The impact of COVID-19 has been unprecedented on all areas of peoples lives globally, on a scale barely imagined only a few months ago. From the ever growing infection rates and death toll as the virus travelled around the world, to the light it shined on the huge disparities of impact on different... Read more...
Elke derde dinsdag in september is het weer spannend: hoe zien de koopkrachtplaatjes eruit? Wat verandert er in de puntenwolken van besteedbaar inkomen? Ondanks alles ziet het koopkrachtplaatje van Minister Buitenlandse Handel en Ontwikkelingssamenwerking, Lilianne Ploumen, er voor 2017 nog goed... Read more...
In reactie op een artikel dat deze week verscheen in NRC over fraude met Nederlands ontwikkelingsgeld voor schoon drinkwater in Benin, schrijft Stef Smits deze blog. Terugkeren naar projecthulp is geen optie, zegt hij. Read more...
Nederland doet goede toezeggingen om drinkwater- en sanitaire voorzieningen aan te leggen. Maar het moet niet voor een dubbeltje op de eerste rang willen zitten. Read more...
The King's speech marks the opening of the Dutch parliamentary year. This year he drew attention to the important position of the Netherlands in the international water sector. The budgets that were presented alongside the speech also reflect this, notably with a 6% increase for the budget for WASH... Read more...
Several Dutch water sector organisations have written to Minister Ploumen (Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation) about the Dutch targets for water supply. Read more...
Stef Smits legt uit wat er in de brief over de internationale drinkwaterdoelstelling staat die de water sector vandaag aan Minister Ploumen aanbiedt. Read more...
If you want to take on the real water bucket challenge, donate to government! Read more...
Veel van de geschenken die NGO's hebben gebracht zijn Trojaanse paarden gebleken, betoogt Stef Smits, senior programme officer van IRC, in deze opiniebijdrage voor Vice Versa . Maar hij is hoopvol over de strategische partnerschappen tussen ministerie en maatschappelijk middenveld. 'Ik hoop op een... Read more...
Territorial approaches to rural water supply were a hot topic at this week's Triple-S annual meeting. Read more...
How should WASH-related targets make it into the United Nation's post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals? Read more...
Jacques Dutronc's song sums up how the WASH sector is waking up to the Paris Declaration, cleaning up the mess of often uncoordinated aid efforts. Read more...
Driven amongst others by the mobile phone applications, more and more statistics are becoming available on the state of water services. These go well beyond the coverage data we were used to in the JMP reports (and which this year gave us some reason to be mildly optimistic). The new stats provide... Read more...