North-West Frontier Province Community Infrastructure Project

OVERVIEW

For many people in developing countries, the lack of adequate sanitation services is the most important of all environmental issues and a major constraint to development. The problem is particularly acute in densely populated peri-urban areas and rural areas where the large majority of dwellers are typically low-income people. Unsanitary living conditions are the primary cause of the high incidence of diarrheal diseases in developing countries, which kill about 2 million children and cause about 900 million episodes of illness per year. Moreover, the lack of adequate sanitation is a major cause of the degradation of the quality of ground and surface water.

The World Bank-funded North-West Frontier Province Community Infrastructure and National Housing Authority Strengthening Project (NWFP CIP) in Pakistan is an example of a demand-driven approach to address the challenge of adequate sanitation and water preservation. The project has a participatory design and works in urban and rural areas to provide basic infrastructure through community development to low-income groups in the North-West Frontier Province.

THE CHALLENGE

In Chor Lakki, a neglected village perched atop muddy hills 160 km south of Peshawar, the provincial capital of the North-West Frontier Province, most of the population is living without the basic amenities of life. Polluted ponds and solid waste accumulating in streets and vacant lots are familiar sites in many communities throughout NWFP. About half of households have to rely on wells, rivers, or springs for drinking water. Unsurfaced roads and footpaths that become impassable during the raining season are also common.

MAKING PROGRESS

Yasmida is a resident of Chor Lakki. Until a few months ago, she could not imagine the numerous benefits that some small infrastructure projects would bring for the whole population of her village, as well as for thousands of people living in nearby hamlets. Now she is one of the beneficiaries of NWFP CIP, which is jointly funded by the World Bank and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). The completion of projects such as village pavements, drainage channels, and a link road has ensured safety, convenience, income generation, and more employment opportunities for the villagers.

"Now I let my kids go out to play without fear of their drowning in filthy stream water," says Yasmida, whose street has recently been paged with bricks. A drainage channel runs alongside, carrying the sewage out of the village, which previously would have filled the street, making it impassable. "My children are healthier as they no more suffer from malaria and water-borne diseases."

The North-West Frontier Province Community Infrastructure and National Housing Authority Strengthening Project was designed to improve the living conditions of low-income people, by providing them with the basic infrastructure and community development tools needed to increase their productivity and well being.

The project aims to upgrade basic infrastructure in about 55 low-income urban and rural communities through the provision of water supply, storm water drainage, flood protection, streets and foot paths, sanitation, and solid waste management. It also provides incentive grants towards the costs of sanitation facilities inside the houses, community development, health and hygiene education, and, when requested by the community, improvement of land registration facilities and documentation.

At the very heart of the project design lies the idea that the communities themselves have a significant voice in the design of infrastructure projects and can make a contribution to its capital costs. Project design emphasizes affordable standards so that local councils and communities can contribute, along with having a real say in the selection, design, and implementation process.

 

      Better infrastructure facillities enable these girls to attend school rather than helping with household chores like fetching water.   An example of community participation under one of NWFP CIP's schemes

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Those who benefit most are women and children, in particular, who, by cultural tradition, spend large amounts of time in and around their homes and who are most affected by the poor conditions of the sanitation systems. Like Yasmida, other women in Chor Lakki find that the construction of sewage channels has facilitated the construction of household latrines, which are more hygienic and convenient. Village women, particularly, have benefited from this scheme, saving considerable time and effort and, significantly, gaining the privacy of a latrine available to them at any time.