5 years of WASH 4 Urban Poor

WASH for Urban Poor is one of the pioneer projects of WaterAid with the goal to improve the environmental health and resilience of WASH impoverished urban poor living in slums and low-income settlements in three major cities, namely Dhaka, Chattogram and Khulna and three municipalities in Shakhipur, Saidpur and Paikgacha. WaterAid along with its partners is committed to achieve the targeted goals in three main areas: (i) reducing WASH deprivation, (ii) improving the systems for pro-poor WASH services, and (iii) upgrading the WASH policies and strategies.

One of the pioneer projects of WaterAid Bangladesh, WASH 4 Urban Poor is in its last quarter of the 5 years long journey. A “Reflection and Exit Planning” workshop was held between 17-20 October 2022, with all six implementing partners at field level. As WASH4UP is a collaboration of eight different projects, bringing them all in the same platform gave the participants an excellent exposure to learn from one another.

Around 95 participants inclusive of WaterAid Bangladesh country office staff attended this event and made it a success where implementing partners shared their stories of success, failure, prospects and highlighted on what they have done differently, along with how their work will leave an imprint on the life of the users. 

Reflecting on their work, WaterAid country office staff shared their views on how their work can touch upon the sustainability issue for further development, acknowledged their inclusive approach focusing on how they can be more inclusive and innovative, addressing gender equity, how their projects can be more environmentally sustainable with improved technical aspects and how improved reporting will help them document their current work successfully, as well as use them for future prospects. This horizontal learning was moderated by the core project team of WaterAid Bangladesh, along with participation from other team members. Presentations and gallery walk was prepared by the participants at the end of the program.

This 4-day long enriching event successfully ended with valuable remarks from both Programme Director and Country Director of WaterAid Bangladesh.