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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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Participants at workshop on the National Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) system in Liberia, Dec 2017

One workshop to cover everything we ever complained about

Published on: 13/02/2018
Key lessons to develop a Country-Led Monitoring (CLM) programme for rural water and sanitation in Liberia.

Collecting baseline WASH data at standpipe with mobile phones

Sensible universal access: what it means to achieve the WASH SDGs

Published on: 12/02/2018
Countries must now set their own realistic national targets and start monitoring them.

Girl and boy fetching water at handpump

Technological innovations are on exponential curves; but are WASH measurement methods stuck in time?

Published on: 07/02/2018
Innovations can revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development - if we rise responsibly to the challenge of measuring their impact.

Afar

Coming with a fresh perspective: understanding experiences of water security in Afar, Ethiopia.

Published on: 06/02/2018
My new role at Cranfield University this year is to drive forward a novel and very exciting project known as WEEP (Water-security in Ethiopia and the emotional response of pastoralists). WEEP has immense potential to 'break new ground' in understanding the everyday and ongoing challenges of water...

Man filling jerry cans with water in Niger

‘Without monitoring we won’t reach the Sustainable Development Goals’

Published on: 05/02/2018
Before 2021, national monitoring systems should be able to measure effectively how countries are doing in delivering water, sanitation and hygiene, IRC Burkina Faso Country director Juste Nansi states.

Hands on producing products

Moving from information gathering and idea generation to concept selection

Published on: 05/02/2018
Day 6 at the USAID Transform WASH Design Summit began like every day, with Morning Circle. This is a moment to set the mood, reflect, have a bit of fun, and make announcements about the day. The group is large with 35 participants plus Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Design Lab...

Designing our own solutions with the community

Let's design our own solutions! Not FOR the community but WITH the community

Published on: 02/02/2018
When we set out to transform the WASH sector in Ethiopia, I knew it would be a fascinating journey. But, our Transform WASH Design Summit, organized by PSI/Ethiopia and led by Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT's) D-Lab here in Hawassa, took us to an entirely new place.

Girl carrying water vessel

Can we make 2018 the year of the WASH System?

Published on: 25/01/2018
We need more and faster action to achieve and sustain the SDGs.

Woman collecting water at tap stand

Hit the road(map)

Published on: 25/01/2018
A new global guidance document on the District-Wide Approach.

Output visualisation Asset Registry Assessment Tool

When is it time to repair or replace your water system?

Published on: 17/01/2018
Water For People pilots asset management tool in Rwanda.

Circular concrete slabs made by the enterprises

Starting up sanitation enterprises does not mean a market for products

Published on: 05/01/2018
Lessons learnt from a field trip in Ethiopia.

Lockable handle and water metre protected with box to provide security and control on Pay as you fetch borehole.

A sustainability approach for hand pumps in rural areas

Published on: 29/12/2017
A checklist to effective adoption and implementation of the pay-as-you-fetch model.

Children at Kasenyi borehole

Water is life; water is joy

Published on: 28/12/2017
Stories from the community after IRC Uganda rehabilitated ten boreholes in Kabarole district, an effort to ensure a safe and reliable supply of water for over 3000 people, which in turn would improve health and livelihoods for the benefiting communities.

Kabarole

Taking lessons from Mother Nature

Published on: 22/12/2017
"If you do not yield to anyone's advice, the world will teach you the lessons it wants you to learn," my mother always said. Often, this was a cautionary tale and it usually came after realizing that no matter what she said or did, you would not yield to her advice. Somehow, this is the same...

Woman washing tomatoes

The secret to WASH-IWRM Linkages: pragmatism

Published on: 19/12/2017
Linking WASH and IWRM, as demanded by SDG 6, is essential but hard. With pragmatism and a problem based approach it can be done.

One of the remaining wetlands in Dhebkhal Chaur, North Bihar, India

Why is water security key to WASH services delivery?

Published on: 18/12/2017
Meeting Sustainable Development Goal 6 requires solutions that focus on integrated rather than sectoral approaches.

Making the rings

Learning from India’s ring men

Published on: 13/12/2017
You may have heard of the Lord of the Rings, but in Bihar, India, that name is taking on a whole new meaning. I recently joined a field visit to this part of the world to see how cement ring businesses are changing the face of rural sanitation.

Participants at IRC WASH Debate 22 November 2017

Linking WASH and integrated water resources management: why and how?

Published on: 29/11/2017
Achieving sustainable WASH services requires problem-based approaches focusing on a specific watershed or municipality.

Collecting money at a pay-as-you-fetch pump

Learning how to fix the system and not just the pump

Published on: 29/11/2017
As Ethiopia manages to develop more and more new rural water schemes – springs, wells or boreholes with hand-pumps or engines, piped water – keeping the existing infrastructure running well and safely is a challenge that gets bigger every day. And, despite some encouraging efforts, it's a challenge...

Proposed framework for public private collaboration

So, what’s the problem with ‘Public-Private Partnerships’?

Published on: 21/11/2017
Let's move beyond the conceptual chaos of 'public-private partnerships' and talk about what it really means.

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.

Sanitation systems

A toilet’s place? part of a sanitation system

Published on: 15/11/2017
World Toilet Day should really be World Sanitation Systems Day!

Toilet in Udaipur

How do you solve a problem like sanitation?

Published on: 14/11/2017
What we learnt from using the Faecal Waste Flow Calculator in India.

Mayank Midha (GARV Toilets) gets go-ahead from Director of Waste Management for Urban Slum Projects in Accra

Indestructible and smart: innovative public toilet concept being realised in Ghana

Published on: 09/11/2017
Indian sanitation entrepreneur Mayank Midha one year later.

AIWW_NWP image

Bridging the gap between impact investing and the WASH sector

Published on: 07/11/2017
How can impact investment address the multi-million dollar financing gap in the water sector?

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