IRC in 1997

The problems facing the water and sanitation sector today are not really any different than they were a year ago. It is only a question of magnitude. While the number of improvements in the sector is commendable, major efforts are still needed to keep ahead of the pace of the impending water crisis, demands on resources, urbanization, and mounting sanitation problems. In the past, government funds were channeled to the better-off. The current trend towards decentralization means that the private sector will take over provision of water supply and sanitation, but in view of the return on investments, will also likely channel these activities to the better-off. Governments can now play a complementary role to the private sector, by redirecting their newly liberated funds to basic social services for the urban poor, and the rural poor in particular.

Shifts in focus from time to time are crucial to deal effectively with sector problems. In the past few years it has become apparent that improvements in sanitation are lagging far behind those of water supply. Introducing work on a new vision statement for our sector leading to water and sanitation for all by the year 2015 Richard Jolly, the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council's incoming Chairperson and Adviser to the UNDP Administrator said at the Council's fourth Global Forum in Manila, "Having 1.2 billion people without safe water and 2.7 billion without access to basic sanitation is a scandal which we must put behind us. At the rate we are going we will not reach that goal in 2100; that is unacceptable".

UNICEF and WHO used the Manila Forum to launch the Global Environmental Sanitation Initiative (GESI) to tackle the huge sanitation backlog. IRC actively supports GESI in the role of information hub, alongside its research and development activities focusing on community-based technologies; participation and community management; gender awareness; hygiene promotion; operation and maintenance; monitoring and evaluation; information management; and community water resources management. In 1997, resource centre development was added as an area of focus.

Besides the stronger focus on closing the sanitation gap, the importance of a gender-sensitive approach to water supply and sanitation projects has gained international acceptance, and water resources management is high on the Commission for Sustainable Development's agenda. IRC has been active in these areas in the past, and now anticipates more widespread support for these activities.

This account of IRC's work attempts to give an indication of how the centre has tried to make a difference in 1997. The report contains a selection of activities that represents the types of programmes and projects in which IRC is involved in the geographical areas which it serves. It reflects the centre's major policy objectives as set out in its newly formulated business plan: making optimal use of the wealth of knowledge and information IRC and its partners have accumulated over the years; facilitating processes of change by promoting and enabling environment and by supporting innovation; and strengthening its partnerships with other institutions in both the North and the South.