About IRC
Since its foundation in 1968, the IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre (IRC) has facilitated the sharing, promotion and use of knowledge so that governments, professionals and organisations can better support poor men, women and children in developing countries to obtain water and sanitation services they will use and maintain.
Timeline IRC and sector
Timeline 40 years of learning on water, sanitation and hygiene by IRC and partners.
News
News from IRC, such as announcements of new publications and activities and results from advisory work and projects.
Who is Who
We have 54 members of staff, who form a unique team of internationally recognised specialists and dedicated support staff working in a variety of fields of importance to the water and sanitation sector, including information science, information and communication technology, engineering, sociology, anthropology, economics, and journalism. We have a wide variety of cultural backgrounds, with some 25% of staff members hailing from outside the IRC's home base in the Netherlands.
IRC staff work primarily as facilitators, guiding partners in coming to grips with sector problems, and jointly identifying and testing solutions. IRC also draws on staff from partner institutions in both the North and the South who have complementary skills.
Supervisory Board
IRC has become an autonomous Foundation since 19 October 2006, ending the statutory link since 1979 with the Dutch Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (VROM).
Following the latest concepts of good governance for non-profit organisations, a new Supervisory Board (Raad van Toezicht) was established as the highest governing body. The Board has a supervisory role at some distance from daily operations, while operational responsibility rests with the Director.
Partnerships
IRC has strong links with partner organisations in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and also works in close cooperation with international networks, and organisations and sector institutions in the North
Frequently asked questions
In this section you can find answers to the most frequently asked questions concerning IRC.
Highlights IRC
IRC started working on information and knowledge sharing with partners since the early 1970s. Highlights from joint learning with partners over five year periods show how topic areas have changed over the years, how partnerships developed, how we started with the first short courses in the sector, and how research in one period contributed to newsletter articles and publications in another period.
Around IRC's 35th anniversary and the Sixth Water Information Summit in 2003 we published seven articles in Source Bulletin. Grouped together they make compelling reading for anybody interested in the history of the sector.
What's new here?
- Full paper - Sanitation challenges for a new municipal assemb...
- Full paper (draft) - The challenges of meeting the water and...
- Full paper (draft) - Performance Benchmarking in four Tehsil...
- Powerpoint presentation - Partnerships for sanitation for the...
- Full paper - Partnerships for sanitation for the urban poor
- Full paper - Sustainable financing options to sanitation for...
- Powerpoint presentation - Political and social dynamics in up...
- Full paper - Political and social dynamics in upgrading urban...
- Powerpoint presentation - Citizens’ participation in improvin...
- Full paper - Citizens’ participation in improving sanitation...
