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.
Rural and semi-urban "communes", or municipalities, need a framework to help them monitor public water services. The sector has identified the creation of such a framework as one of the priority actions for 2013 in the context of the National Water and Sanitation Programme (PNAEPA). The task is... Read more...
A group of Indian officials led by Saraswati Prasad IAS, Joint Secretary, and Government of India is in IRC for a two-week training course and exposure visit on sustainable services that last. Read more...
Reducing downtime of hand pumps using sms technology, Ghana. Read more...
Rather than installing more pumps or building more latrines, NGO Engineers Without Borders (EWB) Canada aims to build a more effective sector. A new case study examines their strategy and the results. Read more...
IRC welcomes the final report of the UN High Level Panel (HLP), which puts forward recommendations for post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). While we are happy that the report includes an ambitious goal of universal access to water and sanitation by 2030, it is disappointing that it lacks... Read more...
Asset management is "the combination of management, financial, economic, engineering and other practices applied to physical assets with the objective of providing the required level of service in the most cost-effective manner" (National Asset Management Steering Group, 2006). In practical terms... Read more...
Life-cycle costs represent the aggregate costs of ensuring delivery of adequate, equitable and sustainable WASH services indefinitely to a population in a specified area. These costs include: Capital expenditure on hardware and software (CapEx) Operating and minor maintenance expenditure (OpEx)... Read more...
Capacity support refers to support activities towards water service authorities and includes, the provision of technical assistance, monitoring and training of service authority staff around the key functions they are responsible for. Read more...
This includes the structured support activities to service providers as well as to users or user groups. This may be provided in a variety of ways by either local governments directly, by regional utility agencies, specialized agencies or external contractors or a by combination of these modalities. Read more...
Alternative service provider options refer to models such as self-supply and public-private partnerships, that are a departure from the conventional model of community-based management that has tended to dominate rural water supplies. Read more...
The professionalisation of community based-management means moving away from an approach based purely on volunteerism, towards a more professional, competent and effective management of rural water services working to agreed standards, and with greater transparency and accountability. Read more...
Regulation is a set of functions, norms, and enforcement processes that ensure both services and service providers meet nationally set guidelines and standards. Regulation can cover economic, environmental and public health aspects of service provision. In the rural water it would include setting... Read more...
Harmonisation and coordination entails all actors –national and local government, donors, lending banks, NGOs and other water sector stakeholders – recognizing and adhering to common principles and approaches when supporting rural water services. It includes the principles of 'aid effectiveness',... Read more...
The objective of this high-level summit is to take stock of the various developments, in and outside the UN system, in preparing water-related goals for the post Rio+20 development agenda. The expected outcome is one overarching SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely)... Read more...
Service delivery models describe the practical implementation of water service provision as part of a service delivery approach Read more...
Ryan Schweitzer and James Mihelcic from the University of South Florida have developed a Sustainability Assessment Tool for community-managed rural water systems [1]. The tool is novel because it focuses specifically on community management during the post construction phase. It can be used to... Read more...
The Village Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Committee (VWC) is one of the cornerstones of the BRAC WASH programme at community level. 46,000 committees consisting of both men and women have been formed and are supported by the programme. Read more...
In association with the All India Disaster Mitigation Institute (AIDMI) and the Centre of Excellence for Change Management (CEC), the IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre is organising a one-day Roundtable dedicated to the theme Sustainable Drinking Water Services at Scale: Everyone... Read more...
Water and sanitation facilities: a service provider is needed for day-to-day administration. Read more...
In 2011, Triple-S Uganda commissioned a study to assess the use of the DIM by different stakeholders at district level. Read more...