Zulfiqar’s sanitary mart

“They called me in for a training. And in that training, I understood how a business should be run. The training was for three days, but it was equal to learning for three years. So, I learned a lot in those three days.”

Through a three day training and some financial assistance by WaterAid, Zulfiqar was able to set up a sanitary mart in his village, Kalarwali, in District Muzaffargarh. Now, Zulfiqar not only earns more than his previous job but also provides easy access for people to sanitary materials for constructing washrooms. He tells, “The city is 7-8kms far from here. So, if one needs a bag of cement, for example, one will have to pay 100 rupees just for the fuel to bring it from there. But we provide materials at the same rate as they are available in the city.

As a result of easy access to raw materials and awareness raising done by WaterAid in the village, the majority of the households now have washrooms in their homes. “There are approximately 500 households in this village. And around 350 have already built washrooms. This has happened in a period of 6 months. Earlier, only 30-40 households had washrooms”, Zulfiqar tells.