GENDER AND URBAN POVERTY:

Creating an Enabling Environment for Urban Poors Access to Water Supply and Sanitation Services
Mohammad Shahjahan
Additional Chief Engineer & Project Director Dhaka Water Supply Sector Development Project Dhaka WASA
The views expressed in this paper are the views of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Asian Development Bank ADB), or its Board of Governors, or the governments they represent. ADB does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this paper and accepts no responsibility for any consequence of their use. The countries listed in this paper do not imply any view on ADB's part as 1 to sovereignty or independent status or necessarily conform to ADB's terminology.

Overview of the Current Situation

The poor in Bangladesh lack convenient access to efficient water supply and sanitation services.

On an average 20% population of Dhaka city lack convenient access to water supply and 30% population of Dhaka city lack convenient access to sanitation.
Approximately more than 28 percent of Bangladeshs urban population lives in slums.

Slum areas receive low-quality services.

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Overview of the Current Situation (Contd.)

A visitor to a poor part of Dhaka city will see two common scenes: women lining up with pots waiting for water, and men and children defecating in the open. Dhaka WASA produces an average of 2080 MLD of water, but this production figure does not represent consumption by end users. At least 30% of produced water is being wasted through leakage and other means. The daily water

requirement in Dhaka city is around 2200 MLD.

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Access to Improved Water Supply

The poor do not necessarily get adequate

services and continue to rely on alternative sources that are often higher cost to the consumer. Inside the Dhaka city Dhaka WASA has successfully expanded water supply infrastructure, but this has not necessarily translated into improved service to the poor to the expected extent because of Right and title of the residing land .
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Access to Safe Sanitation

The health and environmental costs of

inadequate sanitation in slums are huge. Often public toilets are not maintained and cannot be considered safe and sanitary. Disposal of sewage is frequently neglected. Many residents of slums defecate in the open and, even when they use toilets, most of the human waste goes into open drains.

Obstacles to Improving Service for the Poor

1.Give the poor a voice. The voice of the poor, too often, is not heard and misperceptions about them persist. 2.Neutralize vested interests. Crime & corruption may have a vested interest in preventing better services for the poor. 3.Eliminate administrative and legal barriers. Land ownership often creates a barrier to the provision of service to the poor. The poor may be unaware of administrative and legal requirements such as connection, billing, collection services, maintenance arrangements etc. or find it difficult to understand them and comply.
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Obstacles to Improving Service for the Poor (Contd.)

4.Strengthen capacity, autonomy and accountability of service providers and provide incentives to serve the poor. Public service providers sometimes lack the autonomy, as well as financial and human resources to provide services to the urban poor. The services provided by small private service providers (SPSPs) / NGOs/CBOs are not widely encouraged. The services provided by Public Private Partnership (PPPs) are not well established and well practiced yet.
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Obstacles to Improving Service for the Poor (Contd.)

5. Adopt appropriate financial policies. Tariffs do not cover the full cost of efficient services. Poor households find it difficult to pay connection fees in lump-sum payments. Poor households find it difficult to pay monthly bills in lump-sum payments. Increasing block tariffs penalize households that share a single connection.
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Obstacles to Improving Service for the Poor (Contd.)

6.Overcome physical and technical barriers. The overexploitation and degradation of water resources affects the poor specially the women disproportionately. Physical and technical challenges make extending formal piped water supply and sewerage networks into informal and unplanned settlements more difficult.

What can be done to remove these barriers?

Promote Meaningful Participation of public and private sector and NGOs and CBOs in Planning and Design, O&M, financial contributions . Publish the Stories of the Poor and informal community managed services. Inform and Educate Poor Communities on regular payment of bills and good hygiene. Empower the Poor to Act within and beyond Their Own Communities. Incorporate Informal Service Providers into the Solution.
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What can be done to remove these barriers? (Contd.)

Delink Service Provision from Land Tenure. Institutionalize Simplified Procedures and

Provide Assistance. Adopt Appropriate Investment Finance, Cost Recovery, and Subsidy Policies.

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Why are poor urban women disproportionately impacted?

Women are responsible for 80% usage of water

supply & sanitation services (WSS) for their family purposes. Lack of WSS facilities for urban poor results in more inconvenience for urban poor women as bear higher burdens in taking care of their families living in unhealthy & inhuman conditions. Lack of access to quality basic municipal services for urban poor women reduces their quality of life, time and opportunities for economic activities and increases their vulnerabilities.
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DWASA INITIATIVES IN SERVING THE POOR AND MOBILIZING WOMEN

Example 1: DWASA partnership with NGO/DSK to install water points in squatter neighborhoods to slum dwellers with no legal tenure .
Delink Service Provision from Land Tenure Promote Meaningful Participation of public and private

sector and NGOs and CBOs in Planning and Design, O&M, financial contributions . Adopt Appropriate Investment Finance, Cost Recovery, and Subsidy Policies.

