After decades of investment in water, sanitation and hygiene, levels of sustainability are still unacceptably low in the WASH sector.

In part this is due to a focus on building water systems and sanitation infrastructure rather than on delivering services. Two symposia this year will discuss how to change this and strengthen the shift towards sustainable WASH service delivery.

The Thematic Group on Scaling up Rural Water Services together with the Ministry of Water and Environment of the Government of Uganda will hold an International Symposium on Rural Water Services (Kampala, 13-15 April, 2010) to address the issues of providing sustainable rural water services at scale.

The IRC's bi-annual symposium, will focus on Pumps, Pipes and Promises: Costs, Finances and Accountability for Sustainable WASH services (The Hague, 15-18 November, 2010).

Both symposia are organised within the framework of the IRC-managed WASHCost and Triple-S projects,

More details are available in this issue and on the IRC web site:
Kampala Symposium 13-15 April 2010: Providing Sustainable Water Services at Scale at http://www.irc.nl/page/51930
IRC Symposium 2010: Pumps, Pipes and Promises at http://www.irc.nl/page/51929