Voices - IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre

Village WASH committee function leads to getting elected in local elections

The Village Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Committee (VWC) of Kadigor Village in Kachina Union of Bhaluka Upazila (sub-district) is in session when we meet them to document their progress and to interview a few of their members. BRAC revived existing but non-functioning VWCs from the start of its WASH programme in 2006 to 2011. A committee consists of 11 members: 6 women and 5 men. The committee has meetings every two months to discuss progress and to help solve problems as they may occur.

“Competition? I am the best”

Mrs. Rasheda Sahab, the 38-year old widow has come a long way from the uncertain situation in which she was left by her husband’s death in 2006. His medical expenses left her penniless, with a ten month old son and three other children to support. Rasheda’s husband had run a small sanitation shop in Hobirbari village of Bhalukasub-district, Mymensingh, Bangladesh, and although she had only occasionally helped out in the shop, Rasheda had no choice but to take over the business.

Menstrual hygiene awareness and affordable napkins

Shahanaz Parveen, a student in class VIII, remembers how she used to stay home from school during her menstrual periods. She felt uncomfortable by the lack of separate toilet facilities for girls, and the difficulty of discussing the subject. Now she happily talks openly about menstruation, in a meeting with 20 other adolescent girls from her village and BRAC Programme Assistant Asma Khatun.

UP chairman: ‘Sanitation is our work, not BRAC’s’

An interview with Mr. Mohammad Mohiuddin, Chairman of the Patiya Upazila (sub-district) Mr. Faizur Rahman, a Madrassa schoolteacher and imam of the Jame Masjid mosque in Chittagong. The interviews were conducted during a monthly coordination meeting with teachers, imams and Village WASH Committee members.

The foot soldiers of the BRAC WASH programme

The sheer scale of BRAC’s WASH activities – reaching more than 30 million people– sets it apart from other NGO interventions in the sector. Crucial to operating at this scale is the model of the Village Wash Committee (VWC).

Bangladeshi women catch up on sanitation

Christine Sijbesma of IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre and Mahjabeen Ahmed of the BRAC WASH Programme share their thoughts and experiences with monitoring sanitation and hygiene behaviour of Bangladeshi women.

Going beyond the hygiene taboos: It’s really simple!

“On average a woman is menstruating about 3,000 days of her life. "This opening sentence of the presentation by Maria Fernandez (WaterAid India) during the bi-annual practitioners learning and sharing workshop in Dhaka (2006) was a harsh confrontation with a hidden taboo for the 50 practitioners that were present. Ever since this rude wake up call, the BRAC WASH programme has fought the taboos around menstrual hygiene management as part of its WASH in schools activities, during meetings with adolescents girls in the communities, and through the production of low-cost sanitary napkins.

“Brown gold” from pit latrines

When a pit latrine is in place, a sanitation project’s work is not yet done. What happens a year or two later, when the pit latrine is full? This moment brings both risks and opportunities.

Dealing with postponed open defecation

Across the world, millions of pit latrines are filling up. In many instances, these pits are emptied and the faecal sludge is dumped indiscriminately. BRAC and IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre are exploring different routes to deal with the problem of pits filling up. This post explains the work of BRAC and IRC, as well as the issues linked to dealing with faecal sludge.

Participatory monitoring in the BRAC WASH II programme in Bangladesh

“What is good about the monitoring system that we are using is that it is participatory so that respondents also get knowledge”, says Senior Sector Specialist Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Mahjabeen Ahmed of the BRAC WASH II Programme. Ms Ahmed is one of the 5,000 programme workers who are supporting BRAC WASH II in Bangladesh.