IRC annual report 2020

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. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic we saw significant progress in our partner districts. 

An "IRC at a glance" infographic provides data on who was involved in our work and what we invested, what we produced and how many people we reached in 2020. The report reflects on how at least 137,000 people now have enhanced access to services in six of our partner districts, while 171 schools and 55 health care facilities have upgraded water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services. The combined population of our partner districts is now 2.78 million people. In all of these districts, we saw strong political commitment and local government leadership. The report also highlights an innovative public facing dashboard launched in 2020 which allows us to see how our work is progressing across each of our programmes, and measures the strength of the whole WASH system and the services it delivers in our partner districts.

The report shares an announcement on our strategic partnership with US-based NGO, Water For People. In 2020 we developed an exciting new Strategic Framework – 'Destination 2030' (D30). 

As a result of COVID-19 WASH was in the spotlight as never before. It was seen as a critical public health intervention in the face of the pandemic, something that helped us to forge new and important relationships with colleagues in the health sector. Despite sometimes being confined to their homes, our teams around the world continued to work and to support our partners in the fight against the virus.

Country stories in the report further reflect on accomplishments and are accompanied by an "IRC country at a glance" infographic which includes programme and WASH coverage data. The report also reflects on highlights from our Global programmes and shares highlights from a Watershed campaign, #VoicesForWater. It concludes with an overview of governance and staffing, an income statement for 2016-2020, donors and clients supporting our work, and expenditure per programme in 2020. The report includes quotes from many of our clients, local communities, donors, partners and colleagues, showing how by working together, we aim to deliver WASH services that last.