General Information

Finance

IRC is an independent, non-profit organization supported by and linked with the Netherlands Government, UNDP, UNICEF, WHO, the World Bank and the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council. The Netherlands Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs provide a core budget approximating US$ 1.2 million*, which is supplemented with fees for services and programmes requested by national governments, multilateral and bilateral donors, UN agencies, international development banks and NGOs.

These sources accounted for some US$ 1.1 million income in 1997, and for another US$ 500,000 which was passed through IRC to partner organizations in the South. This amount is substantially lower than in 1996 because some larger projects came to an end, and because other, new projects are in the preliminary stages of development. More important, perhaps, is that more and more of IRC's partners receive funding directly for activities they carry out together with IRC.

This can be estimated at another US$ 1 million. In 1997 IRC's subsidy was guaranteed by the ministries for the coming five-year period, and additional financial assistance is being provided for the organizational transition currently under way.

Staff

The activities described in this annual report have been carried out jointly between IRC's partners and its own staff of 40. Some of the disciplines represented at IRC are engineering, anthropology, economy, law, sociology, journalism and psychology.

More than half of the staff are women, and over 25% hail from outside the Netherlands. The role of staff is primarily that of facilitator, guiding processes in which partners work together to come to grips with sector problems, and jointly identify and test solutions. IRC also draws on staff from partner institutions in the North and the South who have complementary skills to optimize the results of its activities.

* US$ 1.00 = NLF 2.00

IRC Governing Board

Chairman
Mr. J.B. Hoekman
Former Ambassador

Secretary
Mr. G.W. Ardon
Head Water Supply and Waste Water Department
Directorate-General for Environmental Protection
Netherlands Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment

Treasurer
Prof. W. J. Kakebeeke
Assistant Director-General for International Environmental Protection
Directorate-General for Environmental Protection
Netherlands Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment

Members
Mr. H. Gajentaan
Director, Multilateral Development Financing and Macro-Economic Policies Department
Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs
(until June)

Mr. J.A. Boer
Director, Agriculture, Rural and Urban Development
Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Mr. F. Hartvelt
Senior Water Policy Adviser
Sustainable Energy and Environment Division
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Mr. G. Ghosh
Chief, Water and Environmental Sanitation Section
United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)

Dr. D. Warner
Chief, Rural Environmental Health/Senior Technical Adviser Water Supply and Sanitation
World Health Organization (WHO)

Mr. B. Grover
Manager, UNDP-World Bank Water and Sanitation Program

Mr. R. Wirasinha
Executive Secretary
Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council