WatSan & Technology

 

Ongoing projects:

Name of project  :Enhancing Environmental Health by Community Organization (EEHCO)
Purpose               :Sustainable improvement in WASH and reduction of risks for whole, with special focus to rural poor communities
Duration                :Two years (April’09 – March’11)
Working area        :Three Upazilas (37 unions under Manda, Bagmara and Teknaf upazilas)
Donor                    : WaterAid Bangladesh

Major Activities

  1. CSA review and preparation of new action plan
  2. Community Capacity Building Initiative
  3. Hardware Installation/renovation
  4. Participatory Hygiene Promotion
  5. Advocacy and Networking
  6. Piloting of pit emptying, sludge management and composting
  7. Piloting of Citizens’ Action Committee (CAC) activity in Bagmara upazila

Outputs of the project

  1. Access  and practice of WASH continued smoothly in the selected rural areas among the poorest, marginalized and vulnerable communities
  2. Adequately capacitated the project staffs, CBOs, LGIs and Catalysts engaged and facilitate  sustainable improvement in WASH activities through participatory empowering process
  3. Citizens' Action Committee (CAC) capacitated adequately for lobbying, networking and established WASH rights in different tires (Ward, Union and Upazilla) for extreme poor and vulnerable communities in selected rural areas
  4. CBOs, LGIs and other actors are oriented on WASH related policy documents and are responsive to the issues in delivering services to the extreme poor and vulnerable communities in rural areas

Piloting activity:

  1. Claiming Rights of Children to WASH Project Bagmara, Rajshahi (12)
  2. Human Excreta (Sludge) Management (13)

Claiming Rights of Children to WASH Project Bagmara, Rajshahi

To promote child rights in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), the project “Claiming Rights of Children to WASH in Bangladesh” has launched in rural areas of Basupara and Gonipur Union of Bagmara upazila, Rajshahi district. The project is also working on improving access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene practice to all children (especially the poorest, marginalized and vulnerable) and raising consciousness among Parents, Community people, Teachers, SMCs, Local Govt. representatives, GOB officials on it.

Project Title              : Claiming Rights of Children to WASH in Bangladesh
Project Purpose     : By end of 2010, all children, especially the poorest and most marginalized, have improved access to safe WASH in the selected piloting area
Project Location     : Two Union: Basupara and Ganipur of Bagmara upazila (sub-district) under Rajshahi district in Bangladesh 
Project duration      : July 2009 – December 2010

Key activities of this project

  1. Child Rights Situation Analysis (CRSA) and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) related baseline and formation of Groups (mothers, child led groups)
  2. Campaign and local advocacy on - Issue based event organisation, day observation, Rooted advocacy, Networking for influencing different forums working on CR and WASH
  3. Identification of relevant DBs with reference to CR based WASH at community, UP and Upzilla
  4. Learning, documentation and sharing through research, evaluation and dissemination
  5. Demand driven hardware installation and renovation
  6. Regular feedback review and follow-up mechanisms and build a linkage among the DBs
  7. Prepare CR based WASH related IEC and BCC materials
  8. Review of existing policy related documents and peer review and arrange policy dialogue / meeting in relation to CR based WASH
  9. Arrange capacity building workshop on RTI issues on CR based WASH at community level and DBs to seek claim and utilise the opportunity to raise voice

Major Challenges

  1. The Duty Bearers are fully unknown about child rights. So the big challenge is to change their previous mindset.

Child Rights Mobilizers are well oriented about WASH knowledge but as child rights issue is a new one they are trying updating their knowledge on it to mobilize the beneficiaries. The problems try to solve by on the job training.

 

Lessons Learnt

  1. Close contact with CBO is very effective to solve implementation related problems in the field
  2. Sense of ownership of the community people enhances participation and helps to make possible of any difficult task
  3. It is easy to transfer the message of child rights related issues by cultural program.
  4. Child protection and their participation are very important for spontaneous development of different faculties for their development.

 

Name of the project     : Community Initiated Sustainable 100% WatSan and Hygiene Behaviour Change, Kaliakoir
Goal                             : Sustainable improvement of environmental health status of rural poor people and improve health andhygiene behavior
Project duration          : July 2008 -June 2011
Project location          : Three unions under Kaliakoir upazila of  Gazipur district
Donor                          : Water.org, USA

Activities undertaken:

  1. Courtyard session with women
  2. Hygiene Education session
  3. Mobilize the community to install hygienic latrines
  4. Addressing menstrual hygiene practice  needs of adolescent girls
  5. Session with males in different spots including tea stall and other public places
  6. Campaign, miking, rally, procession, day observation, discussion, holding WatSan fare
  7. Participatory Monitoring and impact evaluation

Name of the project    : Community Initiated Sustainable 100% WatSan and Hygiene Behaviour Change Project, Singair
Project duration          : November 2007 – ongoing
Project location          : Singair upazila of Manikganj district
Donor                          : VERC own fund

This is a VERC own funded small scale ongoing project. This project depends on the demand that prevails for water points, latrines and hygiene practices in the specified project locations and meet the demand. In the reporting year the following demands were fulfilled. More than 90% project demands in respect of latrine coverage, water point installation and hygiene practice have been achieved.

Activities undertaken:

  1. Courtyard session with women, school sanitation and hygiene education session
  2. Mobilize the community to install hygienic latrines
  3. Addressing menstrual hygiene practice  needs of adolescent girls
  4. Session with males in different spots including tea stall and other public places
  5. Campaign, miking, rally, procession, day observation, discussion, holding WatSan fare
  6. Participatory Monitoring and impact evaluation

Name of the project           : Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in Monoharganj Upazila of Comilla District, Bangladesh
Project duration                  : June 2010 – November 2011
Project location                  : Monoharganj Upazila of Comilla District
Donor                                   : Unicef

This is a demand driven approach with high emphasis on social/community development,  where Local Government Organization (LGI), Ward Sanitation Taskforce (WSTF), Union Sanitation Taskforce (USTF), Community Based Organizations (CBOs), Schools other relevant stakeholders will play the key role for planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation process to sustain the project achievements. Main thrust of the project is to enhance the capability of the stakeholders to extend support of the LGI for the smooth functioning of the project activities. It will help to achieve more benefits on WASH especially to the poor, hard-core poor, marginalized and vulnerable people in a sustainable manner.

Documented by: VERC

 

 

.

Quarterly Programme Meeting 19-21 July,2011