Find out about what IRC is doing and what is going on in the world of water, sanitation and hygiene. Use the filters to narrow down your search.
During the third Africa Sanitation and Hygiene Conference (AfricaSan 3) the Rwanda Environment Care (REC), a local NGO that provides a variety of sanitary facilities across the country, scooped the Utilities Award in Africa for its efforts to improve sanitation and hygiene. Announcing the Utilities... Read more...
Civil society organisations (CSOs) are calling on African leaders and international governments to take urgent action on the continent’s critical sanitation situation. The call was issued on the eve of AfricaSan 3, the only Africa-wide conference on sanitation, which is taking place from 19-21 July... Read more...
Seven million people, including over 700,000 refugees are in need of waster, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services according to a United Nations report of 15 July 2011. The drought affecting Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia and Djibouti is being called the worst in 50 years. UN agencies have asked for US... Read more...
In September 2010, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded, Management Sciences for Health (MSH)-led Sudan Health Transformation Project, Phase 2 (SHTP II) piloted a 3-month Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) project to determine the most effective strategies to... Read more...
The people of Joe Morolong, a rural area in South Africa, are waiting to be connected to a new water supply system, while the municipality and two construction companies continue to fight over a contract. Both companies claim to have won the contract to construct boreholes and a water supply system... Read more...
A project to use carbon credits to finance the free delivery of water filters to 4.5 million people has been sharply criticised by a US expert. Mulago Foundation director Kevin Starr calls Verstergaard Frandsen's Carbon for Water initiative a "loopy funding scheme paired with a lousy public health... Read more...
Ms. Catarina de Albuquerque, United Nations independent expert on the right to water and sanitation paid a week-long visit to Namibia. She noted that the country has over the past 20 years achieved significant progress in extending its water network across the country. Ms. De Albuquerque urged the... Read more...
In spite of the Government's pledge to commit 0.5% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to sanitation, the 2011 budget made provision for only 0.1%, said Executive Secretary of the Coalition of NGOs in water and sanitation ( CONIWAS ), Mr Benjamin Arthur. Ghana is one of the signatories of the 2008... Read more...
Schools that promote a healthy learning environment for pupils ensure that there is access to water and sanitation facilities and that teachers engage pupils frequently on discussions about health. In these schools the number of children who washed hands frequently increased from six percent to... Read more...
Briefing Note “Mapping EU Support for Sanitation in Africa", published by the EU Water Initiative (EUWI) Africa Working Group, is based on a full study by WEDC in association with Hydroconseil. The purpose of the study is to obtain an overview of the status of the involvement of EU Member States... Read more...
In his latest column , government critic and Professor of Creative Writing at Trinity College (USA) Okey Ndibe , voices his disgust at the practice of open defecation in his homeland Nigeria. If you want to gauge how badly Nigerians have been animalized, then pay attention to how, and where, many... Read more...
Unilever through its Lifebuoy soap brand has reached 100,000 students in over 80 schools across Nairobi County its hand washing campaign. Read more...
A parliamentary committee wants to cancel a 550 million Rand (US$ 81.7 million) rural sanitation contract with an NGO for its failure to deliver services on time. The ministers of Public Works and of Human Settlements want to give the NGO, Independent Development Trust , a second chance. The... Read more...
In April 2011, the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group launched its new Urban Development Strategy . The Strategy is anchored on three pillars: infrastructure delivery, governance and private sector development. The infrastructure development pillar emphasises delivery and expansion of basic... Read more...
Sudan’s irrigation and water resources ministry and the United Nations launched a US$1-billion cash appeal on 27 June 2011 to help reverse the rapid decline in Darfur's water supplies, seen as one the key drivers in the region's conflict. The region has witnessed a demographic explosion in the past... Read more...
Noted South African politician, lawyer and human rights activist, Prof. Kader Asmal, who served as the country's first post-apartheid Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry from 1994-1999, passed away on 21 June 2011. Read more...
At a capacity building workshop for members of the Ghana Watsan Journalists' Network (GWJN), an organization, which focuses on water, sanitation and hygiene, Mr Minta Aboagye, outgoing Director (Water), Ministry of Water Resource, Works and Housing (MWRWH), has said that there are plans to... Read more...
The African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Zimbabwean government have signed a US $30 million grant agreement in support of the urgent water supply and sanitation rehabilitation project (UWSSRP) in the country. The UWSSRP is financed from the Zimbabwe Multi-Donor Trust Fund (the Zim-Fund). The... Read more...
On 29 July 2010, the General Assembly of the United Nations recognised, in a proposed resolution by Bolivia and adopted by 122 votes with 41 abstentions, 'the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights... Read more...
The contested public-private contract with the water supply company, Aqua Vitens Rand Limited in Ghana, has not been extended. The company, which took over the operation of Ghana’s urban water supply in 2006, was supposed to improve the accountability of water delivery over the last five years... Read more...