IRC is an independent, non-profit organisation that drives resilient WASH systems from the ground up. We know how to do this and we already are: with district, country and international partners.
People and relationships are at the heart of our work. We want every person in the world to enjoy their human right to safe water, sanitation and hygiene, now and forever.
Driving change. Partnerships. Research. Advocacy. Influencing. Lobbying. Consultancy. Developing new tools and approaches to planning, developing and delivering resilient WASH systems. Acting as a 'change hub' in-country. Sharing lessons learned. Transforming the way global decision makers address WASH challenges by campaigning and advocating, sharing evidence of what does (and doesn't) work, and lobbying for change. Experimenting. Finding solutions that work. Leading, multi-country, multi-million dollar research and learning programmes. Tackling complex problems with experimental approaches. Advancing effective practice by documenting research, sharing knowledge and tools - through work on the ground, working groups, learning programmes, conferences and publishing. Strengthening national and local WASH systems is at the heart of our new Strategy Framework 2017-30 and our Theory of Change tells us what we have to do - and why - in order to achieve our goals on three levels of intervention: district, national and global.
Read the summary of IRC's strategy and theory of change for the years 2017 to 2030
To help realise our goal of universal WASH access, we work and collaborate with partners around the world. The largest part of what we do happens in our focus countries: Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Honduras, India, Mali, Niger and Uganda. We take this work to support and influence governments and organisations from around the world to transform the way they work. Additionally, through numerous consultancy assignments and partnerships, we also work in over 20 other countries.
Strengthening national and local WASH systems is at the heart of our mission and new Strategy Framework 2017-30 and our Theory of Change tells us what we have to do - and why - in order to achieve our goals on three levels of intervention: district, national and global.
For the last fifty years, we have been leading change around the world through projects big and small, local and global. These programmes are primarily delivered through multiple projects. As a mission-driven organisation, we accept project work which contributes to our overall goals. Our consultancy arm makes this expertise available to all.
Improving governance by governments, businesses and NGOs is necessary to deliver on our vision of sustainable water and sanitation services. For IRC transparency and accountability are core values and considered so important that we are sharing all relevant annual financial and other reports on our website.
Some of IRC's contributions to the sector that have been enjoyed, appreciated and celebrated.
From knowledge broker to international think-and-do-tank: we've evolved a lot over the last 50 years. IRC was founded in 1968 under an agreement between the World Health Organization and the Government of the Netherlands as a hub for information dissemination, a 'knowledge broker'. We were the focal point of a world-wide network of collaborating institutions active in water supply research and development.
During the 1980s and 90s our work became more focused on finding solutions that work through action research. We started to test and adapt innovative approaches to tackle complex problems. This work has taught us the value of taking a systems approach - involving everyone from the people on the ground, to the people who hold the purse strings. That's why now, we champion and enable the vital change from short-term interventions to building resilient local and national WASH systems.
Today, we're working with governments, NGOs, entrepreneurs and people around the world. Together we find and implement long-term solutions to make access to safe water and sanitation available for everyone, for good.
People and relationships are at the heart of our work. Our international team is made up of more than 90 recognised WASH specialists and dedicated field staff, based in our focus countries and head office in The Hague. Our global associate programme includes 27 top international experts.
