^{27 March 2020}

We find ourselves in a challenging and uncertain time, with the world changing around us by the hour, every day. With the number of COVID-19 cases climbing across the world to alarming levels, no country has been left untouched by its effects.

‘Doing no harm’ is the first principle of RISE. So, we are committed to containing and safely managing, as best as possible, the spread of COVID-19 across our operations.

First and foremost, we are prioritising the health and wellbeing of our staff, teams and communities. Our most significant change to operations is to drastically reduce physical contact amongst our staff with each other, and with the RISE communities.

In practice, this means we have temporarily suspended all of our planned field activities in both Fiji and Indonesia. Our laboratories and office hubs have also closed, and all staff are now working from home.

These suspensions are planned for an initial three months. While we are not sure yet when our community activities will resume, and we may not know for some time, RISE will continue. We are not shutting down.

While this will inevitably mean delays in delivering aspects of our program, we feel these measures are necessary to protect the health and wellbeing of our staff, teams and communities.

In what will surely be a tough year ahead, our resolve is stronger than ever to build a better future – one where access to clean water and essential sanitation is accessible to all – and nobody is left behind.

Watch below: RISE Program Director Professor Rebekah Brown explains why research and evidence is needed now, more than ever, to understand how we can improve basic water and sanitation services, and save lives.