Reaching 2.1 million: From coverage to community transformation
Since 2012, Max Foundation has built an integrated approach to child health, nutrition, and WASH across Bangladesh. Through 9 major programmes, we have reached 2.1 million unique people — delivering safely managed water, improved sanitation, handwashing facilities, and regular child growth monitoring to communities that previously had little access to these essential services.
Geographic Reach
This geographic breadth ensures that proven models reach communities facing the highest burdens of malnutrition and inadequate WASH infrastructure.
Project/Programme Contributions to Population Coverage
Each project/programme has contributed to our cumulative reach, with the largest-scale interventions — Max Nutri-WASH and Building Water Business — together accounting for over 1.8 million people served.
| Project/Programme | Period | Households | Population |
|---|---|---|---|
| Max Nutri-WASH | 2017 – 2021 | 283,848 | 1,228,047 |
| Max Value for WASH | 2012 – 2016 | 212,654 | 893,145 |
| Max WASH in Urban Slums | 2015 – 2018 | 7,492 | 31,465 |
| Max Value for Child Growth | 2015 – 2018 | 7,255 | 30,469 |
| Max Water Supply and Sanitation Services | 2016 – 2019 | 2,767 | 11,623 |
| Max Value for Stunting Free Village | 2016 – 2019 | 11,379 | 47,793 |
| Building Water Business | 2022 – 2026 | 123,394 | 614,431 |
| Right2Grow | 2021 – 2025 | 63,254 | 302,153 |
| Healthy Village in Urban Programme | 2022 – 2026 | 47,601 | 212,695 |
People with Access to Essential Services at Scale
Across all project/programmes, we have achieved unprecedented coverage of essential WASH and health services. These numbers represent real people with functional, safely managed infrastructure and services.
Improved Sanitation by Programme
Sanitation coverage is our largest service area, with 1.78 million people gaining access to improved sanitation facilities. The breakdown by programme shows how this achievement spans both large-scale rural interventions and targeted urban project/programmes.
| Project/Programme | People with Improved Sanitation |
|---|---|
| Max Value for WASH | 680,209 |
| Max Nutri-WASH | 480,072 |
| Building Water Business | 297,137 |
| Healthy Village in Urban Programme | 133,396 |
| Right2Grow | 80,818 |
| Max Value for Stunting Free Village | 45,096 |
| Max Value for Child Growth | 29,956 |
| Max WASH in Urban Slums | 29,368 |
| Max Water Supply & Sanitation Services | 4,736 |
Community-Level Transformation
Sustainable change requires community ownership. Our Healthy Village approach engages entire communities in setting and meeting comprehensive health, nutrition, and WASH standards.
Of the 3,211 villages that signed up across all programmes, 1,102 have achieved full “Healthy Village” declaration — meeting standards for safe water, improved sanitation, handwashing practices, and child nutrition monitoring.
Children Moved Out of Stunting
Behind every number is a child growing to their full potential. These 27,842 children under five who have moved out of stunting through our interventions represent the most tangible measure of our impact on child health.
Looking Forward
These numbers represent more than project/programme metrics. They are families with safe water at their doorstep, children growing to their full potential, and communities equipped to sustain their own health gains. As we expand into new regions and deepen our reach through the Building Water Business and Healthy Village in Urban programmes, we build on a foundation of proven, scalable models that transform entire communities.
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Max Foundation has catalysed 1,122 health and WASH entrepreneurs across 4 business models — Health Promotion Agents, Sanitation Entrepreneurs, Cleaning Entrepreneurs, and Plumbers. With 73% extending their product lines and a combined average serving hundreds of customers each, these local businesses are the infrastructure for sustained community health.
Scaling Safely Managed Water through Pipe Water Schemes
Across 7 projects, Max Foundation has constructed 153 piped water grids connecting 8,539 households — reaching 35,864 people with reliable, safely managed water. The Building Water Business project alone has commissioned 100 operational grids, proving community-managed water infrastructure can be financially sustainable.