From citizens to government policy-makers, global investors to individual donors, charities and aid agencies we are supported by so many people who want to change the world. Our top donors in 2020 were: Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, Department for International Development (DFID), European Union / European Commission (EU/EC), Netherlands Directorate-General of Development Cooperation (DGIS), Osprey Foundation, UNICEF and United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
With the shared vision of achieving United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation for All, IRC and Water For People have entered into a Strategic Partnership to work more closely together. Read more about our Strategic Partnership
Agenda For Change is a partnership launched in May 2015 by IRC, Aguaconsult, WaterAid, Water For People and Osprey Foundation. It sets out what we need to do and how we need to act so that everyone, everywhere have WASH services that last forever. A unique collaboration aimed at driving systems development around the world. Find out more
Agence Française de Développement (AFD) / Aguaconsult Ltd / Akvo / Aquaya Institute / Association Africaine de l’Eau (AfWA) / Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation / BRAC / Community Water & Sanitation Agency (CWSA) / Conrad N. Hilton Foundation / Conservation International / COWI / Cranfield University / Danish International Development Agency (Danida) / Department for International Development (DFID) / Directorate-General for International Cooperation (DGIS) / DT Global / Dutch Research Council (NWO) / Eau Vive / EAWAG Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology / European Union / European Commission / Finnish International Development Agency (FINNIDA) / Gatsby Africa / Global Water 2020 / GSMA Mobile for Development Foundation Inc. / IKEA Foundation / IMC Worldwide / Institute for Water Education Delft (IHE) / Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) / International Cooperation Agency of the Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG International) / KfW Development Bank / LVIA Solidarity and International Cooperation / MACS Energy & Water / Millennium Water Alliance (MWA) / Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) / Netcentric Campaigns / Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) / Netherlands Water Partnership (NWP) / New Venture Fund / Nuffic / Office National de l’Eau et de l’Assainissement (ONEA) / OneDrop Foundation / Osprey Foundation / Oxford Committee for Famine Relief (Oxfam) / Oxford Policy Management (OPM) / Oxford University / People in Need / PNE Benin / Population Services International (PSI) / Pure Water Nature / Ramboll / Simavi / Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) / Splash / Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) / Svenska Postkodstiftelsen / TetraTech / The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) / Unilever / United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) / United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) / United States Agency for International Development (USAID) / University of Colorado Boulder (UCB) / University of Reading / University of Wageningen / Vitens Evides International (VEI) / Viva Con Agua / WASHNote / Waterloo Foundation / Water.org / Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) / Welthungerhilfe / Woord & Daad / World Bank / World Health Organization (WHO) / World Vision
At IRC, we know that it is easier to put money into delivering hardware. Happy pictures of project inaugurations - a new pump for the village, a new toilet block for a school - ribbons are cut, smiling faces of children. These images are much easier to share in a boardroom or with your taxpayers. However, we also know that it is through building strong WASH systems that we will move beyond the need to constantly build and rebuild hardware. Not because any pump lasts forever, but precisely because they don't. Strong systems are those that can cope with the inevitable failure of individual elements within them – be they pumps, pipes or latrines.
Our Strategic Partnerships Department is available to support investors, donors and philanthropists looking to make that shift from investing in short-term aid to sustainable systems investments to better please the boardroom and taxpayer through long-term impacts.
Help us us to create a world where no child or adult dies of water or sanitation-related disease, and make access to safe water and sanitation available for everyone, for good by 2030.
Truth is we all seem to know that water, sanitation and hygiene services rely on strong systems. But the sector fails to give much thought to these systems and continues to pour money into infrastructure whilst ignoring the systems that are required to keep that infrastructure functioning. We invite influencers, journalists, social media activists, bloggers and vloggers to join the conversation and ask tough questions of the WASH sector and positively challenge us all to tell the real story of what works and what doesn't – delivering systems, not piecemeal development.
At IRC, we believe that turning on a working tap should not be a surprise or cause for celebration. We believe in a world where water, sanitation and hygiene services are fundamental utilities that everyone is able to take for granted. For good.
We face a complex challenge. Every year, thousands of projects within and beyond the WASH sector fail – the result of short-term targets and interventions, at the cost of long-term service solutions.
This leaves around a third of the world's poorest people without access to the most basic of human rights, and leads directly to economic, social and health problems on a global scale. IRC exists to continually challenge and shape the established practices of the WASH sector.
Through collaboration and the active application of our expertise, we work with governments, service providers and international organisations to deliver systems and services that are truly built to last.
capitalises on IRC's experience of WASH systems-strengthening work in our six focus countries: Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Honduras, India and Uganda. This work has generated evidence, experience, knowledge and tools that work. We have made our expertise available to others since 2014 through specialists who are at the forefront of the WASH sector in countries including India, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Niger, Bolivia, South Sudan, the United States of America, and the Netherlands. There has been strong demand for our services, from research and training to project evaluation and monitoring.
We apply the same standards of excellence, approach and know-how that we use in our mission-driven work. We bring this professionalism to the WASH challenges of our clients.
IRC's overarching strategic framework and theory of change for the years 2017 to 2030, together with a set of priority actions and objectives for the period 2017-21. The lessons learned during IRC's previous business plan period 2012-16 together with the findings of a trend analysis form the basis of the new strategic framework and theory of change.
This annual report reflects on the results of the fourth year of our strategy to ensure access to safe water and sanitation for everyone, for good by 2030, which convinced us that we are on the right track.
