DORP, UIU host discussion on water, sanitation and climate change in SDGs

Development Organization of the Rural Poor (DORP) in collaboration with the United International University (UIU) has recently hosted a discussion session on an inclusive approach towards sustainable agriculture and water governance alongside the need for higher allocation towards the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector. 

Held at the UIU campus on Tuesday (20 February 2024), the discussion session was an integral part of the two-day 7th International Conference on Sustainable Development (ICSD) arranged by the Institute of Development Studies and Sustainability (IDSS) of UIU, reads a press release. 

During the key-note presentation titled "Water, Sanitation and Climate Change in the SDGs: Present Status and Budget Perspective", DORP Executive Director Mohammad Zobair Hasan highlighted that the fight for WASH and Climate Change is interlinked and there is no alternative to increasing allocation at local government-level. 

"Across Bangladesh 69.46 million people are deprived of safely managed water. Additionally, only 31% of the country's population enjoy safely managed sanitation," he said, citing the latest studies and adding that the goal for all stakeholders should be ensuring safe water supply to all and hygiene. 

He noted that while the government is making progress, the trickle-down effect is slowing down the development process in this regard. 

"Due to the monitoring and active participation of civil society, WASH allocation at the project Union Parishads has been increasing.

"The share of WASH in the budget of Local Government Division (LGD) has been increasing. The main reason for this positive outcome is that awareness-raising activities are being carried out in those unions under the project with the cooperation of local civil society and stakeholders," he said. 

However, he also urged all stakeholders including government and non-government entities to ensure higher allocation at local level and proper implementation of related projects. 

The presentation also shifted focus on the need for a budget increase at the local level for combatting climate change. 

"Climate budget for the selected project UPs of DORP remained low, only 3.53% in 2022-23 which increased to 5.7% in 2023-24. The per capita climate budget per union was Tk.447 in 2023-24. So we can see, it remained significantly lower at project union (merely Tk.62 in 2023-24) than the national average," he said while highlighting DORP's findings and reiterating the need for ensuring higher development budget. 

DORP sought the engagement of stakeholders and civic bodies to improve the quality of spending through local-level spot monitoring and greater interaction with the local government representative and related government departments as the way forward in battling these obstacles. 

"We need to identify the financial gaps in this regard, for both WASH and Climate Change and act collaboratively to increase the funding," said Mohammad Zobair Hasan. 

Dr Ataharul Chowdhury, Associate Professor, School of Environmental Design and Rural Development, University of Guelph, chaired the seminar while Catharien Terwisscha van Scheltinga, Senior Researcher, Wageningen University conducted it. 

Students, researchers and other faculties of the institute participated in the seminar with insightful questions. Among others Amir Khasro, Program Coordinator, Campaign and Advocacy, WASH Budget Tracking, DORP; Silvana Israt, Project Coordinator (M&E), DORP; and Khadiza Ahmed, Deputy Director, Capacity Building, DORP were present. 

The conference started on 19 February 2024. This year's ICSD aims to create a research-based knowledge-sharing platform to notify Policy decisions and research activities towards attaining the challenges of sustainable development at national, regional and international levels. This year's conference received a total of 102 papers under 06 different themes and 82 papers were selected for presentation. Except Bangladesh papers came from Asia, North America and Oceania countries like India, Japan, Nepal, Australia, Canada, Netherlands and the USA etc.