Water, Sanitation and Hygiene: Nine years of scale and innovation in Bangladesh

This document reports on the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) programme in rural Bangladesh between 2006 and 2015.

From its inception, BRAC has championed clean water and hygienic sanitation as essential pathways out of poverty, and this WASH programme clearly builds on this: it has “reached out across 250 sub-districts – about half the country [of Bangladesh] – and has helped over 39 million people gain access to hygienic latrines and 2.3 million people gain access to safe water” (page 5). It is no surprise that this is believed to be the largest WASH programme managed by an NGO anywhere.

With funds from the Government of the Netherlands (through the Dutch embassy in Dhaka), BRAC’s WASH programme improves the health situation of the rural poor and enhances equitable development through provision of integrated WASH services in the rural areas of Bangladesh. It was launched as part of a national effort in Bangladesh to achieve both the Millennium Development Goals and national targets for water and sanitation.  Its launch also coincided with the discovery of widespread arsenic contamination, which threatened “safe water” coverage in Bangladesh (page 8).

Following the executive summary, this report goes into detail about the design and coverage of the BRAC WASH programme. The report identifies the main achievements and progress of BRAC WASH, drawing upon data from BRAC’s Qualitative Information Systems and Management Information System. These are identified across five key areas: Hygiene; Sanitation; Water; WASH in Schools; and Capacity Building. In addition to access to hygienic latrines and safe water, BRAC WASH created more than 65,000 gender-balanced village WASH committees, trained health volunteers and imams with WASH messages, and reached 13.9 million people in communities and 2.9 million students in school per year with hygiene education (pages 9 and 32).

With regard to the internal and external risks identified at the beginning of BRAC WASH’s three phases, the report tabulates both actions and results for mitigating these risks. Included in this is a design of a disaster-resilient latrine. Following on, the report emphasizes the need to sustain gains made when the programme phases out. This section addresses four aspects of sustainability: financial; institutional; environmental and technological; and social (in particular focusing on poverty and gender). The report claims that the programme has made excellent progress on rural sanitation at scale, and links this to the programme’s three main interventions (page 41). It also acknowledges lessons learned and expands on these, relating to multiple grants and action research for innovative solutions.

To conclude, the report considers the replicability of BRAC’s WASH programme and makes recommendations for further actions. Included here are recognition of: the need to focus on urban and peri-urban areas, the need to create safe solutions for faecal sludge management, and the need for finance and business models to support community WASH initiatives.  

This practical report not only provides insight into BRAC WASH’s programme in Bangladesh, but shares methods and lessons to improve water, hygiene and sanitation for the poor who lack good sanitary facilities and hygiene practices worldwide.  

Available from:

http://www.ircwash.org/resources/water-sanitation-and-hygiene-nine-years-scale-and-innovation-bangladesh-programme-report

Book note prepared by Hannah Keren Lee