IRC Associate
Richard Franceys, a Chartered Civil Engineer with an MBA, specialises in institutional development and finance for the water supply and sanitation sector to facilitate universal services with a particular focus on the needs of the poor. Areas of interest include commercialisation & tariff development, economic and financial analysis, institutional analysis, change management of water utilities and public private partnerships, customer involvement & economic regulation in addition to water and sanitation techniques for serving low-income urban settlements. He has investigated aspects of these issues with over 100 utilities in over 60 countries.
For ten years Dr Franceys directed the Global Water Policy and Management MSc programme, Cranfield University, UK, following his time at IHE, Delft and WEDC, Loughborough. Dr Franceys was for 17 years, a ‘Local Consumer Advocate/Regional Member’ with the Consumer Council for Water and its predecessor WaterVoice/CSC, the statutory customer representative in England and Wales, initially part of OFWAT, the water economic regulator. His particular support to CCWater focused upon the financing costs of the privatized utilities in England and Wales and the subsequent effect on consumer tariffs. He has been closely involved in the establishment of WSUP (Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor) and was co-initiator of the Change Management Forum and the ‘24x7’ movement in India.
Richard has worked with IRC on a number of projects, as international adviser on the WASHCost project, directing the Australian DFAT ’Community Water Plus’ research project in India, 2014-2016, and most recently supporting the India office in the ‘Technical Assistance to WATCO [Odisha] for implementation of DRINK TO TAP initiative’.
During 2018-2020 he has acted as Institutional Change Management specialist for MCCU through ASI, supporting Guma Valley Water Company, Freetown in their MCC Threshold Programme. In 2017-18 Dr Franceys acted as the Services Management to the Poor specialist with the Cowater Technical Assistance programme to Lusaka Water and Sewerage Company under the MCA Zambia compact for the Lusaka Water Supply, Sanitation and Drainage Project. He has recently completed three projects for different clients on aspects of ‘Regulating Faecal Sludge Management’, including the preparation of “Referee! - Responsibilities, regulations and regulating for urban sanitation’, for WSUP.
His major publications include:
Inspirational stories about how ordinary women in India and Kenya have converted the challenges posed by COVID-19 into an opportunity to promote good... Read more...
The report gives recommendations on what needs to done to achieve the goal of "full coverage" for water, sanitation, hygiene, and waste management... Read more...
There is a gap between what organisations have formulated in their strategies and programmatic approaches regarding social inclusion and the actual... Read more...
Presentations from the WASH Learning Theme 5 - Systems change and collective action session of the All Systems Connect International Symposium 2023. Read more...
Presentations from the WASH Learning theme 4 - Governments, politics and systems change session of the All Systems Connect International Symposium... Read more...
Restoring the functioning of aquatic ecosystems and addressing socio-economic inequalities are key to reducing the risks and impact of climate change... Read more...
There is decades of evidence of the disproportionate impact of WASH on women and girls, but relatively few women at the decision-making table. Learn... Read more...
This is the end-of-project evaluation of Watershed - empowering citizens conducted by PopDev Consultancy on request of the Directorate-General for... Read more...
This Research Review provides an overview of subsidy targeting strategies and the conditions under which they have proven successful or not, drawing... Read more...
Water and sanitation interventions should put special focus on strengthening systems of community participation as well as enabling the participation... Read more...
Women and girls are disproportionately affected by the lack of access to basic water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities. What is needed to... Read more...
Behaviour change is not sufficient in itself to improve health and livelihoods, nor is construction, improving accountability, training, capacity... Read more...
This study provides new evidence that WASH access and practices are associated with self-reported reproductive tract infection symptoms in rural... Read more...
Based on 20 detailed successful case studies from across India, this book outlines future rural water supply approaches for all lower-income... Read more...
A study on sanitation-related psychosocial stress among Indian women in Odisha finds that: Sanitation-behaviors are more expansive than urination and... Read more...