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Published on: 13/12/2018

Cover of the Water Special 2018 of ViceVersaIn this second edition of the Water Special of the Dutch development magazine ViceVersa, Catarina Fonseca is interviewed on attaining Sustainable Development Goal 6. In the article ‘Approaching the last mile’ she explains the necessity of systems thinking; it is not all about infrastructure but also about water management, governance, financing etc. Investing in long-term action to ensure that water and sanitation systems keep functioning is what donors should really be doing now rather than innovation.

In the article ‘Around the village pump’ Martin Watsisi, who works in the Watershed programme from IRC's office in Kabarole, Uganda, states that willingness to pay for water is an issue in rural areas. Many consider water to be free as it is a gift from nature and because of this water committees fail to be a success. Also they are run by volunteers and are therefore not taken seriously. IRC Uganda proposes to set up official water departments at the lowest administrative level in order to professionalise water services. The Ugandan government is not convinced that this is the way forward and unless there is proof that this works, the government prefers to invest in infrastructure rather than managing it.

The full articles to which IRC contributed are available as downloads below. The complete magazine can be downloaded from the ViceVersa website.

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