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Natural Hazards (2019) 96:1067–1090
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-019-03591-7
1 3
ORIGINAL PAPER
Post‑disaster recovery inthecyclone Aila aected coastline
ofBangladesh: women’s role, challenges andopportunities
KhurshedAlam1· Md.HabiburRahman2
Received: 31 July 2017 / Accepted: 25 February 2019 / Published online: 5 March 2019
© Springer Nature B.V. 2019
Abstract
The present study deals with the gender aspects of water, sanitation and hygiene (WaSH)
situation in post-cyclone Aila period in Bangladesh. Data were collected using participa-
tory approaches like individual interview, key informant interview, focus group discussion
and field level observation. Study reveals that after Aila, women had to travel 500m–2km
per day to fetch water from safe water sources spending 30–90min. People used pit and
hanging latrines, uncovered water framed latrines as well as had open defecation. Consid-
ering the impromptu needs, government and other aid-giving agencies focused on immedi-
ate WaSH programme. The paper is an outcome of a critical assessment of those arduous
efforts made to overcome the WaSH challenges after Aila, particularly women’s role in
and challenges faced by them to improving the situation. Also attempt has been made to
examine the opportunities and challenges of sustainability of WaSH programme pursued
in the post-disaster period. For recovery of the WaSH system, a two-part strategy was fol-
lowed where one was to make technology (tubewell, pond and filter, saline purification
and rainwater harvesting plants) that supporting social arrangement and another was social
arrangement (group formation, capacity building on construction, operation and mainte-
nance) that supporting technology. A techno-social contingent model has been followed for
addressing the post-disaster WaSH situation following a WasH approach. Women’s these
roles in meeting the households’ WaSH requirements might be called WaSH-feminism.
The main finding is that although there was a technical challenge to overcome the water
and sanitation crises, after the disaster a set of appropriate technologies could remove it
considerably, but a corresponding social arrangement was required there to operate it.
Many kinds of technical and social limiting factors were there for women that could be
removed partly but not totally.
Keywords Cyclone Aila· Post-disaster· WaSH· Operation and maintenance· WaSH-
feminism· Resilience· Koyra
* Md. Habibur Rahman
habibmdr@gmail.com
Extended author information available on the last page of the article
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1 Introduction
Each year, natural disasters cause significant damage to coastal communities including
their livelihoods, infrastructure and the environment in Bangladesh. The country is one
of the most vulnerable to climate change impacts like extreme heat, prolonged drought,
change in rainfall patterns and sea level rise (World Bank 2013; Haque et al. 2016). Out
of 64 districts of the country, 19 are coastal districts (over 700km) among 12 are located
on the exposed coast that faces the shoreline of the Bay of Bengal making the country’s
coastal dwellers prone to frequent and severe natural disasters (Saroar 2017). The Bay of
Bengal is a perfect breeding ground for tropical cyclones where on average 12–13 depres-
sions form annually, leading to at least one or two powerful cyclones (Paul 2010; Alam
and Rahman 2014), for example, cyclones Sidr (2007), Rashmi (2008), Bijli (2009), Aila
(2009), Mahasen (2013), Komen (2015), Roanu (2016) and Mora (2017). World Risk
Report 2016 noted that among the 171 nations, Bangladesh is ranked as the top 5th disaster
risk-prone country (19.17%), having vulnerability and risk value of 60.48%. The country
has very high exposure to the natural hazards such as cyclones, storm surges and flooding
(31.7% exposure value) with 38.23% susceptibility value (UNU 2016). Catastrophic disas-
ters entail mass challenges related to recovery, reconstruction, environmental remediation
and mitigation (Tierney etal. 2006) as well as reduce the achievements towards Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) (Saha 2015). Post-disaster recovery is a complex, nonlinear,
time-consuming and thereof demands multidimensional approaches keeping conformity
with the needs of socio-economic settings (Johnson and Hayashi 2012). For addressing the
repeated disaster like devastating cyclones Sidr (2007) and Aila (2009), recovery process
needs to go beyond the traditional notion of bouncing back to restore normalcy (Manyena
etal. 2011).
