The document summarizes the BRAC WASH program intervention in Bangladesh. The program aims to improve sanitation coverage, hygiene practices, and reduce water-related diseases in 150 upazilas selected due to high poverty and arsenic contamination. The program uses approaches like forming village committees, capacity building, and school education. Evaluation of 30,000 households found improved water safety practices but sustainability issues. Ownership of sanitary latrines increased across economic groups, and reported water-related diseases reduced overall.

1. Asia Regional Sanitation and Hygiene Practitioners Workshop
Dhaka, Bangladesh (31st January-2nd February, 2012)
The BRAC WASH programme:
Core operational approaches, monitoring,
evaluation and some results
Fazlul Karim, Tahera Akter, Nepal C Dey, Milan K Barua
RED & WASH Programme, BRAC
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2. BRAC WASH I
programme
intervention in 150 of
482 upazilas
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3. • Reasons for selecting the intervention upazilas
- Poor sanitation coverage
- High poverty rate
- Arsenic contamination in ground water
• Phase 1 (50 upazilas): 2.74 million HHs
• Phase 2 (50 upazilas): 2.68 million HHs
• Phase 3 (50 upazilas): 2.64 million HHs
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4. Study focus
• Operational approaches of the programme to
facilitate water, sanitation and hygiene targets
• Change in water safety practices, sanitation
and self-reported water-related disease
prevalence at household level
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5. Operational approaches
Core approaches
Drawing social map
• Formation of Village WASH Committee
(VWC)
• Capacity building of stakeholders
• Diffusion approach to inform WASH Cluster meeting
messages
• School sanitation and hygiene education
Other approaches Demonstration of
• Programme component-specific (e.g. hand washing
water, sanitation and hygiene)
• Quality control
School sanitation
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6. Study sample
Quantitative
• 30,000 households randomly selected from 50
upazilas to assess sanitation coverage and
water-related disease prevalence
•6,600 households randomly selected from 11
upazilas to assess water safety practices
Data collection tools
•Household questionnaire and spot checks
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7. Some results:
water safety practices
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8. Ownership of sanitary latrines by economic
status
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9. Transition of sanitary latrine users (2007 - 2011)
• 73.3% of the HHs using sanitary latrines in 2007 continued
the practice in 2011
• 19.6% of them removed water seal from the latrines
• 7.1% of them shifted to other unsanitary practices, e.g.,
open defecation, pit latrines, etc.
Transition of unsanitary latrine users (2007 -2011)
• 52.4% of latrines without water seal converted to sanitary
latrines through water seal installation
• 46.5% of unsanitary latrines converted to sanitary latrines
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10. Water-related disease prevalence
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11. Conclusions
• Hygiene behaviour about household water safety practices
improved, but sustainability is an issue
• Ownership of sanitary latrines increased across the
economic groups, while major changes happened in the
ultra poor
• Shift to sanitary latrines was higher than shift to unsanitary
practices, but removal of water seals still remains a
challenge
• Prevalence of water-related diseases reduced in all
groups, but reported diseases among children under-five
was relatively higher
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12. Thank you
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