Islamabad March 22 (TNS): The Water and Sanitation Extension Programme (WASEP) provides access to safe drinking water, improved sanitation facilities and drainage infrastructure for rural, peri-urban and urban settlements across Pakistan including Gilgit-Baltistan.
WASEP was initiated in 1997 to address the issues of safe drinking water in Pakistan by the Aga Khan Agency for Habitat (previously the Aga Khan Planning and Building Service, Pakistan), an apex institution under the AKDN. The programme focuses on providing access to safe drinking water in high mountainous settlements in Pakistan and coastal areas of Sindh.
As WASEP completes its second decade of dedication to providing improved Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) services to vulnerable, rural communities in Pakistan, particularly in mountainous regions, AKAH has completed over 600 safe drinking water and sanitation schemes benefitting more than half a million people rehabilitated over 100 water schemes, which were damaged during natural disasters, benefitting around 100,000 people.
Pakistan is a signatory to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) which mandates all countries to ‘Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all’ (SDG 6) but Pakistan still ranks among the top 10 countries with the largest number of people living without access to safe water.
Lack of access to safe water and sanitation leads to increased incidence of water-borne diseases
The burden of fetching water for households most commonly falls upon women, consuming many hours daily and requiring women to carry heavy containers through difficult terrain.
WASEP’s unique approach
Over the past two decades, central to WASEP’s success has been its community-centric approach by encouraging the community, particularly the women, to participate in the planning and design and implementation phases of the project.
WASEP has formed over 600 community-led village organizations, which have not only made financial contributions towards the water projects, but have also contributed in gathering local construction materials and unskilled labour for the project. The overall result of community engagement has been the increased ownership of communities towards the water scheme in their village.
A key component of WASEP is its behavioral change communication strategy through which the community is sensitized to adopt improved health and hygiene practices in their daily lives. The programme actively aims to sensitize community households to adopt healthy practices in order to augment the provision of safe water and sanitation services. Over two decades, through its health and hygiene improvement sessions, WASEP has trained over 150,000 people, more than 60% of whom are women. Additionally, WASEP has also trained over 100,000 school-going children, nearly 50% of whom are young girls, to practice and promote healthy practices in their homes.
WASEP is an international award-winning project
In 2003, WASEP was identified as a best practice by the WHO; subsequently in 2005, WASEP was named the winner of the prestigious Alcan Prize for Sustainability by the Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum; awarded the Dubai International Award for Best Practices in 2009 for the transfer of community based water and sanitation technologies along with health and hygiene education; and awarded the National Energy Globe Award in 2010 for efficient water supply and eco-sanitation.
To address the increasing threat posed by natural disasters and climate change, the Aga Khan Agency for Habitat (AKAH) works to ensure that poor people live in physical settings that are as safe as possible from the effects of natural disasters; that residents who do live in high-risk areas are able to cope with disasters in terms of preparedness and response; and that these settings provide access to social and financial services that lead to greater opportunity and a better quality of life.
The Aga Khan Development Network is a group of non-denominational development agencies, created by His Highness the Aga Khan, with complementary mandates ranging from health and education to architecture, culture, microfinance, rural development, disaster reduction, the promotion of private-sector enterprise and the revitalisation of historic cities. As a contemporary endeavour of the IsmailiImamat to realise the social conscience of Islam through institutional action, the AKDN agencies work to improve living conditions and opportunities for the poor, without regard to their faith, origin or gender. Working in the fields of economic, cultural and social development, AKDN aims to provide choices and opportunities to communities so that they can realise and determine their own development.
