The foundation strives to create an equitable, peaceful world in which everyone can thrive. We work in various countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East, as well as in the United States, with a concentration in Baltimore. We focus on water, sanitation, and hygiene; cleaner cooking; ecumenical and interfaith community building; and social justice.
We approach our work mindful of the people and communities impacted by our work and the systems that need to be addressed to create meaningful, lasting change. We actively listen to our partners, who are sometimes in the early stages of their endeavors, and we provide them with the funding they need to pilot innovations and prove solutions. We recognize that our grantees deeply understand the issues in ways that we cannot, and we are willing to try new—and sometimes experimental—approaches and to fill needs that drive the change they seek.
Our Partners In Action: IRC
IRC’s vision is for every person in the world to enjoy their human right to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene. Its approach is unique in the WASH sector, in that it works at the systems level: rather than focus on short-term interventions such as building basic hardware, IRC seeks to develop resilient, interconnected WASH systems that can reliably deliver services over the long term. To advance this objective, IRC targets the regional and national governments of the primary countries in which it works: Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Honduras, India, and Uganda. It works to strengthen governments’ accountability for the success of WASH systems and build their capacity to create enabling conditions for sustainable and equitable service delivery. The organization views this approach as the only viable way to wind down developing countries’ dependence on aid and to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6, which aims to ensure access to safe water and sanitation for all people by 2030. IRC develops and shares effective models with government and other stakeholders, and advocates for governmental leadership on the issue globally.
