WASH Pre-Budget Policy Brief 2023

Reducing Spatial Inequality and Community Engagement should get Priority in ADP Allocation

There has been a commendable upward trend in ADP allocation on WASH though Bangladesh in recent times faces inflation due to many reasons including Russia-Ukraine war and the soar of Covid 19 pandemic. WASH ADP allocation increased 5.44% from preceding fiscal FY2021-22 compared to overall ADP increase of 7.5%.

Though proportionate allocation for rural areas shows some increase – from 22.5% in FY 2021-22 to 27.7% in FY 2022-23, gap between rural and urban has further been increased.

Allocation in hard-to-reach has slightly increased in haor and hilly region, however, dropped in coastal area. The HIES 2022 (Key Findings) discloses that 3.85 percent of population depends on ponds, rivers, canals, wells, etc. as their main source of drinking water.

This is concerning because as JMP 2021 underscores, the percentage having access to ‘safely managed drinking water’ stands at 59% and percentage having access to ‘safely managed sanitation’ stands at 39% only.

To attain safely managed drinking water and safely managed sanitation in an uneven progress situation holistic approach in ADP allocation for WASH to be followed with focus on community engagement in FSM, climate change and disaster risk.