Access to water and sanitation facilities in Ethiopia is increasing, but services are not yet consistently sustained. We are committed to supporting our partner areas in providing sustainable water sanitation and hygiene services to everyone.
IRC Ethiopia at a glance The IRC team in Ethiopia is led by director Lemessa Mekonta
12 staff and 2 hosted staff
17 projects
8 donors
34 partners, collaborations or working groups
€ 1.16 million invested
$ 2,423 Gross Domestic Product per capita PPP
#172 Human Development Index ranking
1,117 m3 Renewable water resource per capita
Shashamane, North Mecha, Dera, Farta
[IRC's training] helped me see why most WASH endeavours are not impacting after so much effort and resources spent on them. The quest for sustainable WASH became more systematic to me and I hope after completing the other two or three trainings I will be able to build a better perspective on WASH."
Daniel Dirba Megeresa, sanitary engineer
Previously, no partner has shown us a WASH roadmap for where the woreda is currently and where we are heading to or need to go. This plan is a foundation for the future as we have been focusing on hardware.”
Kedir, Negelle Arsi woreda, health office head
"We are giving attention to water because of the learning alliance. It's helping the government and community gain more information."
Yohanis Melti, South Ari woreda, head water office
"Participants need to mainstream the concept during plan revision [...] and cascade the training to co-workers."
Mamo Yalew, Amhara region scheme management director, WASH Systems Academy participant
Conflict, emergencies, and ongoing reforms are impacting all development activities in Ethiopia. The revised National Water Policy and Strategy has not yet been endorsed, while the country is home to millions of people without access to safe drinking water.
Coincidentally, it is in a time of instability that a WASH systems approach can have its greatest opportunity. We believe continued engagement with government and communities is vital to achieving the ambition of SDG6. A systems approach is the only approach that has a chance to succeed.
We continue to strengthen our partnerships at district, regional and national levels - through multi stakeholder platforms and working groups focused on key themes such as market-based sanitation, climate-resilient WASH, finance and systems strengthening and by being a strong ally to South Ari and Negelle Arsi local governments in the implementation of their district WASH master plans.
Visiting + postal address
Gollagul Towers
8th floor | Office 813
Bole Sub City
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
