Street hydrant project in Chittagong low-income settlement

Many of the lowest income groups, especially women, in Chittagong, the second largest city in Bangladesh, rely on street hydrants as their chief water source. In recent years, due to population growth, the deteriorating environment has resulted in a lack of potable water, inadequate waste disposal, absence of drainage facilities, and inoperative hydrants. The Chittagong Water Supply and Sewage Authority is responsible for the installation and maintenance of street hydrants but once its financial support from the Asian Development Bank stopped, user participation, not previously encouraged, is now seen as the only option for improving water and sanitation conditions. This paper describes the use of participatory tools and methods to increase community participation in an action research project. The objectives of the all-women group were to prepare an action plan for the management of street hydrants by the community, ensuring women's participation, and to develop strategies for problem-solving with respect to water and sanitation. The paper describes how the participatory urban appraisal (PUA) was organized, the tools used during the PUA, and some of the difficulties encountered. The paper concludes that using a participatory approach from the beginning of a project may ease the constraints to gender-sensitive programming, and that change at the grassroots level is critical to initiating and sustaining change on a larger scale.