Self-Mobilized Water and Sanitation Programme in Bangladesh: a community empowerment approach

This study investigates the approach of VERC's WATSAN programme, which operates in different areas of Bangladesh. The project's aim is to achieve sanitised villages in every area it covers by the villagers themselves through a community empowerment approach. The study was therefore designed to look into questions related to water and sanitation using PRA tools.
The approach contained the following steps:
" Entry PRA to appraise the local situation of water and sanitation with the full participation of the villagers;
" Mobilisation of the community by exposing the reality of the village sanitary conditions to the villagers themselves;
" Facilitation of the process of community action;
" Joint agreement of follow up actions with the community.
Community enthusiasm was expressed in the forms of village processions, urgent planning for action, committee formations and determining community penalty.
A number of important realisations were made at the end of the study in order to get the most out of this community empowerment approach:
" A shift in the mindset and the project management style of VERC;
" Investment in the capacity building of VERC's staff at different levels;
" More autonomy and decentralised decision-making;
" Encouragement for innovative approaches to facilitation and empowerment;
" Allowing adequate time for community preparation and for them to show their strengths before bringing in hardware inputs or subsidy.