In recent years, globally governmental and non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
have increasingly incorporated gender frameworks into their planning for post-disaster
recovery with the limited application (Pittaway et al. 2007; Horton 2012). Even women
did not receive recognition for their performed roles in search and rescue and reconstruc-
tion (Pittaway et al. 2007; Sultana 2010; Horton 2012; Dhungel and Ojha 2012; Sultana
2014; Alam and Rahman 2014; Drolet etal. 2015). Society or family rarely take note of
women’s views on disaster risk reduction although they bear major workload and family
burden (Alam and Rahman 2014). The lack of women’s substantive representation in deci-
sion-making bodies causing a number of crises to them (Bradshaw and Fordham 2013),
in turn, pushing them to undertake challenges to overcome those and often making them
able to articulate what they need Mitchell etal. (2007). In the post-disaster period, women
are engaged in multiple activities such as productive, reproductive along with rebuilding
and reconstruction of houses and community roads (Drolet etal. 2015). The post-disaster
recovery, therefore, must build upon and utilize women’s resilience and adaptive capacity
in practice and enable to challenge the constraints that impinge on their lives (Mulyasari
and Shaw 2013).
A major challenge in the post-disaster situation is the scarcity of safe drinking water
and damage of sanitation facilities which poses threat to the surviving people. Cyclone
Aila entailed community sufferings creating a shortage of safe water as tubewells were
broken, damaged or submerged; ponds and other water bodies were contaminated by the
onrush saline water compelling people to drink polluted water (IFRC 2009). Consequently,
they suffered from waterborne diseases such as diarrhoea, dysentery, cholera, skin dis-
ease and allergy (Haque etal. 2010). In few places, it was observed that women consumed
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comparatively less water while offering more share to other family members. United
Nation’s Water and Sanitation Cluster Group estimated that more than 500,000–750,000
people needed an urgent safe water supply and sanitation supports after cyclone Aila
(MoDMR 2009). To overcome this critical situation, government’s Department of Pub-
lic Health and Engineering (DPHE), development agencies, NGOs and many other local
organizations took part in post-disaster rehabilitation activities to support Aila affected
people particularly to address their safe water, sanitation and hygiene (WaSH) needs (Wat-
erAid 2009).
WaSH programme in the coastal areas was principally targeted to women because they
have the traditional responsibility for the management of domestic water supply and main-
taining sanitation and hygienic environment at home what might be called WaSH-femi-
nism. The NGOs could act as a promoter, educator and leader of the home and community-
based sanitation practices (Masgon and Gensch 2015). But little is known about gender,
post-disaster recovery, reconstruction as well as their resilience (Alam and Rahman 2017)
for which further research on this issue was considered imperative. There is a huge research
gap, where there is little evidence of what different approaches to WaSH exist during post-
disaster recovery and how the programme promotes community resilience. Therefore, the
preeminent objectives of this paper are to: (1) enumerate the immediate attempts/methods
adopted by government and NGOs to overcome the WaSH crises after cyclone Aila; (2)
identify the role of poor and vulnerable women to tackle and improve the WaSH situation;
(3) assess the problems/challenges encountered by women in the process of improving the
WaSH situation; and (4) articulate the lessons learned from this exercise.
2 Water, sanitation andhygiene recovery duringthepost‑disaster
period
Access to safe water and improved sanitation is an important factor in determining social
vulnerability to natural hazards. Shortage of drinking water and sanitation problems are the
indirect impacts of natural disasters during the post-disaster period, which often referred to
as ‘second-round’ impacts or ‘second web of death and destruction’ (Paul etal. 2011). Cur-
rently, 32% people lack access to safe drinking water services, and 59% people lack safely
managed sanitation services (WHO/UNICEF 2017). Without access to basic safe water
and proper sanitation and hygiene practices, outbreaks of waterborne diseases are high that
occur during the post-disaster period (Johannessen etal. 2014), globally causing approxi-
mately 577,000 deaths annually (Prüss-Ustün etal. 2014) where in Bangladesh 80% post-
disaster diseases occur from inadequate WaSH. All these sufferings tend to increase during
the post-disaster period resulting to further post-traumatic stress disorder and depression,
death and illness (Bromet and Dew 1995; Krug etal. 1998). Apart from stress, a pregnant,
an old-age or a sick woman particularly remains vulnerable during the post-disaster period
(Paul etal. 2011).
