WASH scenarios for 2015: a trends analysis paper

This report was developed as part of a process of strategy development undertaken by IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre. It includes the outcome of a process of sector trend analysis, and scenario building that was developed over a period of about a year as part of the development of a new five-year business plan for IRC. It is therefore written from a very particular point of view, namely that of a medium-sized non-governmental resource centre, based in the Netherlands but operating exclusively in the South. The paper tries to look into the future, to understand what currently observable trends in the sector, the wider development world, and the rather specific area of Dutch development strategy may mean. The introduction explains the background to scenario building and to the approach to developing the new business plan. Part 2 presents four short scenarios describing radically different futures for the WASH sector, and operating environments for IRC. Part 3 presents 17 detailed trend analyses, which provide the basis for scenario building.

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