CAWST becomes official partner for UNESCO World Engineering Day 2025 campaign
Rajkumari Devi and four of her daughters-in-law pictured here are featured in CAWST's World Engineering Day video, highlighting the importance of engineering around the world. Location: Bihar, India.
CAWST is recognized along with other leading engineering organizations around the world.
We’re pleased to announce that CAWST has been selected as an official partner for World Engineering Day (WED) 2025, an International Day proclaimed by UNESCO. WED is jointly operated by UNESCO and the World Federation for Engineering Organisations (WFEO), which spans some 100 countries and represents more than 30 million engineers.
A global campaign celebrating WED launched on March 4, and it marks the start of a year-long campaign of events, films and related articles and news, highlighting the achievements of engineers and engineering around the world. As an official partner, CAWST is recognized alongside other leading engineering organizations around the world.
The article below was originally published on the World Engineering Day’s global hub featuring partners representing one of the Sustainable Development Goals. It has been republished here with permission. View the original article and a video featuring CAWST.
Dare to be different
CAWST (Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology) is a licensed professional engineering firm and a registered charity—a unique model that combines the practical problem-solving of engineering with the accessibility of charitable services for those who need them most.
The organization’s training and consultancy services help organizations in low- and middle-income countries learn how to get safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) into their homes, schools, and clinics using simple, affordable technologies.
Responses to water and sanitation challenges often prioritize infrastructure—wells, pipelines, and sewage treatment plants. While these are essential, CAWST takes a different approach. In many places, piped water systems are not viable due to cost or technical complexity, making them difficult for rural communities to operate and maintain. To ensure safe water for all, a combination of both decentralized and centralized solutions is needed.
“CAWST takes science and turns it into free training on simple, affordable technologies and practices that anyone can implement themselves right away,” says Shauna Curry, CAWST President and CEO.
Sharing knowledge
By training others, CAWST catalyzes independent action, creating a multiplier effect far beyond what any individual or organization could achieve alone.
Providing training both in-person and online, CAWST offers high-quality learning opportunities on multiple WASH-related topics, in multiple languages so that anyone, anywhere can start, strengthen or scale up their projects in their communities. When this happens, “water knowledge” — previously inaccessible to many — quickly becomes common knowledge.
CAWST aims to reach 100 million people with improved water, sanitation and hygiene by 2030–and they’re half-way there, reaching more than 50 million since their inception. It’s an ambitious target but CAWST is confident it’s achievable, thanks to its expansive network and relationships with local organizations and partners.
“We continuously experiment, iterate, and improve based on insights from organizations worldwide to ensure our training and consulting remain as effective and locally relevant as possible,” says Curry.
Where in the world?
Based in Calgary, Canada, CAWST’s network of training and professional engineering consultancy services ripples out around the world–every continent on the globe, except Antarctica–improving people’s access to safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene. CAWST strives to support a diverse mix of organizations because then, the impact continues to grow. When CAWST trains local partners; they train communities; and the impact multiplies for generations.
CAWST, together with Sehgal Foundation, helped this little girl's family from Mohammadpur Lakhanpur in Bihar state install and use biosand filters in her village.
Strong partnerships
The Sehgal Foundation in India is one of CAWST’s long-standing local partners. CAWST works with the foundation to improve the quality of life of people living in rural India.
Through its support, the partnership has helped families from Mohammadpur Lakhanpur village, Bihar state, install and use simple, effective household biosand filters to transform the health, social and economic outcomes for this village. This affordable technology uses sand and other locally-available materials to filter impurities and contaminants such as microbial pathogens. Thanks to an adaptation by Sehgal, specifically created to help in this region, it also removes the naturally-occurring iron and arsenic.
Since the filters have been installed, life has improved significantly for the villagers, says Aparajeeta Vaibhav, Sehgal Foundation Engineer and Program Lead.
“By drinking filtered water, communities are safe from waterborne diseases; the families are empowered; and parents are not losing work opportunities and can better support their families.”
What does a sustainable future look like?
CAWST empowers people with training, consulting and expertise on affordable technologies and best practices to effectively meet the challenge of SDG 6—ensuring sustainable water and sanitation for all.
“It won’t be one individual, organization or technology that solves the world’s water crisis. It will be many working together,” says Curry.
Learn more:
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