the total WASH response to the needs of the severely affected population. CARE would expect to be at the higher end of this range in circumstances where:

• the CO has established WASH programmes
• the emergency impacts on or near an area where we are already working
• there are few other WASH actors present.

CARE is a committed member of the Global WASH cluster, and there is the expectation that at the country level, CARE would actively participate in the cluster. This includes being a member of the Strategic Advisory Group (SAG) in cases where this exists, and communicating CARE’s plans and areas of intervention to the WASH cluster promptly, so that other WASH actors know when and where we have accepted responsibility for WASH and do not duplicate interventions.          

CARE’s programmes in WASH should follow approaches agreed with the WASH cluster and should meet international standards including:

• Sphere standards
• WHO standards for drinking water quality
• Technical guidance set out by WASH cluster and other technical institutions.