IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre

Bridging the knowledge gap and joint learning with partners for improved, low-cost water supply, sanitation and hygiene in developing countries.

Vacancy: Project coordinator of the new Sustainable Services at Scale (SSS) project

IRC is currently seeking candidates for the position of Project Coordinator of the Sustainable Services at Scale (SSS) project. The project will identify, develop and test decentralised models for the delivery of sustainable rural water services in developing countries.

Apply before Thursday 18 December 2008

In Focus: Six drivers of successful urban sanitation for the poor

Rosemary Rop, WSP Africa Nairobi in her key note speech to the symposium identified six drivers of successful urban sanitation for the poor.

Service approach needed to ensure sanitation is grounded in reality

A project approach will never succeed in solving the urban sanitation crisis because it will not succeed in sustaining services in the long term or extend them to all who need them. That was the central theme of the main background paper to the symposium, introduced by IRC’s Joep Verhagen.

IRC moves back to The Hague

IRC is on the move. After almost a decade in Delft, sharing a building with UNESCO – IHE Institute for Water Education, the IRC team will move back to The Hague in mid December 2008.

The Atieno Family - the whole story

Artists Joseph Nzomo and Salim Busuru from Kenya created the family and the comic strip which tells the story of their lives in the slums. In the weeks leading to the IRC symposium (19-21 Nov) we have regularly added pages to the strip book. Now you can read the whole story. Enjoy!

comic-to-publish-on-website-fullversion.doc (1,004 kB)

Slippage of WASH Services: Causes, Costs and How to Counter

Centre for Economic and Social Studies (CESS), Hyderabad, India, First week of March 2009

The main objectives of the workshop are to quantify the scale and extent of the challenge of “slippage of WASH services” and to increase the understanding of the main causes. Secondly the workshop is about disseminating the results of the research and workshop, and scaling-up of good practices related to the WASH slippage challenge.

Suggestions for strengthening Community-Led Total Sanitation

While Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) is a relative success in a growing number of countries, there are also some difficulties in sustaining the momentum and results with equity: freedom from open defecation, safe and durable toilets, hygienic use of toilets etc. There are also possibilities to include gender on equity and the poor more structurally than is currently done. This paper is a summary of potential steps for addressing these issues. It draws on the experiences of IRC's thematic group on sanitation.

CLTS_WASH_Sanitation_2008.pdf (133 kB)

UK/Netherlands: joint water and sanitation initiative to help millions in Africa and Asia

A joint UK/Netherlands initiative to provide millions of people in Africa and Asia with safe drinking water and good sanitation was launched in New York this week.

Lessons from inception phase WASHCost programme

Understanding of life cycle unit costs for more sustainable water sanitation and hygiene facilities and services is increasing in Ghana following the launch of the WASHCost programme in the country.

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About IRC

Since its foundation in 1968, the IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre (IRC) has facilitated the sharing, promotion and use of knowledge so that governments, professionals and organisations can better support poor men, women and children in developing countries to obtain water and sanitation services they will use and maintain.