IRC (IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre)

IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre is an independent think-tank and knowledge centre for the international development sector focusing on water supply, sanitation, hygiene behavior (WASH) and local / integrated water resource management (LWRM/IWRM). IRC staff facilitates a gamut of innovative research and learning support services with the aim of generating and sharing WASH related knowledge and information and
making them more accessible to, and better used by people operating on the ground and throughout the sector.

Headquartered in The Hague, The Netherlands and with a staff of 56 professionals working around the world, IRC teams up with an international network of partners active in the public, private and non-governmental (NGO) WASH development arena to facilitate the achievement of sustainable WASH services in rural and peri-urban areas in development countries and to ensure that these are equitably accessible to those most in need.

IRC's mission is to facilitate 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 the water and sanitation services they will use and maintain.

IRC operates with a global network of like-minded partners intervening on local, national and international levels and across a range of governmental, NGO, public and private sector entities. In addition to working with development banks, charities and UN agencies such as UNICEF, UN-Water and the World Health Organisation, IRC also partners with a host of regional organisations. These include Le Centre Régional pour l’Eau Potable et l’Assainissement à faible coût (CREPA) in West Africa; BRAC in Bangladesh; and the National Directorate of Water (DNA) in the Mozambique government. IRC also enjoys a productive working relationship with the Dutch government and is recognised for its innovative capacity as well as its ability to deliver tangible progress on the ground.