Water and Sanitation (WatSan)

Safe water and adequate sanitation is essential for a healthy life. Environmental health is indispensable for livelihood changes. Health, environment and sanitation are interlinked with each other. Environment has articulate impact on health and livelihood change. Response to environment/climate change at the moment has become inevitable. Environment and climatic change has also obvious effect on water, sanitation and hygiene. The ultimate adverse effect causes increased health hazards and poverty in both rural areas in general and particularly in urban slums.

In this consequence, VERC has given high importance to the above mentioned sectors and brought it into a broad cluster to provide equal efforts with its available limited resources. Addressing the disaster issues in a segmented way will not help attain meaningful and sustainable impact in accordance with mission and strategies of the organization. Hence the initiatives / interventions being taken to empower the grassroots level people by mobilizing them through institution building and transferring capacity in them so that they can take actions locally to address the service needs. Also they can claim their due shares from the public service delivery agencies. Efforts in addressing health service needs, coping with environmental hazards like - disaster and improving sanitation needs widely being undertaken through the adoption of participatory methods and techniques.

Ongoing projects under WatSan:

1. South Asian WaSH Result Program-II,Ragarhat, Kurigram
2. South Asian WaSH Result Program-II, Ullahpara, Sirajgonj
3. South Asian WaSH Result Program-II, Lalmohan & Charfassion, Bhola
4. Community led Sustainable stunting free Villages Project,Chhatak, Shylet
5. Improved WASH Services for the Rohingya Refugees and host Communities, Ukhiya, Cox's bazar
6. Emergency Response Through Energy Project,Ukhiya, Cox's bazar
7. Community Led Sustainable Improved Cook-stove Program of Savar, Keraniganj, Kaliakoir, Bagmara, Mohonpur & Durgapur Upazila

Recently completed projects:

1. Advancing Sustainable Environmental Health (ASEH)
2. Community Initiated Sustainable 100% WatSan and Hygiene Behaviour Change, Kalma

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene:

In order to contribute to the achievement of total sanitation by 2013 as declared by GoB in compliance with the MDG target, VERC has been putting out best of its efforts by implementing water and sanitation program in the country with other actors of the sector. Since beginning, VERC has been implementing promotional activities in WatSan as a component of technology promotion for livelihood status improvement with active participation of community people. Momentous believe was that the technology options will be user friendly and sustainable. At the early stage the WatSan activities were mostly carried out in terms of production and distribution of latrine ring-slabs, installation of tube-wells for safe water use promotion with limited hygiene education for awareness raising. Both the hardware items were distributed among the intervention area households at a subsidised rate.

In 1998, it was revealed from an impact evaluation that the reality of poor impact of efforts on the highly vulnerable community people to WatSan and hygiene practice related diseases. In this backdrop VERC amended the previous approach and has innovated Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) in early 2000. The model evolved is now known as VERC’s CLTS model of water and sanitation in promoting sanitation in communities. VERC’s CLTS model is a combination of software and hardware with active participation of community people.

The approach has been innovated with financial and technical support of Water Aid Bangladesh (WAB), the donor agency in the year 2000. Working at grassroots level with community on WATSAN program, VERC has learned that community awareness, increased initiatives and active community & local government participation could prevent most of the water and excreta borne diseases. VERC experience has been incorporated in the national sanitation program strategy and in the Sector Development Plan (FY 2011-2025) Water Supply and Sanitation Sector in Bangladesh. The approach is continuously being widely practiced by sector stakeholders in the country as well as across developing nations all over the world.

Achievement of Water and Sanitation infrastructure under different projects

The approach has been innovated with financial and technical support of Water Aid Bangladesh (WAB), the donor agency in the year 2000. Working at grassroots level with community on WATSAN program, VERC has learned that community awareness, increased initiatives and active community & local government participation could prevent most of the water and excreta borne diseases. VERC experience has been incorporated in the national sanitation program strategy and in the Sector Development Plan (FY 2011-2025) Water Supply and Sanitation Sector in Bangladesh. The approach is continuously being widely practiced by sector stakeholders in the country as well as across developing nations all over the world.