As the country goes through severe financial and energy crisis and inability to pay the loan of billion of rupees, the stake-holders of the country could save over five billion rupees by creating awareness about the benefits of hand-washing as the people in Pakistan spend billions of rupees just to treat the diseases caused by lack of hygiene. This was informed by a panel of Plan Pakistan, a non-profit organization, in an interview with Pakistan Today. Plan-International, Pakistan Country Director Rashid Javed, Country Programme Manager Imran Shami, Water and Sanitation Hygiene (WASH) Programme Manager Islam-ul-Haque, WASH Deputy National Manager Husnain Kazmi and Advocacy and Communications Coordinator Gauhar Iqbal participated in the penal interview.
“After doing a lot of work in the flood affected and backward areas of the country for creating awareness about cleanliness with the help of our strategic and corporate partners, Plan came to know that instead of giving aid to the people of these areas for health treatments, had the government tried to create awareness among them about cleanliness, billions of rupees could have been saved,” said Rashid Javed.
He said that Plan Pakistan’s country strategic plan was dedicated to helping poor children gain access to their rights, adding that the organization, through long-term programmes, works with over 100 communities across the country, benefiting about 21,000 children.
Javed said further, “Plan had been operating in Pakistan since 1997, helping marginalised children to access their rights to health, education, livelihood and protection with a strategy to incorporate the children’s ideas and opinions, along with those of other key stakeholders, including their families, communities, civil society organisations, government bodies and the Plan field staff.”
He said that Plan was assisting thousands of families affected by floods in Badin. “Our teams have provided emergency shelter, safe water, supplies and child protection support,” he said.
He said, “Plan- Pakistan, along with other partners, is implementing the Early Recovery Programme of rural sanitation in 36 flood affected districts, phase II and III, of Khyber Pakhtunkha, Sindh, Balochistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.” Apart from other programme interventions, Javed said that the mass awareness campaign was also one of the key interventions to influence and change the behaviour of the target population related to the WASH project.
Discussing the core objectives of Plan-Pakistan, he said that Plan’s work in Pakistan covers 5 core areas, all of which were rooted in the rights of the children, including health, education, livelihood, child and gender rights, disaster risk reduction and response. “Work continues in our programme units, which were unaffected by the 2010 floods crisis, including Chakwal Unit that was formed in 1997. In Islamabad, the Urban Programme Unit was formed in 2003 and works in the slums of Islamabad and Rawalpindi. While in Vehari, bordering the Southern Punjab, a unit was formed in 2000 and covers the districts of Vehari, and Burrewalla,” Javed explained.
Country Programme Manager Imran Shami said that as soon as heavy monsoon rains swamped several communities, leaving a fifth of the country under water, Plan provided emergency relief to more than a quarter of a million people in the worst-hit areas of Punjab and Sindh.
“Our recovery work with the local partners has been supporting more than 1000,000 people, including helping 58,000 children return to school, 20,300 children with emotional first aid and learning activities, 1,000 people with cash-for-work schemes, and over 1000,000 people with sanitation projects in the rural areas,” Shami informed.
WASH Programme Manager Islam-ul-Haque and WASH Deputy National Manager Husnain Kazmi said that the heavy rains and floods in late August and early-September had killed around 200 people and made 6.8 million people homeless or displaced across Pakistan. Out of those affected people, 1.8 million of them live in Badin, the worst-hit region. “Plan, in close association with HANDS and UNICEF, have teamed up to ensure clean water was trucked in daily to fill water tanks in remote villages for people to have clean, drinkable water,” they said.
They said that the Plan-Pakistan put up slogans in Sindhi language of health awareness in villages and on the radio to educate people on how to keep themselves and their neighbourhood clean and in particular how to use the washrooms.
In the immediate aftermath of the floods, Plan helped provide food, shelter, safe water and places for children to play and heal. Six months on, Plan is helping 58,000 children return to school in the Southern Punjab. Advocacy and Communications Coordinator Gauhar Iqbal said that the Plan had given several advertisements in the local newspapers of every area. “We have also distributed pamphlets among the residents of the flood affected areas to convince them for ensuring cleanliness in their toilets as well as in their shelters where they live,” he said.
When asked about the practical steps taken by the organization, besides creating awareness, Gohar said that the Plan had provided assistance to the concerned authorities in introducing modern waste water management projects in various areas of the country, including Muzaffargarh, Layyah, Chakwal and Muzaffarabad.
The Plan officials also highlighted that their organization aimed at establishing wetlands in collaboration with the government to provide people with access to clean drinking water. The members of the panel urged the government authorities to coordinate with them in carrying out further projects in this regard.
