Water For People and IRC Accelerate Path to SDG 6 Through Formation of Strategic Partnership

Long-term advocates of sustainable water, sanitation, and hygiene systems to harness complementary strengths and explore opportunities for more impactful program delivery.

DENVER, February 12, 2020 — Water For People CEO, Eleanor Allen, and IRC CEO, Patrick Moriarty, announced today the formation of a strategic partnership to accelerate progress toward achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6 – water and sanitation for all. Both organizations are aligned around a commitment to systems strengthening as the way forward, and the two have long had a shared vision for 2030: that everyone has safe water and sanitation services that last forever.

The formation of the strategic partnership is aimed at harnessing complementary strengths and exploring opportunities for more impactful program delivery. Through shared efforts to build and demonstrate strong and resilient national and local water and sanitation systems, the organizations are convinced they can move faster and achieve measurable progress by joining forces. Water For People’s strengths in service delivery and business incubation complement IRC’s strengths in research and evidence, advocacy, and social consulting.

"Water For People and IRC have partnered closely together for many years and we are actively collaborating together in Agenda For Change," noted Allen. "As we have now entered a new decade, 2030 does not feel very far away. We know time is of the essence to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal."

"We are convinced that working even more closely together will strengthen us both: overcoming areas of relative weakness, delivering our shared organizational visions, and increasing our impact," said Moriarty.

In the coming months, the organizations will begin a process of intensive investigation and consultation with employees and stakeholders around this new initiative, with a focus on exploring ways to maximally align programs in countries where there is already overlap – Honduras, India, and Uganda – as well as across their shared social-consulting portfolio.

About Water For People:
Founded in 1991 in Denver, Colorado, Water For People is a global nonprofit working across nine countries in Latin America, Asia, and Africa to achieve lasting access to clean water and sanitation services. Water For People brings together communities, local entrepreneurs, and governments to build, operate, and maintain their own systems so that every family, health clinic, and school has access to safe water and sanitation that will last for generations to come. This impact model is called Everyone Forever. Learn more at www.waterforpeople.org.

About IRC:
IRC is a catalyst of change, working in every corner of water, sanitation and hygiene to build and strengthen systems that transform lives. With its partners, the organization uses its expertise to deliver water and sanitation systems in six countries and 21 districts and municipalities. IRC works with local and national governments, businesses and civil
society, and with international partners around the world to promote systems thinking and delivery. Its international team is made up of over 90 recognized water, sanitation, and hygiene service specialists and dedicated field staff, based in its focus countries, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Honduras, India and Uganda, as well as in the United States, and head office in The Hague, the Netherlands. For more information visit www.ircwash.org.

Contacts:
Jody Carman, Director of Marketing & Communications
Water For People
[email protected]

Marc Jaffrey, Director Global Communications
IRC
[email protected]

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