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Blogs

IRC experts, guest bloggers, WASH sector colleagues share their ideas, observations and expertise through these informal blogs filtered by topic, projects and more.

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Women in India holding up sanitary products (Photo credit: Rudrani Ghosh photography)

‘She Makes Change’ if you believe in her

Published on: 10/03/2020
My story of empowerment starts from a toilet, or to be precise the lack of it.

Presentation

The imminent need for the humanitarian-development nexus

Published on: 11/02/2020
This is the first of a series of blog posts on building resilient WASH systems in fragile contexts.

Loo with a view, Trawden, Lancashire, UK

Stop being a neo-liberal and embrace the sanitation system

Published on: 13/11/2019
Sanitation is chronically underfunded, perhaps that’s because we’re not asking for money in the right way or from the right source.

Participants of the human rights workshop in Ouagadougou

201 élus locaux formés à appliquer le droit à l'eau et à l'assainissement

Published on: 25/06/2019
Le Ministère de l’Eau et de l’Assainissement (MEA) a initié des formations en approche fondée sur les droits humains (AFDH) et le genre à l’endroit de 201 élus locaux de douze régions du Burkina Faso.

World Water Day 2019

Committing to leaving no one behind ahead of World Water Day

Published on: 20/03/2019
Continuing our pursuit to secure the human right to water and sanitation with an inspirational event at the Peace Palace.

Elianey Kegel , Sara Bori and Ingeborg Krukkert before the Dutch primary school Emmaus

A participatory lesson in human rights for Dutch schoolchildren

Published on: 25/06/2018
We joined hands with Amnesty International to raise awareness for global water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) challenges amongst 10 year olds.

Amanda Loeffen, WaterLex

Linking safe water businesses to the human right to water and sanitation

Published on: 20/11/2017
The drive for reaching SDG 6 has created a big demand from private safe water businesses to help governments supply safe water.

Forbidden to defecate here logo

Sanitation – a right but also our civic duty

Published on: 14/12/2016
What would happen if we outlawed and started to punish open air defecation in Burkina Faso?

Rural water supply, Sahel region, Burkina Faso

How can Burkina Faso and Niger achieve SDG 6?

Published on: 06/09/2016
The answer lies in four strategic changes in water sector governance.

Toilet with cleaning materials

WASH in prisons is a neglected human right

Published on: 28/06/2016
Access to water and sanitation is a basic human right. No one, whatever their circumstances, should be forced to live in conditions where these services are not made available. And yet this is the case for many inmates in overcrowded prisons around the world.

Mohamuni Anglo Pali High School, Chittagong, Bangladesh. Petra Brussee

Beating the drum for institutional WASH

Published on: 19/10/2015
Stronger advocacy is needed for better water, sanitation and hygiene facilities in schools, health centres, workplaces and prisons.

We serve with a smile - WASH at the workplace

A clean place to go at work

Published on: 13/10/2015
A growing number of companies promise safe water, sanitation and hygiene for all their employees.

Uganda prison - tippy tap

Water, sanitation and hygiene are crucial in prison settings

Published on: 12/10/2015
For Ugandan prisons, investing in WASH means investing in hygiene behaviour change.

Burkina Faso Women

Researching the human right to sanitation in Burkina Faso

Published on: 22/06/2015
In this blog, I explain the process behind my research on human rights in Burkina Faso's water and sanitation sector. The resulting research report focuses on how the integration of sanitation as a human right in national policies and strategies can improve access to sanitation in rural areas, in...

water meter

Affordability of WASH services: rules of thumb and why it’s difficult to measure

Published on: 27/06/2014
What happens when people cannot pay for water and sanitation services? Mostly, we hear about women and girls in low income countries and how they access polluted water from ponds, rivers or hand dug wells. This week, the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (USA) made it to international news for...

Infographic: Violence Against Women Takes Many Forms, WHO, 2013

Inequity - a shared root cause of low access to sanitation services and violence against women

Published on: 03/06/2014
IRC believes in a world where water, sanitation and hygiene services are fundamental utilities that everyone is able to take for granted, forever. But we are concerned about the pervasive issue of violence against women being subsumed under the urgent need to promote public attention to the global...

Water quality comparator

Quality time

Published on: 20/05/2014
A study on whether water sources classified as "improved" are indeed safe triggered debate on the level of effort that needs to go into water quality monitoring and into measures to improve water quality

IRCwash

Water and sanitation services delivery should be at the heart of climate change adaptation

Published on: 15/05/2014
In this article John Butterworth explains why better access to water and sanitation will pay dividends in helping the most vulnerable people adapt to climate change. He argues that providing water and sanitation services for everyone builds resilience, and should be key part of the climate change...