NEWS

8 June 2006

LESSONS LEARNED: MAKING RURAL WATER, SANITATION AND HYGIENE GENDER-SENSITIVE AND PRO-POOR, NEPAL

Nepal Water for Health (NEWAH), a national-level non-government organisation, provide safe water, improved sanitation, and better hygiene to rural areas in Nepal. NEWAH boasts of a Gender and Poverty Approach (GAP) aimed at dissolving the disparities between women and men, and between the rich and the poor in Nepal's rural communities. Five project sites in Nepal were used to pilot-test the GAP approach. As of July 2005, NEWAH has provided these project sites a total of 12,508 community tap stands, 41,484 domestic latrines, 181 school latrines, and 7 public latrines. NEWAH has also trained 14,879 members of NGOs, women credit groups, and other community organisations.

NEWAH's GAP approach was instrumental in increasing women's and the poor's access to water supply and sanitation services awareness on health issues and hygiene education participation in decision making processes and skills trainings, particularly in relation to the design, implementation, and operation of the water supply, sanitation and hygiene project. According to the Asian Development Bank one of the GAP 's most important strategies was the conduct of a "well-being" ranking of all households in GAP project sites to determine the socio-economic status of each. The GAP approach also provided equal division of paid and unpaid labour and skills trainings to women and men in project-related work. Women workers reported that their family and community status was enhanced, and their self-confidence increased. The men, meanwhile, were also trained in health and sanitation promotion.

Contact: Umesh Pandey, NEWAH, Nepal, mailto:umeshpandey@newah.org.np

Web site: NEWAH - Gender & Poverty Approach

Source: ADB, Water Actions

Source: ADB, Water Actions