Establishment of WASH Institute

Published on by

WASH as an important component of daily life

" WASH" stands for water sanitation and hygiene. Provision of safe drinking water and sanitation facility is basic right of every human being. In developing countries of the world WASH conditions are vulnerable people even deprived of basic hygiene and sanitation facilities due to high poverty rate and ignorance towards health and hygiene practices which ultimately spreads diseases and results in high mortality rate. Many human rights agencies and Govt and non organization realized this factor. The united nation organization focused on this factor and decided to give it a legal recognition. An important step to the legal recognition wasachieved on 28 July 2010, when the UN General Assembly declared, "the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights." Furthermore, it urges countries to "scale-up efforts to provide safe, clean, accessible and affordable water and sanitation for all."

WASH Back Ground of Pakistan

Pakistan stands in the row of developing countries where WASH conditions are vulnerable more than 60% of the population do not have access to safe drinking water and sanitation facilities child mortality rate is very high due to diseases caused by this poor health and hygiene conditions. In July-August 2010 Heavy rains and floods resulted into about 2,000 deaths and Displacing 20 million people in Pakistan. The flood has damaged partially or completely All kinds of community infrastructure including water and sanitation facilities in 78 Districts damaged crops, Agricultural land and livestock and on the other poses a number of food security Challenges to the country in general and to affecters in particular. During initial three Months of support to flood affecters a considerable amount of donor and government

Funds have been spent in rescue and relief operations. Additional allocations have made Available for remaining small scale relief activities and early recovery efforts. On start of Early recovery phase, where most of the affected population has returned to places of Origin require comprehensive early recovery plans for restoration of community services including WASH as one of the most critical area of interventions.

Establishment of WASH INSTITUTE in Pakistan

Establishment of WASH institute in Pakistan is necessary to institutionalize Health and hygiene promotional activities needs In reality, most of these skills are not gained through formal education, it has been noticed that the professionals acquire these skills & knowledge over the year through their work experience and association in the sector. Also, low priority and poor importance given to Water and Sanitation (WATSAN) curriculum in the formal educational institutions to address the issues. Especially being faced by the low-income communities both at rural and urban areas. Also, there is a greater need for promoting social engineering aspects, both at implementation and educational level to address people friendly sustainable solution.

Objectives of WASH institute

1) To highlight issues and challenges facing the provision of sustainable access to safe drinking water coordination of stakeholders is required which include Provincial Govt , Local Govt ,NGO,s,private and civil society organizations and institutions and other individuals working in drinking water sector.

2)Discuss MICS (Multiple indicator cluster survey) publications about population access to improved drinking water supply considerable water supply coverage and compare it with the actual current situation to declare what progress has been made for sector development during the past.

3) Capacity development. Role and responsibilities of various agencies regarding drinking water sector at provincial, district and local levels can be streamlined.

4) To identify the most important sector issues and recommendations how sector performance can be improved. Proper cost effective strategy need to be designed which can hopefully guide the sectors to plan for the future

5) Providence of strategic platform for all the participants' Programmatic approach and appropriate technological measures needs to be adopted

6) Enhancing public awareness. Education and communication campaigns will be developed and implemented to promote water safety, water conservation and safe hygiene practices.

7) Improvement of old schemes and emphasize on protection and conservation of water resources and treatment and safety at house hold level.

8) Establish Public and private partnership and prepare Disaster management wash clusters during emergencies.

Official Structure of WASH institute

Wash institute will include

1)Director room

2)Admin Deptt

3) Library which includes written material related to WASH e.g. reading material,publications,news letters ,manuals, reports etc.

4) Trainers room

A separate room or Hall will be allocated for training purpose .where expert trainers provide training facilities

5) Reception and visitors place.

Reception place will at entrance and visitors place will be adjacent to reception site.

Faculty /Staff of WASH institute

WASH institute initially comprised of following staff members

1)Executive Director

The executive director reviews overall activities undertaken. Conduct regular meeting with the staff and take their suggestions and their opinions regarding reforms and improvement in WASH sector.

2) Manager Administration and HR

Manager administration acts as a supervisor monitors activities undertaken by of Admin Officer and give approval admintrative tasks. He gives his suggestions to executive director regarding hiring of staff and after approval from director makes final decision.

3) Admin and HR Officer

Admin Officer assists Admin Manager deals in designing working schedule, ,office maintenance and purchasing office equipments, supervising support staff, Maintains complete record of the staff which includes their educational record ,working experience and issues them appointment letter after approval of Manager administration.

4) Academic Staff

The academic staff includes "Expert trainers "comprises of those who are highly experienced in WASH Sector. They will train the team members and share their knowledge and work experience with them. We can say this process as "training of the trainers".

5) Librarian

The librarian will maintains records of written material related to WASH e.g., publications, newsletters, different manuals by WASH experts worldwide and also Annuals and quarterly reports written by HRDS core team working in WASH sector etc.

6)Receptionist

The receptionists welcomes visitors and provide them necessary information and guides them towards visitors place which is adjacent to reception site .He or She maintains records of telephone calls, Official visits, dispatch items, Attendence of staff members in separate registers and reports it to manager administration on monthly basis.

6) Supporting Staff

Supporting staff includes. Peon., Watch Man, Janitorial Staff,Cook.They all work under supervision of Admin Officer and reports their weekly activities to admin deptt.

Beneficiaries of WASH institute

The beneficiaries will include those who will be benefited by services provided. Initially of team of trainers will be selected .This team will be trained by "Expert trainers "which include those who are highly experienced in WASH Sector. They will train the team members and share their knowledge and work experience with them. We can say this process as "Training of the trainers".

3 Comments

  1. Outreach Scout Foundation (OSF) is already existing organisation that is dealing with WASH issues in Malawi, therefore how would we be assisted to champion this important cause in our Country. Is there any technical or financial support that would beef up our intentions to mobilize CSOs, Private Sector, learning organisation to start the ball rolling in Malawi. Our organisation is committed to contribute about 35% of running costs of the events if this would materialized. What are the requirements for Outreach Scout Foundation to become a member of WASH Institute.

  2. Whether it is still at planning stages or is already in place, establishing a WASH Institute in Pakistan is a step in the very right direction. Unless there is a desire to involve and participate at the local levels along with some sense of ownership, neither programs succeed nor things improve regardless how much money is provided by the donors. Kudos to you, Ms. Gul and your team - great job.

    1 Comment reply

    1. Deat Shahid sahib .water and sanitation situation is alarming not only in pakistan but all the developing cuntries especialy in south asian countries.I have proposed another idea or action that is govt and non govt agencies work in collaboration to design curriculam which should be given a status of seperate compulsery subject for schools, high schools and at graduate level.I will discribe it in detail in my next article

      1 Comment reply

      1. Dear Syeda Sahiba! I can't agree more with you that W&S is a serious issue in all the developing countries. A WASH Center in Pakistan, per your plans, sure will result in preparing well-informed students at different levels on the subject (a valuable resource for future developments) as well as identifying issues and developing solutions in the local context. Look forward to seeing your upcoming article. All my best.

  3. this is good move and Malawi must emulate development of WASH Institute

    1 Comment reply

    1. Dear Amon! Malawi is no different than any other developing country. Unless local stake holders take an initiative and get involved, things will not improve. Syeda Gul's WASH Institute in Pakistan could be a good model for Malawi too. You don't have to reinvent the wheel; take the proven strategies and solutions and tweak them to local needs and environment.