BRAC has been implementing the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) programme in 150 sub-districts of Bangladesh with a focus of achieving MDG 7; target 10 with support from the Government of the Netherlands since 2006.
Published on: 04/10/2011
BRAC has been implementing the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) programme in 150 sub-districts with a focus of achieving MDG 7; target 10 with support from the Government of the Netherlands since 2006 (Kabir et.al 2008 Akhter,et al,2009). In the very beginning of the programme, the accessibility of sanitary service delivery materials was very insufficient in intervention areas. As a result, the programme established Rural Sanitation Centres (RSC) in each 1,457 Unions (fourth administrative area of government) and 89 municipalities (Peri-urban) of 150 sub-districts to increase access to sanitary latrine construction components.
First field observation showed that rural buyers complained about the low quality of sanitary construction materials. They also complained that some RSCs were too far away from rural areas.
The Engineer of BRAC’s WASH Programme and a Sub-Assistant Engineer of the Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) started a two-day training programme for 3,608 RSC’s owners to enhance their capacity. Moreover, different technological options of latrines with related prices have been provided to the sanitation centres.
To help the centres buy toilet rings and slabs the programme also provides a 10,000 (ten thousand BTD taka or about €100) interest free loan to each RSC for their supply of sanitary latrine materials. The nearly 1,500 union based RSCs and some municipalities received a second loan of 10,000 taka 10 months later, after they repaid the first loan.
Every RSC is maintaining their register to monitor how many latrine sets are sold within one week or a month, which is followed up by regular programme staff visits to check. On average each RSC has sold 100 to 120 sets sanitary construction materials per month.
Buyers take rings and slab home from RSC by cycle van, Photo: BRAC 2010
Till date RSCs have provided a vast number of sanitary materials to hundreds of thousands of households, as show in the table below.
Table: Sanitary materials service delivery through RSCs from May 2006 to June 2011 (Source MIS)
| Installation per category | Target | Achievements (nos.) households | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Installation of latrine by poor (self–financed) | As required | 671,901 | |
| Installation of latrine by non-poor (self–financed) | As required | 788,584 | |
| Support to Hardcore Poor by BRAC WASH programme | 750,000 | 727,094 | |
| Loan support to poor families by BRAC-WASH | 150,000 | 157,824 | |
| Changing of water seal ( converting unhygienic latrine to hygienic latrine) | As required | 1,957,961 | |
| Installation of latrine in secondary level school | 4,400 | 3,960 | For girls only |
The intervention communities have been categorized as well-off, poor and hardcore poor. The subsidies have been provided to the hardcore poor families for installing latrine materials of maximum BDT 1,600 to 2,300, or €23 only. The WASH programme provides technical support for latrine installation to those who can afford and are willing to construct latrines, by ensuring proper design and guidance on construction and use. Those who cannot afford to pay the full costs of a sanitary latrine are provided 1,000 (one thousand taka BTD, or about €10 only) loan support through the programme.
In addition to that, sanitary toilets especially for girl students in secondary level schools are in high demand. Nearly four thousand have been constructed so far, with adequate water supply, hand wash basin and disposal facilities for sanitary napkins. The secondary school latrine construction costs are 45,000 (forty five thousand taka BTD, or €450). The latrine construction materials have been supplied by local entrepreneurs. These are incredible contributions of RSCs that help implement BRAC’s WASH programme.
Babar Kabir, Director Disaster Environment and Climate Change and Water and Sanitation Hygiene of BRAC Bangladesh talks about BRAC's work. They work on a holistic cycle integrating water and sanitation with hygiene. Recently they finished BRAC WASH 1 in April 2011 to provide 25 million people with improved hygienic latrines. Their next steps are to build on this success as it takes longer than 4.5 years to change behaviours. They are consolidating their actions on those that are higher to convince, the last 5-10%. They are also concentrating on building entrepreneurship skills so that the hardware part can continue and the community will also play a role in the long term sustainability. Mapping water resources and emptying pit latrines are two areas which link BRAC's WASH work with work on food security. Interviewed by Nick Dickinson, IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre at the Stockholm World Water Week 2011 on Wednesday 24 August 2011.
BRAC web site
BRAC (2010) annual report. Dhaka Bangladesh. www.brac.net
Kabir Babar et al (2008); BRAC WASH Programme
BRAC (2005); BRAC Water Sanitation and Hygiene Programme: Attaining the MDG Target on Water and Sanitation in Bangladesh (Project Proposa). PDF file
Md. Mahidul Islam, Senior sector specialist, BRAC WASH programme, as part of training at IRC of the second round Youth Zone programme.
