Project Name: “Sustainable Urban Provision of Clean Water, Benapole Project”

Project Introduction:
Benapole (pop. 89,833) is a border town located in Jashore District, south-west Bangladesh.   It is an important border crossing between India and Bangladesh. The border trade dominates the centre of town.  But in the peri-urban areas, where people are engaged in roles typical of Bangladesh (e.g. 66% of households are dependent on agriculture for their livelihood), most people are living in poverty.
The centre of Benapole is served by a piped water system, though this untreated groundwater supply only reaches 15% of the town’s population. Attempts to dig deep tube-wells have been largely unsuccessful due to the lack of deep aquifers.  The municipality has succeeded in installing two deep tube-wells, but these only produce salty water and are unsuitable for drinking.  Therefore, most of the population rely on shallow tube-wells which produce water that contains high levels of both iron and arsenic (e.g. iron concentration in a water sample was four times higher than the permitted national standard).  Clean water is available to buy commercially, though priced at BDT1.65[£0.02]/ltit is unaffordable to all except the very wealthiest households and commercial establishments (e.g. restaurants).
With commercially available clean water unaffordable and deep tube well water too salty to drink, the practical consequence is that most people in Benapole are drinking contaminated water.  This in turn causes ill-health, lost productivity, stunted development and long-term health complications.

Project Agreement Number: WAB/CT/11-12/P-06/DAM (Kalaroa)

Overall Objective:
Building upon the success of its work in Kalaroamunicipality in which DAM has been able to achieve 100% access to safe water (see Proof of Concept in Annex 1) and following positive consultation with the Benapole municipal authorities and local community members, DAM wishes to commence work in Benapole.  The overall ambition of DAM’s engagement in Benapole is as follows:

• Ensure universal access to sustainably managed clean water in Benapole.

The proposed intervention will be DAM’s first intervention in Benapole and as such it will be vital in terms of forging working relationships with local community structures and municipal authorities. It will focus efforts on Ward 1, a peri-urban area of Benapole.  By the end of the intervention, Ward 1 will have achieved 100% access to clean water.

Specific Objectives:

• Achieve universal access to clean water in Ward 1.

Key performance indicators:

• • Water from all AIRP meets Government of Bangladesh quality standards;
  • No resident in Ward 1 requires more than 30 minutes (round trip, including queuing) to access water free of contaminants.
  • AIRP management committee working effectively

• Improved WASH practice in Ward 1.

Key performance indicators:

• • 80% of observed households implementing clean water management from source to consumption.
  • Ward 1 declaring open-defecation free.
  • Two schools establishing a WASH fund.

• Greater capacity in Benapole to drive improvements insustainable WASH outcomes.

Key indicators:

• • Benapole citizens proactive in demanding their WASH rights from duty bearers;
  • Benapole Municipality demonstrating improved capacity for sustainable WASH management.
  • DAM’s learning from this pilot project Ward 1 is shared and enables the development interventions for sustainably managed WASH elsewhere in Benapole.

Project Components: Hard ware installation, Community mobilization, Capacity building, Awareness raising program & function and activate the WASH committee in ward level of Benapole Pourosova.

Major Activities:

• Construct 12 community-based AIRP;
• Construct 2 educational institution based AIRP;
• Provide skills training and mentoring to 6 people/AIRP who will serve as the AIRP management committee .
• Monitor all 12community-based AIRP management committees to ensure that they are implementing their business plan, including the collection of user fees.
• Conduct water quality test prior to initial hand-over to the AIRP management committees and conduct six monthly water quality testing thereafter.
• Conduct and facilitate 12 Awareness session on Hygiene Promotion focusing Hand washing, COVID 19 and Sanitation issue to community male, female, Adolescent and children ,
• Conduct and facilitate 16 Awareness session on Water Safety issue to community male, female, Adolescent and children
• Conduct and facilitate 6 awareness session on Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) to Adolescent grist and female.
• Organize and facilitate 3 Day Observation on Global Hand Washing day, World Toilet Day and World Water loss Day.
• Establish 12 WASH Committees in Ward 1, with combined membership of 84 community people.
• Provide training to members of WASH Committees to enable them to lead a behavior change campaign in Ward 1 to improve hygiene, water safety & sanitation practice.
• Provide school-based training to address gender inequalities with regards to WASH access, including during menstruation.
• Provide knowledge and skills training to members of WASH Committees to improve their ability to claim their WASH rights from duty bearers.
• Provide mentoring support to the Water Section of Benapole Municipality.
• Facilitate Project review workshops to include key stakeholders from Benapole Municipality
• Organize a learning sharing workshop and visit to Kalaroa for key stakeholders from Benapole Municipality
• Develop a plan in collaboration with the Municipal Council and community members to achieve 100% clean water access in Benapole.
• Share lessons from the project at national-level lesson-sharing workshop.
• Develop a Video Documentary to express the project success to donor, National level stakeholders and the field level stakeholders.
• Publish a booklets Monograph to highlight the project achievement and share to different level stakeholders and beneficiaries

Project Participants (Direct):

Women	Men	Girls	Boys	TOTAL
2,822	2,774	1,260	1,382	8,238

Project Duration: 3rd Phase: 1st January to December 2023
2nd Phase: 1st January to December 2022
1st Phase: (March 2021 to 31 December 2021)

Financial partner (Donor): Dhaka Ahsania Mission-UK

Implementing partner (if any): N/A

Project Location/s and number of Field offices: Benapole Paurashava, Sharsha, Jashore.

Project Budget: GBP £48,120 (BDT= 52,00,8825/-)

Number of project staffs and volunteers:

Staff (Regular)		Paid Volunteer		Non-Paid Volunteer
M	F	M	F	M	F
04	01	–	–	–	–

Contact Person:
Name & Designation:  Project Manager
Email-damwashbenapole@gmail.com