WATER, SANITATION AND HYGIENE (WASH)

Building on our long experience in promoting access to safe water and sanitation services, an integrated water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) programme was started in 2006. The WASH initiative, in partnership with the Government, aims to ensure access to sanitation services for 17.5 million people, hygiene education for 37.5 million people and safe water services for 8.5 million people living in 150 sub-districts of
Bangladesh.These are communities who are not significantly served by other national or international NGOs water and sanitation programmes.

We are working to improve water supplies and sanitation facilities in schools and communities, and promote safe hygiene practices to help achieve the Millennium Development Goal for water and sanitation by:

a. Providing sustainable and integrated WASH services in rural areas of 150 sub-districts (Upazilas)

b. Promoting safe hygienic behaviour in order to break the contamination cycle of unsanitary latrines, contaminated water, and water borne communicable diseases.

c. Ensuring the sustainability and scaling-up of WASH services

By the end of 2007, the WASH programme completed its third phase and had successfully expanded to cover all 150 targeted sub-districts. The areas covered under earlier phases have already completed the first stage of intervention (hygiene education) and progressed on to subsequent stages.

In 2007, the programme reached 12 million people in the community and 4 million school children with integrated water, sanitation and hygiene education.To reinforce these messages, an additional 2,485 theatre shows and 720 sub-district level advocacy workshops were organised.

792 Rural Sanitation Centres (RSC) have been set-up by providing interest free loans to rural microentrepreneurs. At the household level, 247,229 latrines have been installed and 11,358 latrines re-installed. At the school level, 32 separate latrines for boys and girls with waste disposal facilities have
been constructed in schools.

The WASH programme also responded immediately in the areas worst affected by Cyclone Sidr in November 2007. By December 2007, 203 Pond Sand Filters were repaired, 6 new pond sand filters were constructed and 1,990 ponds were cleaned in those areas.