Water

Country Water Action: Pakistan
Ladies First: Accessible Water for Entrepreneurial Women in Pakistan

It can be said that poverty in Pakistan has a woman’s face. Among Pakistan’s poorer households, the incidence of chronic malnutrition in female members of a family is considerably higher than in other members. These are the same women and children who have to walk considerable lengths daily, carrying heavy water pots on their heads to fetch water from a distant pond—water from which cows and water buffalos sometimes bathe. This task becomes especially difficult in bad weather. As this responsibility and other culture-specific restrictions deprive girls of schooling and other opportunities to advance themselves, many Pakistani girls grow up trapped in a web of dependency and subordination because of their low social, economic, and political status in society.

Farzina, a college student from Punjab, recounts: “Girls wanted to go to school, but there was no time. Mothers would say, ‘first you must fetch the water, then you can study.’” In Farzina’s village, children often spent 5–6 hours a day fetching water.

The children of Sughran Bibi also used to spend much of their day fetching water. Their story is typical in Punjab.

We used to get our water from a pond used by animals. It was so dirty. Then, they dug a well, but we had to line up all day under the sun, to get a little water. The water wasn’t good. It was brackish. We didn’t have clean water, even for funerals. Many children would get sick with diarrhea. There was cholera in the rainy season and malaria because of the mosquitoes breeding in the stagnant water. And we had no money to go to the doctor. Life was so bad. Some families left the village and moved to the nearby town, Bahawalpur. But now that we have clean water, they have come back. Now I have time for sewing and embroidery. I make clothes that I sell.

Moreover, her children are now going to school.

Through the Punjab Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Project¹ funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the women of Punjab gained easy access to clean drinking water—a radical change that will continue to uplift their lives for generations.

Punjab, the largest province in Pakistan, is home to 62% of the country’s total population of 135 million. About 60% of Punjab’s 84 million residents live in some 27,000 rural settlements, where only about half of the population has an adequate supply of water. Until recently, the remainder of rural Punjab relied on often distant sources of unsafe water, such as uncovered wells, rivers, and canal or rainfed ponds. As for sanitation, only a little more than 25% of the rural population has access to household latrines. The remainder of the population defecates in open areas, a situation that is particularly difficult for women, as by custom, they can only use the fields either before sunrise or after sunset. Drainage is also very poor in rural areas, and maintenance of drains is commonly neglected. In addition to the obvious unpleasant odors, this results in infestations of disease-bearing insects such as flies and cockroaches—a source of health problems for adults and children alike.

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The Government of Pakistan has been concerned about the inadequate provision of social services, especially in rural areas, for it believes that greater investments in such projects will stimulate productivity; reduce poverty; and promote smaller, healthier, and better-educated families. Nationally, the Government has identified low water supply and sanitation coverage as one of the major issues confronting the water supply and sanitation sector. With the help of the Punjab Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Project, the Government sought to bring safe drinking water and sanitation facilities to poor rural communities in Punjab province.

The overall goal was to build community water supply and drainage facilities to reduce poverty and improve quality of life as well as the living conditions of rural communities in Punjab province, where water is scarce and groundwater, brackish.

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The project provided safe drinking water and drainage facilities to about 800,000 people through simple, low-cost subprojects that used the community-based approach. The primary beneficiaries were women and children from 335 mostly poor and remote villages in Punjab’s seven priority districts.²

It was the first project in Punjab to employ a community-based, demand-driven approach, wherein the local people participated from the planning through the construction stage and eventually became fully responsible for operation and maintenance (O&M) costs.

Men and women formed community-based organizations (CBOs) to maintain the water supply distribution system, drains, and oxidation ponds, as well as to promote social development work and livelihood activities. They solicited community donations of land—for the construction of pump houses and oxidation ponds—and earthwork—for paving streets and constructing drains. CBO members also successfully facilitated the collection of tariffs.

Community involvement in project planning, design, and implementation was a key feature of the project. This set the stage for the CBOs’ proper O&M of the water supply and sanitation schemes. They were trained to supervise the construction before the subprojects were implemented. Before the subprojects were handed over to CBOs, they were trained in efficient O&M, including financial management, technical operations, and water quality monitoring.

As the primary beneficiaries of the project, women were encouraged to carry out subprojects, operate and maintain them, collect tariffs, and evaluate projects as active participants in CBOs and community development units. Community development unit staff and CBOs were mainly responsible for community benefit monitoring and evaluation, another key feature of the project. This involved the collection of baseline data and information on performance indicators, data analysis and evaluation, and the preparation of biannual benefit monitoring and evaluation reports.

A Hygiene Education Program also held 4-day seminars in each village using video and audio clips as well as flip charts to teach men, women, and schoolchildren about proper sanitation and cleanliness. As part of this program, latrines were also sold for about $12 to be paid in installments under the supervision of CBOs.

Monthly user fees ranged from Rs50 to Rs150³ for piped water and up to Rs20 for gravity-based systems. Community pressure and prompt disconnection of services for nonpayment of accounts generally made tariff collection easy.

Following the provision of clean water, the number of children enrolled in schools increased and community members donated their labor to expand schools.

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Since the project was completed, the availability of water has significantly transformed the lives of women and girls in these communities. They previously spent from 2–6 hours a day gathering water, and an additional 5–8 hours a week washing clothes at sources far from their homes and villages.

A survey showed that when relieved of water collection, women become increasingly involved in income generation—the women surveyed said that about 45% of their time saved is used for income-generating activities. Knowing this, some CBOs have started programs such as needlecraft and handicraft. One women’s CBO in the north set up a school for girls, employing two female teachers; another provided financial support for women to establish a small flour mill. Still another helped set up a corner grocery store in the village.

Women in Punjab now command an average wage of Rs5 an hour. The monetary value of the time saved could add about Rs135 to Rs337 monthly to household incomes in the project area. Relief from the heavy labor of carrying water home also gives the women more energy. In many villages, households saved money on medicines as a result of improved health.

So far, monitoring of the project has shown impressive results, including a more than 90% reduction in reported water-related diseases, an average increased household income of 24%, and as much as an 80% increase in the school enrollment of children.⁴ The monitoring report also notes a considerable improvement in the local environment (e.g., decreased odors and insects) and fewer sick days reported throughout the community.

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• To ensure the sustainability of community-based projects, both men’s and women’s community groups should be involved in planning, design, implementation, and O&M, and CBOs should be trained at an early stage of project implementation.
• Subproject selection criteria should be widely disseminated to ensure transparency and proper interpretation.
• The community is often more willing to pay for services than expected.
• The local private sector usually responds well to small rural water supply and sanitation schemes, and these are generally efficient and cost-effective.
• Construction activities should be properly packaged to capture economies of scale.
• More attention must be given to gender considerations as well as to sanitation and hygiene education to achieve lasting results.
• Delays in implementation can be avoided by requesting proforma approval from the planning commission establishing the project management unit, appointing the project director and staff, recruiting consultants, and prequalifying contractors, before the loan takes effect.
• Electrifying the pumping wells in advance would have avoided delays in operationalizing several subprojects.
• To ensure good quality construction and timely completion, payments to contractors should be linked to consultants’ verification of the quality of the work.
• Low salaries can result in a high turnover of community development unit staff, which can adversely affect the progress of implementation and the quality of the unit’s activities.

Although this project has not yet been evaluated by an ADB postevaluation mission, there are positive indicators of substantial transformation and social upliftment, as well as considerable increases in household income.

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