Water, Sanitation and Hygiene

Access to clean water and adequate sanitation is essential for people’s health and well‑being. It is a prerequisite for breaking the cycle of poverty, protecting ecosystems, and building sustainable and resilient societies.

At IVL, the WASH group (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) works with water governance to ensure access to water and sanitation services—globally and in the long term. The group became part of IVL in 2025, after previously being part of the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI). Today, WASH is an integrated part of IVL’s international work.

The WASH group is an international and multidisciplinary team with colleagues based in locations such as Stockholm, Bogotá, Amman, and Mumbai, as well as team members working remotely from countries including France and Spain. In total, the group consists of approximately 15–20 people, making it relatively small while maintaining a global presence.

The geographic spread is a key part of how the team operates. Team members collaborate closely across borders and time zones in shared projects, often in small, flexible constellations where different areas of expertise complement one another. This enables the team to combine global expertise with local understanding and to work close to the contexts where challenges arise.

The work is organised with strong regional anchoring:

• Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), based in Bogotá

• West Asia and North Africa (WANA), based in Amman

At the same time, WASH functions as one integrated global team, with continuous knowledge sharing and collaboration across regions. This distributed structure creates strong conditions for learning, joint method development, and ways of working that are both international and context-specific.