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DWASA INITIATIVES IN SERVING THE POOR AND MOBILIZING WOMEN (Contd.)

Outputs: Extreme poor women are supported through accumulation of physical and financial capital. Organized and collective effort enhanced among extreme poor household through formation and strengthening of 100 CBOs. Increased access to water, sanitation and health services. Increased awareness on gender and human rights, and entitlements of urban extreme poor enhanced activism and confidence.
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DWASA INITIATIVES IN SERVING THE POOR AND MOBILIZING WOMEN (Contd.)

Major Activities:
Targeting 10,000 extreme poor households from the bottom

10% of the slum dwellers based on agreed criteria. Group formation and saving collection. Asset transfer for income generation activities. Providing start-up capital for business. Partnership between local service providers from Government, non- Government and private sectors. Providing health services and community based water & sanitation facilities. Cash allowances for old age and disabled household members.
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DWASA INITIATIVES IN SERVING THE POOR AND MOBILIZING WOMEN

DWASA/DSK Lessons learned:
Vulnerable female heads of households can also run a

small business efficiently if they get appropriate financial and technical support on time. Water, sanitation and health services are essential to continue their sound health which is directly linked with the individual productivity and family expenditure. Some households have less interest to be involved in action for business development rather more expectation of getting assets/cash. The PPP approach has offered opportunities for DWASA to extend water supply to urban poor without legal tenure.
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Example 2: Dhaka Water Supply Sector Development Project

Promote meaningful participation of public and private sector and

NGOs and CBOs in Planning and Design, O&M, and finance. Train poor communities on O&M of facilities and good hygiene. Empower the poor to act within their own communities. Incorporate informal service providers into the solution. OUTPUTS:
STRENGTHENED DWASA ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE AND

FINANCIAL MANAMENT;
IMPROVED DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM AND QUALITY CONTROL; STRENGTHENED MANAGERIAL STRUCTURE AND CAPACITY

OF DWASA;
REDUCED ILLEGAL CONNECTIONS; UNINTERRUPTED 24 HOURS PRESSURIZED SUPPLY.
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GENDER ACTION PLAN

ACTIVITIES : A. Design Level Activities of DMA Formation: Form identification groups w/30% women members to identify beneficiaries. (Achieved) Form user groups that ensure at least 33% representation of women. (Achieved) Integrate gender perspective in the design of water supply interventions e.g. selection of location, household responsibility, security and privacy.
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GENDER ACTION PLAN

ACTIVITIES (Contd.) :
B.

Construction Level Activities of DMA Formation: Provide 30% of employment opportunity to women CBOs in construction and installation works e.g. as labors in earthwork. Form execution team including 30% women members for preparing Citizen Report Card (CRC) before and after construction period for consumer feedback. (Achieved) Conduct survey among the affected men and women for resettlement work within the designed area including 30% female members in the execution team.
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GENDER ACTION PLAN

ACTIVITIES (Contd.) :
C. Conduct awareness raising seminars, house to

house campaign work among men & 100% women dwellers in selected wards on (a) water conservation through economic use of water (b) hygienic use of water. D. Conduct training among men & 10% women dwellers in selected wards on operation, maintenance & management of communal water points to ensure the sustainability of water points. E. Form execution team for awareness campaign work including at least 50% female members. (Achieved)
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GENDER ACTION PLAN

ACTIVITIES (Contd.) :
F. Institutional Development and Capacity Building

Activities: Impart quarterly training to the Pourashava male and all female Councilors and other communal leaders on water supply improvement activities and participation in operation, maintenance & monitoring of water supply improvement activities. Impart at least two training programme to the communal male & all female leaders and other communal representatives on womens involvement, participation and empowerment issues in the project implementation.
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GENDER ACTION PLAN

ACTIVITIES (Contd.) :
Assign gender focal point. (Achieved) Formulate a gender policy.

G. Project Implementation and Monitoring:

Conduct semi-annual gender awareness

consultation program with the project officials to introduce GAP and to share gender sensitive ideas among them. Develop gender responsive monitoring format. Recruit 30% female officials in all level of project implementation and monitoring. (Achieved)
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GENDER ACTION PLAN

ACTIVITIES (Contd.):
Establish gender responsive clause to ensure contractors motivation in gender

mainstreaming. Prepare quarterly / annual implementation report of the Gender Action Plan (GAP) as a part of project progress report.

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CHALLENGES
Challenges Encountered For Achieving Gender Related Objectives and Target: Womens reluctance to involve in participatory groups as their household activities would be hampered or they are discouraged by their families. Unavailability of expected qualified female candidate for significant positions. Women sometimes think the field level activities as a matter of indignity.
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THANK YOU!

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