WaterAid’s To be a Girl campaign has raised £2m – which will be doubled to £4m by the government’s UK Aid Match funding scheme.

The charity said the appeal smashed its fundraising target of £1m and the money raised will be used to bring clean water and safe toilets to more than 250,000 girls around the world.

To be a Girl highlighted the difficulties faced by women and girls without access to clean water and toilets, how they spend hours each day collecting water and are left vulnerable to violence and sexual assault when they go to the toilet in the open.

The campaign launched with a national bus campaign on the side of more than 3,000 buses. It was seen by at least 37 million people, WaterAid said.

Best friends Solo and Ze (pictured), who featured on the bus ads, were at the centre of the appeal. WaterAid shared a film of a project to install clean water in their village in Madagascar to mark the end of the match-funding period on Tuesday.

Barbara Frost, chief executive of WaterAid, said: “With the UK government matching the money raised this support will go twice as far in helping to transform girls’ lives in some of the poorest countries of the world.  Access to clean water and safe toilets allows girls to live healthy lives and to stay at school. 

“Girls no longer have to spend hours every day collecting water from unsafe sources nor face the indignity and insecurity of going to the toilet in the open. Access to these basic facilities gives girls the opportunity to forge a positive future for themselves and for their communities.”

Under the UK Aid Match scheme, international development charities can win match-funding for a period of three months on appeals that meet the criteria.

In this month’s Fundraising Magazine, Jennie York, direct marketing team leader at WaterAid, shares her tips on winning and making the most of the scheme.