WaterAid Bangladesh, together with our partners, supporters and government actors, focuses on two interlinked programme areas to contribute towards achieving universal access to WASH in Bangladesh. 

Advancing climate resilient & inclusive WASH

We intend to see climate vulnerable communities have access to resilient and inclusive WASH services.

Image: WaterAid/ Drik/ Suman Paul

Strengthening the resilience of WASH to climate change

Climate change will affect the quantity, quality and availability of water. Increased intensity and frequency of droughts, storms, floods and extreme weather conditions will have a negative impact on the water cycle – further exacerbated where water and sanitation systems are weak. Communities living in poverty are likely to be impacted the most by climate change despite having done the least to cause it. 

In Bangladesh, climate change makes it harder to get clean water. This hits the poorest and most vulnerable people hardest, especially women and girls. Dirty water makes them sick and affects their hygiene. Our plan is to make sure everyone has access to clean water, even in places where climate change is making it harder. We're working to make water systems stronger against climate change and include everyone, especially women and girls. We play advocacy roles to make sure Government think about climate change when planning things. We also teach people about saving water and help businesses use less water too. Our aim is to make sure everyone gets clean water and stays healthy. We work hard to make sure our plan works in different areas affected by climate change, like coastal areas and places with floods or droughts. We also try to get money to help us do more projects. We tell the government why it's important to spend money on clean water. By doing all this, we hope to make a big difference and help everyone have clean water, no matter what.

Universal, sustainable and safe WASH for wider change

We expect to see established climate-resilient service delivery models, institutional commitment for universal WASH, and enhanced resources and capacities for sustainable systems as final outcomes.

Image: WaterAid/ Habibul Haque

Universal, sustainable and safe WASH to impact wider change

Many countries face significant barriers to deliver universal, sustainable and safe WASH. When WASH is delivered, it is often not sustained in the long term and fails. The enormity of this problem underlines the need for intensive and targeted work to strengthen the WASH system in order to deliver change at a significant scale. These locally-driven, positive and replicable examples of how to overcome the barriers will generate learning and evidence to inform and influence those in power to foster changes beyond the focused geographic areas. 

In Bangladesh, WASH related services aren't fair or long-lasting. We need to make big changes to meet people's rights and national goals. This means fixing problems like ineffective service models, lack of commitment from institutions, and not enough resources and skills. We want to see better WASH services that last, even in tough places. We aim to set up models that work in Paikgacha, a hotspot for climate issues. This could lead to changes across the country, especially in coastal areas. We're starting small but hoping for big impacts. We're focusing on two things: showing what works in Paikgacha and spreading those ideas nationally. In Paikgacha, we're helping set up better water supplies, sanitation, and hygiene. We're also teaming up with local groups and businesses to make WASH more affordable and inclusive. Then, we'll share what we've learned with other places and influence national policies to make lasting changes.