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.
Rural water services in WASHCost research countries are chronically underfunded, with insufficient resources to provide and sustain a basic level of service that meets national norms and standards. In communities researched by WASHCost, most people did not receive this basic minimum, although they... Read more...
WASHCost Mozambique is saying farewell to their partners in the country, but leaving behind a treasure chest of resources. In a document highlighting ten key findings from the project, Andre Uandela says: “The project has come to a close, but the ideas and approaches have been introduced into the... Read more...
“The real costs of sustainable services” campaign was launched in October 2012. The first theme focused on “costing sustainable sanitation services”. This December and January, water services will be in the spotlight. We will share with you key findings and messages from WASHCost’s research on... Read more...
Vera van der Grift interviewed Eric Stowe from Splash on how his organisation is using the life-cycle costs approach for cost modelling of their programmes in Asia. Eric explains how he and colleagues have slightly tweaked the language to make 'capital maintenance expenditures' understandable for... Read more...
500 WASH sector professionals have already signed on to take part in our first two editions of the “Costing Sustainable Services” online training course! Read more...
Millennium Water Alliance (MWA) is a champion of the life-cycle costs approach. They, along with partners, are applying the approach in Ethiopia, Kenya, and parts of Latin America to improve monitoring and evaluation of their WASH programmes. IRC’s WASHCost discussed with Susan Dundon of MWA and... Read more...
Vera van der Grift interviewed Mike Kang from Engineers Without Borders-Canada how his organisation applies the life-cycle costs in Malawi. Read more...
This tool has been developed based on the need of many to be able to convert costs of the past into current cost. Read more...
Often, local institutions of communities play an important role in improving the WASH service delivery and standards of services. The Water Committee in Jankampet village, Andhra Pradesh (India) teaches a few new lessons on WASH governance, investments and service levels as this short film shows. Read more...
This article provides insight into how the Stockholm Environmental Institute (SEI) used the life-cycle costs approach while collecting household sanitation and hygiene data to support their study on productive and conventional on-site sanitation in Rwanda. Vera van der Grift (IRC) interviewed... Read more...
The free "Costing Sustainable Services” online course aims to assist water, sanitation and hygiene professionals around to world with applying life-cycle costing in their work and organisation. The online course can be used by sector professionals with little or no experience of life-cycle costing... Read more...
Read about how the training package can be useful for you and your organisation. Read more...
Building a latrine is only a first step towards an effective sanitation service. The latrine must be used, kept clean, maintained and replaced at the end of its useful life if families and communities are to benefit. The recurrent costs of keeping the latrine clean and maintained, of emptying the... Read more...
Government of India buys into post-construction support and service delivery issues Interview with Mekala Snehalatha, WASHCost India Read more...
Sustaining sanitation is much more expensive than building latrines. The 20-year cost of sustaining a basic level sanitation service per person in WASHCost research areas is 5-20 times the cost of building the latrine in the first place. Read more...
Read recent tweets on the life-cycle costs and WASHCost Read more...
UNICEF together with the partners (including WASHCost) and the government has undertaken budget analyses of the water and sanitation sector. It shows that the weight of the water and sanitation sector is only 2.2%. Furthermore, it reveals that 80% of the budget comes from aid. The document raises... Read more...
As a first step to introduce the life-cycle cost approach in Uganda, the Fontes Foundation Uganda with support from IRC, analysed how the Uganda rural WASH sector is financed. The new proposal for implementing the life-cycle costs approach, highlights the current and complex financing system of the... Read more...
Vera van der Grift, IRC Information Officer gives examples of how the life-cycle costs approach has been taken up by global level actors. From international donors to regional lending banks, WASH sector actors are thinking about the importance of financing asset management and capital replacement... Read more...
The new budget brief by FDC and UNICEF analyses budget allocations for water and sanitation in Mozambique. The report identifies the disproportion between capital expenditure and running costs, as well as how external capital expenditure is used for covering running costs. Read more...