THE ORANGI PILOT Project is renowned throughout urban development institutions for their innovative sanitation programme, which has improved living conditions for about one million people in Karachi, Pakistan (a profile of their work was included in Environment&Urbanization Vol 7, No 2, 1995). This book (written by a long-term consultant to the Orangi Pilot Project) focuses on several projects that the Project has undertaken with government agencies in the extension of the sanitation programme both within Karachi and other cities in Pakistan.

The sanitation programme developed from an intensive investigation of conditions and community perspectives in Orangi (on the outskirts of Karachi). The first two chapters describe the evolution of the Orangi Pilot Project and the development of the sanitation programme. They describe how the core principles became embedded within the organization and its staff during its development. These principles include the need to have a strategy for replication at all times; the understanding that projects have to be driven by community needs and perceptions with support being provided through the effective integration of professionals skills; and the understanding that a rigorous learning process is essential in any effective development process.

The next four chapters each discuss a different government programme which involved the participation of the Orangi Pilot Project: Karachi Municipal Corporation's Katchi Abadi (informal settlements) Upgrading Programme; the Urban Basic Services Programme in Sukkur (a medium-sized town in Sindh province); the Katchi Abadi Improvement Programme in Hyderabad; and cooperation with the Sindh Katchi Abadi Authority. In the final two chapters, the author draws together the conclusions emerging from these experiences. He notes a change in the original strategy of the Project which was based on an assumption that the government would adopt its approaches once their effectiveness had been demonstrated. Given that this has not taken place, staff now place more emphasis on working directly with people and communities, as they have seen that organized communities can force governments to respond appropriately and effectively to their needs.