Establishment of WASH Institute
Published on by Syeda Aniqa Gul, worked in Non Govt organization - Coordinating officer (Hygiene Promotion & office administration)
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.
|
