Harvest- you can’t grow anything without water!

At harvest time, we celebrate the abundance that comes from months of careful planting, nurturing and waiting. Yet every farmer knows a simple truth: you can’t grow anything without water. Without rain, seeds remain dormant, crops fail, and families face uncertainty.

For communities across Uganda, access to clean, reliable water is just as essential. Water brings life, health, food security and hope for the future. Through International Needs’ water projects, we are helping families transform barren ground into flourishing fields and creating opportunities for children and communities to thrive. Our Harvest Appeal invites you to join us in bringing the gift of water, the foundation from which so much growth becomes possible.

This autumn to celebrate INUK’s 50^th birthday, we’re having a £50,000 matched-giving campaign. That means that we’ve received £50,000 in pledges from supporters that will double any gift you give. So, between October and December we need to raise an extra £50,000 to secure all we need to run our third WASH programme.

With reports indicating that a strong El Niño is developing this year, communities around the world are anticipating extreme weather conditions. El Niño is a natural climate phenomenon that occurs when sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean become warmer than average, disrupting global weather patterns. According to the US Climate Prediction Centre, El Niño is strengthening and has a greater than 90% chance of becoming a very strong event during late 2026 and early 2027.

For Uganda, forecasts indicate that the current El Niño is likely to bring above-normal rainfall across much of the country, increasing the risk of flooding, landslides, and soil erosion.

For rural communities that do not have reliable access to clean water, the greatest challenge will be water contamination. Heavy rains can wash waste, sediment, and chemicals into wells, springs, and shallow water sources, making water unsafe to drink and increasing the likelihood of waterborne diseases such as cholera and diarrhoea. Flooding can also damage boreholes, pumps, and rural roads, further limiting access to safe water. As a result, for many vulnerable communities in Uganda, this year’s El Niño is expected to be less a question of water quantity and more a challenge of maintaining access to clean, safe water.

Therefore, we’d like to invite you to join in with our match-funding campaign for Water. From October to December every donation made will be doubled up to £50,000. That means if you give £200 it becomes £400. £1000 becomes £2000 and so on.

We know that access to clean water and sanitation is incredibly important, and that these predictions about ongoing extreme weather will only make it more difficult and we need to act. Therefore, the money we raise between October and December will fund our 3-year cycle providing boreholes, education about disease, and sanitation facilities for 12,200 people. Will you join us in changing the lives of these communities?

Below are some fundraising goals- remember everything will be doubled!

£104 could set up a WASH club in a school for year

£518 could repair and protect a natural spring

£901 could install a rainwater tank for a school

£2254 could build 1 block of 8 latrines

£6085 could drill a borehole

Thank you!