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When we stop asking how much it costs to dig a well and start asking how much it costs to provide access to drinking water forever, everything changes.

WASH news and events

Search and explore all 344 articles here

A water for production dam under construction in Karangura sub county

Keeping tabs on WASH sector financing in Uganda

IRC Uganda and the Civil Society Budget Advocacy Group (CSBAG) undertook an analysis of the...
Building bridges in Bhola Bangladesh

Building bridges in Bhola, Bangladesh

By participating in decision making, a citizen committee helps local government budget effectively...
Minister of Local Government (left), receives copies of the district WASH Masterplan from Kabarole District Chairman (right)

Long-term planning essential for sustainable WASH services

Planning is the WASH systems building block that involves budgeting and the determination of costs...
Afar

Costs and gaps in the financing of water services in the Ethiopia

The government's flagship Climate Resilient Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (CR-WASH) initiative...
Monitoring in Ghana

Cost effective ways to leave no-one behind

Join a 3-week RWSN e-discussion on the costs, financing and affordability of rural water supply and...
India - fetching water from river in Chatrapur block, Ganjam District, Odisha state

How is India's fiscal policy influencing water and sanitation

A new briefing note tracks the state budget allocations for WASH for Bihar and Odisha.
Cover of Water Special 2018 by ViceVersa

IRC contributions to the Water Special 2018 of ViceVersa

'Approaching the last mile' and 'Around the village pump', two articles in which IRC discusses the...
WASHTalk

Holding governments accountable for gaps in WASH finance

Empowering civil society with transparency tools to aid in the fight against lagging WASH budgets.
Public Finance for WASH home page

Public Finance for WASH: update

Public Finance for WASH has moved: we've changed our URL! We're now at www.publicfinanceforwash.org
Washing hands in Ethiopia

WASH Talk podcast on attracting commercial finance to the water sector

How do you finance water utilities when traditional sources of capital dry up?
WASHCost course

Costing Sustainable Services online course 2018 open for registration

Join for free! Courses start Thursday 1st of March, Friday 1st of June and Monday 1st of October.
water metre

Finding innovative ways to finance capital maintenance of piped systems in Ghana

Study seeks solutions for sustainable small-town water service delivery.
Community in Cambodia

A viable future for safe water businesses

Accessibility, affordability, and availability of technology options are crucial for the survival...
Water kiosk in Odisha, India

WASH Talk podcast on blended finance

How can blended finance help in meeting the financing gap for reaching SDG 6?
Advocacy session in SWWW

Demonstrating donor belief in advocacy

Going for long-term results requires persistence and courage.
Hon. Joseph Koffie Adda. Min for Sanitation and water resources Ghana

Ghana’s new Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources says making Accra the cleanest city is doable

The Hon. Joseph Kofi Adda unfolds his ambitious goals at Stockholm World Water Week.

Blogs, podcasts, opinions and more

Search and explore all 109 posts here

People around a water point

Payment by Results: An end or a means to an end?

In recent years, donors have been making greater use of Payment by Results (PbR) approaches to fund development programmes.
Sanitation products promotion

Should sanitation be taxed?

The sanitation and hygiene challenge in Ethiopia is an important task, and daunting in scale.
These Funders Are Betting on a Systems Approach

These funders are betting on a systems approach

Water and sanitation comprise an increasingly important focus for global health and development philanthropy, but the approach has often been...
SIWI sofa 2019

World Water Week 2019 through the lens of IRC

Finding ways to build and finance strong WASH systems, including everyone along the way.
Harriet Burungu fetching water in Kabarole district

It's all about the blend

How a blending of service delivery models and finance within a district may hold the solution to financing safe water supplies for everyone.
Woman constructing latrine in Wazinet village, Eritrea

The good, the bad and the ugly of global WASH finance

What is needed to eliminate inequalities and achieve universal access to sanitation?
Dr Kurian Baby on saline inspection in India

Rethinking the SDG funding gap

The SDG financing gap will be history, when natural infrastructure (NI) enters the economics and financing computations.
All systems go! finance session

Mobilising finance for WASH: getting the foundations right

10 things IRC, Water.org and the World Bank think you need to know about the enabling environment for finance in WASH
Lukas Kwezi at the IRC symposium

WASH systems strengthening: old wine in new bottles?

An account of personal reflections on the shift to a systems approach.
Pass notes financing WASH

IRC Pass notes: Financing WASH #notjust4nerds

Is this about that 10euros I owe you? No. It's about the critical importance of finance as a building block within the systems approach
Market in Burkina Faso

Three for the price of two, 30% off, special offer

The importance of capital efficiency.
Participants at IRC-NWP WASH Debate on blended finance, 4 December 2018

Blended finance: is it all in a mix?

De-risking investments by building capacities and subsidising interest. Report of an IRC-NWP WASH Debate.
Image credit: Toilet Board Coalition

Making the chain more fluid with sustainable sanitation financing

Inspired by World Water Week 2018 we talked with Cheryl Hicks of the Toilet Board Coalition about attracting alternative finance into the sanitation...
Water.org uses grant funds to mobilise micro-finance institutions with their Water Credit programme

Blended finance beyond the hype

This Conference Perspective was co-authored by Patrick Moriarty for the OECD – GIZ Conference: Closing the gap for water in line with SDG ambitions:...
Bucket tomparnell flickr

Financing the sector in challenging countries

Fixing the leaks to attract commercial investment for sustainable urban water services in sub-Saharan Africa and beyond.
Chinese money tree Flickr, bit.ly2MIUxtM, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Looking for WASH’s magic money tree

Private money can only be attracted where government leads and strong systems exist.

Resources

Search and explore all 326 resources here

Financing universal, safe and sustainable water services in Ethiopia

2019
Targeted and affordable water tariffs, self-...

All systems go! WASH systems symposium : proceedings part 2

2019
All systems go! was the first event of its kind...

Strengthening the role of rural local bodies in WASH financing and services : policy learnings...

2019
The brief captures the experiences, challenges...

Building bridges in Bhola, Bangladesh

2019
By participating in decision making, a citizen...

Addressing the financing gap in the water sector in Ethiopia, Rwanda and Uganda

2019

Finance assessment of the WASH sector in Rwanda

2019

Finance assessment of the WASH sector in Uganda

2019

Finance assessment of the water sector in Ethiopia

2019

Movilización de financiamiento para WASH : construir bien las bases

2019

Mobiliser le financement pour le WASH : jeter les bonnes bases

2019

Addressing the financing gap - podcast

2019

Why is finance the unavoidable building block? - podcast

2019

Collecting life-cycle cost data for WASH services : a guide for practitioners

2019

Mobile phone prepayment for household water connections in Ghana

2019
Though mobile money penetration is high (72%),...

Mobilising finance for WASH : getting the foundations right

2019
This working paper unpacks what is meant by the...

Conditions for private sector involvement and financing in rural water supply

2019
An introduction to the UDUMA model based on long-...

Videos

The Future of Village Water Supply: What is the Role of Community Management in the Transition?
Water Financing Facilities [animation]
Funding of water, sanitation and hygiene services in Ghana
The role of public finance for reaching scale and sustainable water and sanitation services
Financing post-construction support in Ghana
WASHCost - 20 minute feature film
WASHCost Ghana
What if...?
Cost-effectiveness of hygiene promotion
WASHCost Mozambique
Getting the finance right
WASHCost India pilot
The WASHCost Calculator
The life-cycle cost approach
Investing in India
Akatsi Water Board, Ghana seeks sustainable pricing