Social inclusion in WASH systems strengthening: a framework

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Social inclusion in WASH systems strengthening: a framework
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A framework
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7 minutes
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A framework clarifying the social inclusion requirements within each building block for truly inclusive, rights-based water, sanitation and hygiene systems.
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A framework clarifying the social inclusion requirements within each building block for truly inclusive, rights-based water, sanitation and hygiene systems.
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Ruchika Shiva

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Shiva
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Director, Global Hub and Asia Hub (Regional Programme)
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Ruchika helps close the gap between what government systems promise and what communities actually receive: by building better evidence, strengthening governance, and designing services with the people most likely to be left out.

Ruchika Shiva came to her work through the people that public services most often miss. Before joining Riva, she worked on rights of children in difficult circumstances, including street children in Delhi and ran advocacy campaigns on girls' right to education. That background gave her a conviction that ripples through all of her work: a system that doesn’t reach everyone isn’t finished yet.

Ruchika works with the governments and institutions that deliver essential services – village councils deciding how to allocate and spent water budgets, city utilities trying to reach informal settlements, state governments understanding where money flows through their systems and where it stops. She helps them close the gap between what their systems promise and what communities actually receive: by building better evidence, strengthening governance, and designing services with the people most likely to be left out.

Nineteen years working in India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Cambodia have given Ruchika a deep understanding of how this region's institutions work – and where they fail. She firmly believes that the first question we should ask is: who is this system designed for? Ruchika’s 2025 paper on gender equity and social inclusion, now a WASH Systems Academy course, has shifted how practitioners across six countries work. She holds an MA in Social Work from Delhi University, is fluent in English and Hindi, and is based in Delhi.


A few highlights

  • 19 years in development; 11 years leading Riva's Asia programme across India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Cambodia
  • Systems leadership for water-secure cities – Water4Change programme with city governments in Bhopal, Bhuj and Kozhikode
  • Climate resilience and institutional strengthening in four climate hotspots in Bangladesh, in partnership with BRAC, supported by the Dutch Embassy
  • Lead for gender equity and social inclusion across the FCDO WASH Systems for Health programme in six countries
  • Co-author of the 2025 learning note on GESI-responsive systems strengthening which is also the basis for a WASH Systems Academy course
  • Working languages: English and Hindi
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Ruchika
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Shiny Saha

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Saha
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Job description
Programme officer
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Shiny's work has shown that when gender equity and social inclusion are built into the DNA of water, sanitation and hygiene systems, reforms not only endure but reshape the way citizens experience governance.

Shiny Saha believes that transformation in public services begins when governments and communities see equity not as an add-on, but as the foundation of lasting systems. Over more than a decade, she has returned to the same question: how do we design structures that make inclusion non-negotiable? Her work has shown that when gender equity and social inclusion are built into the DNA of water, sanitation and hygiene systems, reforms not only endure but reshape the way citizens experience governance.

At Riva, Shiny equips stakeholders with the tools to strengthen water, sanitation and hygiene systems in ways that last. She works with government officials, local government representatives, and grassroots organisations to identify bottlenecks, design accountability frameworks, and embed inclusive practices into national and regional strategies. Her focus has been to integrate gender equity into system design, helping institutions move beyond service delivery to create structures that citizens can trust.

Shiny combines deep research expertise with hands-on programme management. She has built capacity for grassroots NGOs, coordinated multi-agency collaborations, authored frameworks for incorporation of Gender Equity and Social Inclusion, and developed approaches to monitor hygiene behaviour. Her distinctive strength lies in bridging the worlds of policy and practice — sparking change while co-creating systems that endure.

Highlights 

  • 15+ years of experience in Asia, with country work in India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka
  • Works with governments, civil society, and international partners
  • Coordinates the Agenda for Change India chapter, aligning multiple global organizations
  • Designed frameworks to integrate Gender Equity and Social Inclusion into WASH system strengthening
  • Co-author of the 2025 learning note on GESI-responsive systems strengthening; 2022 Hand Hygiene monitoring framework for India
  • Published on equity, women’s work in the informal economy, governance, and evaluation
  • Holds a Master’s Degree in Sociology from the Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi. Completed Term 1 A of a Master’s in Development Studies from the International Institute of Social Sciences, Erasmus University Rotterdam
  • Fluent in English, Hindi, and Bengali
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Shiny
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Sára Bori

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Bori
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Knowledge management and communication expert
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Sára works at the intersection of knowledge, evidence and influence. As a knowledge management and communications expert, she helps institutions harvest outcomes and lessons as systems evolve, ensuring that learning travels between countries, organisations and levels of decision making.

Sára Bori’s work is shaped by an early, lived understanding of how water systems touch everyday life. In the Netherlands, through a grandfather who settled in the 1980s in a town newly carved from the sea, and an aunt who made her home on a boat. In rural Hungary, her family relied on self‑supply, so during her childhood years she had to get drinking water from her grandmother’s piped town connection because the water at home was unsafe to drink. More than 30 years later, she lives in the same region and sees how those self‑supply challenges persist and are now exacerbated by climate change. These stories continue to guide how she understands development, inequality and public systems. 

Sára works at the intersection of knowledge, evidence and influence. As a knowledge management and communications expert, she helps institutions harvest outcomes and lessons as systems evolve, ensuring that learning travels between countries, organisations and levels of decision‑making. A core part of this work is translating complex evidence into high‑quality publications and audiovisual products – through openness to innovation, rigorous editorial processes and publishing to recognised quality standards - so that insights are credible, accessible and fit for purpose. Her attention to detail, combined with strong project management skills, ensures that complex, multi‑stakeholder initiatives are delivered with clarity, coherence and care. 

Over the past decade, Sara has led flagship knowledge and communications initiatives in the water and sanitation sector with global reach. Across her work, she keeps returning to one question: who benefits when systems function – and who pays the price when they don’t? Seeing how access to water creates and reinforces social divides, she consistently interrogates the ultimate goal of generating, sharing and using knowledge: achieving social justice for all. 

A few highlights

  • Over 10 years’ experience in global knowledge management, communications and learning for systems change
  • Adviser to the Government of the Netherlands on strategic communications for World Water Week (2020–2026) and the UN 2023 Water Conference
  • Co‑author of UNICEF’s WASH Knowledge Management Strategy 2022–2025
  • Knowledge management lead for All Systems Connect 2023, international symposium, The Hague, the Netherlands
  • Communications lead for All Systems Go Africa 2022, supporting national water, sanitation and hygiene systems strengthening across the African continent
  • Project manager of annual reports, strategies and organisational annual planning for over eight years
  • Keen implementer of outcome harvesting to capture stories of change
  • Working languages: English, Dutch, Hungarian
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Sára
Publisher
IRC
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content
IRC is using a set of nine building blocks to break down the complexity of water, sanitation, and hygiene systems. This framework outlines the aspects that need to be in place within each building block for inclusive and rights-aligned water, sanitation, and hygiene systems to be realised.
Title
Social inclusion in WASH systems strengthening: a framework
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Year
2025