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.
Under pressure to improve water services, Lira sub-county considers establishing a local water and sanitation board to address issues around maintenance, fee collection and administration. Read more...
Sub-counties in Uganda's Kabarole District are excited about the potential of their new water and sanitation boards. But without financing, how can that potential be realised? Read more...
In Uganda, new water and sanitation boards at sub-county level are designed to remedy the problem of lack of capacity in water user committees—making local management more professional and effective. Read more...
The Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) is in the process of finalising a number of service delivery documents to guide the rural water and sanitation sub-sector in Ghana. The documents will critically enhance service delivery in the rural water sector. Read more...
Uganda is establishing Hand Pump Mechanics Associations as a solution to low functionality of rural point sources. Do these associations bring better, more professional service to communities? Read more...
Ghana through the Community Water and Sanitation Agency is developing a District Operational Manual (DOM) to guide the delivery of water and sanitation services at the local government level. The document is aimed to strengthen the capacity of local government officials as well as address gaps... Read more...
Learning has over the past few years taken centre stage in the Ugandan WASH sector. Different actors are working in partnership to establish learning platforms or learning alliances to assess challenges, find solutions, share lessons and scale up good practices. Read more...
“Closing the gap: WASH sector devolution and decentralisation in Malawi” takes a close look at how donor financing and lack of awareness about access to funds for both infrastructure and capacity building can be better aligned; particularly in Malawi’s decentralised water sector. Read more...
In 2011 the Uganda Ministry of Water and Environment started to promote the formation of Hand Pump Mechanics Associations (HPMAs) as a way of enhancing sustainability of rural water services. This briefing note highlights the key issues emerging from the process thus far. Read more...
Many African countries, including Uganda, are increasingly replacing the point source with the handpump. In order to support this change in infrastructure, water and sanitation actors in Uganda are applying the Water Supply and Sanitation Board (WSSB) model as an answer to the traditional community... Read more...
During the London Sustainable WASH learning event, which took place on 31 January 2012, representatives of 44 WASH organisations made commitments to support the service delivery approach. They acknowledged that making changes within their respective organisations is important for collectively... Read more...
The lack of clearly delineated roles can undermine sustainable services at scale. Read more...
In the search for more effective coordination mechanisms, WASH actors in Kabarole district (Uganda) ventured into sub-county level planning and review meetings. Although it is still in its infant stages, this approach is already showing signs that it could improve some aspects of sector... Read more...
Who says traditional African community mobilisation approaches have died out? The application of the Omuhiigo approach to the Community Based Management System (CBMS) of water sources in Kabarole district, is a good case of the revival of seemingly-forgotten traditional community mobilisation... Read more...
Various stakeholders implementing water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services in Ghana currently use different approaches in implementing the project cycle to deliver their facilities. This has been identified as a challenge to the involvement of local government in enhancing the long-term... Read more...
This paper summarises findings from a recent study of the status of rural water supply in some thirteen countries, which aimed to identify commonalities in both challenges and opportunities to rural water supply in countries as diverse as the USA, India, Honduras and Ghana. It spans a developmental... Read more...
Water For People adopted the "Everyone, Forever" approach. IRC carried out a case study to learn lessons on scaling-up rural water and sanitation services. Read more...
When Triple-S Uganda opened office in Lira district, there was nothing like coordination of WASH actors. Coordination had stopped with the disbandment of the WASH Cluster and the closure of the UNICEF office in the district. Triple-S worked with the District Water Office to give a new beginning to... Read more...
Lira District WASH actors have been without a coordination structure since for over a year. This void was created in 2009 when UNICEF closed its office in Lira District. Since 2005, UNICEF had been coordinating the WASH cluster in Lira district, which comprised mainly humanitarian agencies... Read more...
The Uganda WASH sector is awash with government and non-government actors at national, district, sub-county and even parish level. However, the variation in mandates, agenda, and resources often lead to duplication and ineffectiveness in terms of service delivery, as well as lack of alignment with... Read more...