The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) works in partnership with international agencies on water and sanitation issues, both in emergency response and in long-term development programmes, exchanging information and standardizing approaches and technologies.
In a disaster preparedness and response context, where there are acute water and sanitation needs, the IFRC is part of an inter-agency working group that includes the following partners:
Building on the successful cooperation with Oxfam UK during relief operations, the IFRC and Oxfam have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on water and sanitation.
The IFRC also works with the UNICEF-led water and sanitation cluster with the aim of improving coordination of activities during major disasters.
In a development context, under the IFRC Global Water and Sanitation Initiative (GWSI), a co-financing partnership has been established with the European Community Water Facility for African, Caribbean and Pacific Countries (EU-ACP Water Facility), Nestlé and over 25 National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
The IFRC also recognizes an increasingly important role of promoting low-cost, low-tech household level water and sanitation interventions and has joined the World Health Organization-led ‘International Network to Promote Household Water Treatment and Safe Storage’.
The IFRC has worked closely with Loughborough University in the UK and other institutions on a number of publications.
To further strengthen our overall water and sanitation programmes, a Memorandum of Understanding has been agreed with the Austrian Red Cross to outsource certain activities to the Austrian Red Cross, which may lead to the formation of a Water and Sanitation Reference Centre.