Gender and Development

Lao PDR: Responding to Women's Water Supply and Sanitation Needs

Access to water supply and sanitation has a significant impact on the lives of women and girls. In most countries, women and girls are the primary collectors and users of water. In Lao PDR, women and young girls spend up to an average of 2-3 hours daily collecting and carting water. A common sight outside urban centers in Lao PDR is girls carrying buckets of water or balancing containers of water on their shoulders.

Girls and boys from Houn district in Oudomxai province of Lao PDR head to the nearest stream after school. Photo by Anupma Jain, 2005.

For women and girls, improved access to clean and safe water supply and sanitation services means no longer having to spend hours collecting and storing water. It means family members, especially children, are less likely to get sick from water-related diseases. It means women spend less time caring for the sick and less money on medicines. It means women can spend more time engaged in productive activities, contributing to household incomes. For young girls, improved access to water supply means a chance to attend school.

ADB's Northern and Central Regions Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Project, responds to the water and sanitation needs of women. The Project aims to improve the accessibility, quality, reliability and sustainability of water supply services in about 12 small towns. The Project embraces a number of actions that recognize the important roles of women and young girls in water use and sanitation hygiene. A special component on community-based interventions supports ongoing efforts on hygiene and proper lifestyle and village-level environmental improvements. A gender strategy for the Project was prepared and highlights a number of specific gender actions, including:

• Community health awareness programs recognize women's reproductive health needs as it relates to water and sanitation.
• At least 30% of new jobs generated in the community will be reserved for women.
• At least 30% female representation within the community action teams in the PIUs and the water supply and sanitation user groups.
• NCAW-Lao represented on the national project steering committee and Lao Women's Union representative in the project implementation units.
• Women's union represents customers on the Water Authority Regulatory Committee.
• Consultations with women before the designs are finalized for roads, drainage works, and public sanitation facilities.
• Collection of sex-disaggregated data.
• Equal compensation and allowances to female heads of households as per the resettlement framework and short resettlement plans. Eligibility for special assistance, as required.

For more information, contact Anupma Jain, SESS.