Experts have pointed to a growing momentum among politicians, finance and business leaders toward meeting the global water and sanitation development goals. However, many also warn that development finance is still woefully small, that silos persist among actors, and that not enough attention is being paid to reaching the poorest of the poor. Includes quotes from IRC CEO Patrick Moriarty on SDG6 and urban sanitation. [Sophie Edwards, Devex, 4 September 2017]
Bij de nieuwe hulp- en handelsagenda wordt één ding vaak over het hoofd gezien, schrijven Stef Smits (IRC) en Kate Pearson (Max Foundation) in deze vooruitblik naar de toekomst. Denk eraan om de hulprelatie met een land op een goede manier te beëindigen.
'We are driving a transformational agenda towards WASH delivery in Ghana', said minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, Joseph Kofi Adda at his press conference at the Stockholm World Water Week on 28 August.
Blog post (in Dutch) on Vice Versa (5 Jul 2017) by Stef Smits (IRC) and Kate Pearson (Max Foundation) on exit strategies in the WASH sector. The blog is based on the Max Foundation-IRC Event:that took place on 31 May 2017 in The Hague.
In lead-up to the release of the SDG6 baseline report by WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP), Circle of Blue publishes interview (6 July 2017) with IRC's Catarina Fonseca, Tom Slaymaker (UNICEF and WaterAid.
The Mali newspaper Le Combat has featured a story about Watershed Mali. A short introduction of the project and its partners is given and Mrs Traoré Afou, the Watershed coordinator, explains the activities of the project. Watershed Mali will focus especially on two issues: the quality of the water (incl. wastewater management), and universal and sustainable access to drinking water.
Ghana news site citifmonline.com reported on the launch of the 'District Based Full WASH Coverage Start-Up Initiative' in Kenyasi in the Asutifi North District of the Brong Ahafo Region of Ghana. If successful, the initiative "will be replicated in other Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) across Ghana", the article said. Quotes from IRC Ghana Director Vida Duti are included.
IRC blog (3 Mar 2017) by Patrick Moriarty reposted in The Huffington Post (17 Mar 2017) and The Diplomat Magazine (6 May 2017), and listed in the EADI Research Monitor (Mar 2017).
But ... to achieve Goal 6 more urgency is needed in sector reform and systems building.
“Let’s face it. It is when the water doesn’t get out of the tap, we begin to notice the system”, noted Patrick Moriarty of knowledge centre IRC on water and sanitation services. Holding his first TED talk he addressed the general blindness for water systems and tendency to see only what they deliver. Moriarty urged to focus more on the whole water supply in developing countries. “The only way we are going to end the need for development aid, is by building a system." Dutchwatersector.com, 13 March 2017
