In this fourth article about IRC and partners work in the past we focus on the end of the International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade (IDWSSD) in 1990, and on the start of our work with the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) in 1991.

Some for all rather than more for some

The aim of the Water Decade was to provide safe drinking water and adequate sanitation systems for all people by 1990. The New Delhi Statement: New Delhi, India, 14 September 1990 highlighted that the goal had not been achieved and set as a goal " some for all rather than more for some".

Then, as now, there was concern that the international community should put its money where its mouth is and be prepared to support developing countries that were making a real effort to meet the water needs of the people. As the IRC Newsletter said in 1991:
"African countries that are prepared to actively pursue a plan for safe water supplies for all who are unserved today, at a per capita cost of US$ 30 or less should get at least half of the cost via external assistance. UNICEF has agreed to work with other international agencies to mobilise half of the capital costs required, provided that government and beneficiary communities provide the balance."

IRC Newsletter No. 206, Mar/Apr 1992

Information management and IEC

In developing the IRC advocacy and knowledge sharing role, the link with the WSSCC, which was formed in 1991, was crucial. IRC played a lead role from 1991 to 1997 in the Council's Working Groups on Information Management and on Information, Education and Communication (IEC) which focused on behaviour change and partnership. This helped the IRC both to keep abreast of sector trends and to influence thinking in its own special areas of competence.

In the Philippines, for example, a close association with the International Training Network (ITN) Centre led to IRC providing advice on the strengthening of library and documentation services in Manila and 12 associate centres. This included distributing Basic Library sets to the centres. Country-level information management and IEC support was also provided in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indonesia, Uganda and Guinea Bissau.

Different languages

In addition to its leadership role in two WSSCC working groups, IRC also participated in four other working groups and took an active role in promoting the Council's Lusophone Initiative to improve information exchange and management in Portuguese-speaking Africa.

The new decade also saw big changes in IRC's documentation services as documentation holdings in different languages merged into a single user-friendly sector database.

News services

In 1990 IRC's Current Awareness Bulletin was transformed into Highlights, a bi-monthly selection of news items and content pages from some 250 published sources relating to water and sanitation.

In 1998 the Source Water and Sanitation News Service took over this news and information resources service through the electronic Source Weekly. At the same time we expanded our four-page Water Newsletter to the eight-page Source Bulletin, as part of our collaboration with the WSSCC. This bulletin you are now reading - is available on paper, e-mail and online at, http://www.irc.nl/source

"For most governments and ESAs it is politically advantageous to stress expanded coverage, even if existing systems are deteriorating and not being replaced. It is therefore essential that decision makers gain full understanding of the major benefits to be obtained from good operation and maintenance performance."

IRC Newsletter No. 200, April 1991

Gender balance

IRC's gender balance was substantially bolstered in this period with the recruitment of six women research officers. In 1991, the first issue of an annual abstract journal on the role of women in water and sanitation was published in co-operation with the UNDP/World Bank PROWESS programme. Later UNICEF and NORAD co-funded this journal until 1998.

Titles published

• Information Management in the Water and Sanitation Sector: lessons learned from field assignments in Africa and Asia, Stephen Parker (1993), OP 19

• Organizing Local Documentation Services for the Water and Sanitation Sector: guidelines, IRC (1994), RS 9

• Communication in Water Supply and Sanitation: resource booklet, Eirah Gorre-Dale, Dick de Jong and Jack Ling. Revised by Peter McIntyre (1993), IRC/WSSCC, COM-E http://www.irc.nl/page/1838

• Communication case studies for the water supply and sanitation sector, Peter McIntyre (1993), IRC/WSSCC, 00C http://www.irc.nl/page/1825

• Partners for Progress: an approach to sustainable piped water supplies, IRC (1991), TP 28-E

• Just Stir Gently: the way to mix hygiene education with water supply and sanitation, Marieke T. Boot (1991 also in French with UNICEF), TP 29-E, TP 29-F

New water decade

This section of IRC history began with the end of the International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade, ten years of expanding services, which ultimately did more to define the problem than to solve it. However, what goes around, comes around; and there is another opportunity to tackle the global water and sanitation problem, this time with the extra knowledge and experience that should inform our commitment.

In December 2003 the UN General Assembly proclaimed the period from 2005 to 2015 the International Decade for Action, "Water for Life". The Decade will begin on World Water Day, 22 March, 2005, aiming for a greater focus on water-related issues and further cooperation at all levels to achieve water-related goals of the Millennium Declaration, of the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation of the World Summit for Sustainable Development and of Agenda 21.

Source: IRC, Dick de Jong, Jan 2004, jong@irc.nl

Tags: gender, hygiene promotion, information and communication