PARTNERSHIP IN RURAL WATER-SUPPLY AND SANITATION - A CASE-STUDY FROM BANGLADESH

A non-governmental organization (NGO) for drinking water supply and sanitation conducted a two-year rural Water Supply and Sanitation (WSS) project in wide areas of rural Bangladesh. The project provided handpumps, latrines, and hygiene education to rural people through NGO partners. Its performance was evaluated through interviews with women users, women pump caretakers and trainers from partner NGOs. Of 295 health NGOs (partners), 233 NGOs participated in the water supply programme and 153 of them participated in the sanitation programme. This multi-agency collaboration demonstrated the potential for reaching widespread underserved and unserved people in a logistically efficient way. About 100 000 people were provided with access to handpumps. The potential for revolving the financial assistance in sanitary latrine production/promotion was observed. The project, however, lacked the 'soft-ware' achievements, that is, community participation, personal hygiene practices and effective use and maintenance of the WSS provisions. This reconfirms the difficulties experienced in this field, even at multi-agency collaboration levels. Sustainable measures for 'hardware' as well as 'software' activities should be addressed appropriately at multi-agency levels also.