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Published on: 15/03/2013

The sheer scale of BRAC’s WASH activities – reaching more than 30 million people – sets it apart from other NGO interventions in the sector. Crucial to operating at this scale is the model of the Village Wash Committee (VWC). But what is it, and what does it do?

A VWC committee consists of 11 members; six women and five men. It makes annual plans on improving sanitation in the village, and meets every two months to assess progress and identify emerging problems. VWC members select sites for community water sources, mobilise funds from local people and organisations to invest in improving the village’s sanitation, and identify households to receive sanitation grants from BRAC and the government’s Annual Development Programme.

When the VWC started its work in the village of Kadigor in 2006, one third of the village's households used a hygienic latrine; now, 90% do.

A typical example is the VWC in the village of Kadigor. When it started in 2006, one third of the village’s households used a hygienic latrine; now, 90% do. Of the 147 latrines constructed in that time, just under half were self-financed; of the others, BRAC funded seven, the government Annual Development Programme funded three, and 65 were funded from other sources. All over the country, BRAC WASH VWCs have acted in this way as a catalyst to mobile additional finance for village sanitation.

When BRAC first starts to work in a village, identifying members for the VWC is among the tasks of the first six months. Candidates emerge from the series of meetings BRAC staff hold with different groups of people in the community – women, men, adolescent boys and girls, and children. Also in the first six months, BRAC conducts a household census, baseline survey and social map which the VWC can use as the basis for its work. In this way, 46,000 committees have been set up.

BRAC offers three-day leadership training sessions to two members of each committee, one woman and one man. To ensure the VWCs function smoothly, BRAC employs a large team of trained field organisers and programme assistants – more tha 5,600 women and 1,900 men – who visit each village in a 45-60 day cycle. They oversee the bimonthly meetings and hold their own meetings to encourage behavioural change among girls, boys and women. The second phase of the project sees more attention given to reaching out to men, through tea stall sessions.

When overseeing the VWC meetings and the subsequent division of tasks, the organisers and assistants pay special attention to encouraging women to speak up and ensure they are assigned responsibility. It is a rule that leadership of the committee must change every two years, ensuring that women get their chance to lead – a conscious strategy to help address traditional patriarchal attitudes.

An increasing number of VWCs are developing close cooperation with the government of their Union (district), especially as one-third of VWCs have now seen a member elected as the local Union representative. Kadigor is one example, with Mrs Mobasshera Akhter Rumi – secretary of the Kadigor VWC from 2006 to 2011 – discovering an aptitude for motivating and leading people which led her to stand for election.

With their intimate knowledge of the sanitation situation in their village, VWCs can advise on the most effective ways to spend grants made available by the government through its Annual Development Programme.

Experience in mobilising funds from government and other sources will be necessary for the VWCs to become sustainable after BRAC support ends. However, what matters is not the sustainability of the committee itself, but of the sanitation practices it encourages. With village people changing their habits to embrace clean toilets and hygienic practices, VWCs may be fast on the way to making themselves redundant.

Photos: IRC/Dick de Jong, 2013.

Dick de Jong, H2O Communications, Andrew Wright and Joep Verhagen, IRC

February 2013

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