Globally, WaSH programmes have been designed to address public health issues in the
vulnerable developing countries showing profound wider socio-economic impacts par-
ticularly for women and girls (Dwipayanti etal. 2017). Oates et al. (2014) reported that
access to WaSH services plays a key role in poverty alleviation through promoting health,
educational and broader livelihood benefits, and in the long-run, enhances their resilience
to extreme events. The SDGs targeted for universal sanitation access by 2030 is a driver
of progress on many aspects including health, nutrition, education and gender equality
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(WHO/UNICEF 2015). To meet these targets, we need a better understanding of the pro-
gress so far made and a strategic approach needed to meet the WaSH challenges that lie
ahead of every community, every family and every child (WHO/UNICEF 2017).
Johannessen etal. (2014) argued that rapid response in the form of effective placement
of WaSH infrastructures and services—both within emergency settings and in the longer-
term development—can prevent or lessen the outbreak and impact of waterborne diseases
that can reduce humanitarian crises. Hutton (2012) calculated that combined water supply
and sanitation interventions have a combined return of at least 4.3 US dollar for every dol-
lar invested if services can sustain in the face of multiple risks, including that posed by
extreme events and climate change. Studies show that improved water and sanitation ser-
vices can lead to improved social status and dignity (Jenkins and Curtis 2005; Jenkins and
Scott 2007), gender-equity benefits (Mahon and Fernandes 2010), plus ensure students’
attending school, prevent women’s workload as well as increasing their economic produc-
tivity (Crocker etal. 2016).
Studies suggest that globally most of the WaSH programmes run under the public–pri-
vate partnership accruing different social learning (share and transfer knowledge approach),
which are important for disaster resilience (Folke 2006; Johannessen etal. 2014). Such
learning about adaptation mechanism about WaSH helps to develop effective adaptation
tools and resilience strategies in the case of potential climate change impacts (Oates etal.
2014). In this sense, the scope of research is there to evolve new and innovative strategies
and technologies for making WaSH programme more effective to the vulnerable people
(Brown etal. 2012). Moe and Rheingans (2006) and Sabogal et al. (2014) assessed that
sustainability of the WaSH intervention depends on the functionality of the system, social
acceptability, community’s positive intention and capacity, cost sharing and public–private
partnership, which can promote disaster and community resilience.
3 WaSH programme aftermath ofcyclone Aila inthecoastline
ofBangladesh
Due to climate change and frequent natural disasters, water pollution and safe water crisis
are a big challenge for the south-western coastal regions of Bangladesh. In the case of sani-
tation services, Bangladesh works a lot to reach the country’s goal of ‘Sanitation for All’.
Presently, hygiene promotion has been considered a priority area for a healthy life, an envi-
ronment free from diseases, also preventing the spread of waterborne diseases. Although
the country has achieved the highest coverage in the case of safe drinking water supply
among the South Asian countries, yet it is hard to reach and sustain the universal success,
especially in the hard-to-reach and disadvantaged areas. The issue is more complicated in
the area where salinity is there even in the groundwater too. In order to fulfil the com-
mitments to the SDGs—goal-1(no poverty), goal-3 (good health and well-being), goal-5
(gender equality), goal-6 (clean water and sanitation), goal-13 (climate action) and goal-17
(partnerships for the goals), WaSH programme has been supported by all the development
actors.
The cyclone Aila (category 1 severe cyclonic storm with wind speed of 120km
per hour) struck on 25 May 2009 in 14 coastal districts of south-western Bangladesh,
when the affected people were trying to restore their normal lives and livelihoods from
the damage of the super-cyclone Sidr (category 4 extremely severe cyclonic storm
stuck on 15 November 2007). It affected about 3.9 million people with 193 immediate
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deaths (compared with 3406 during Sidr) and injuring to 7103 people (compared with
55,000 during Sidr). But the infrastructures, houses, institutions, cultivable lands and
crops, and other means of livelihoods of the survivors were simply destroyed (Mal-
lick etal. 2011; Islam and Hasan 2016). The cyclone damaged and washed away more
than 613,778 house structures (243,191 houses were fully and 370,587 were partial),
8854km of roads (compared with 5954km during Sidr), 1794km of embankments,
157 bridges and culverts (compared with 1850 during Sidr), 5033 institutions includ-
ing schools and others. In addition, nearly 100,000 livestock were killed, 350,000 acres
of cropland, 14,653 acres of shrimp farm and 1074 acres of freshwater fish areas were
destroyed, estimating the total loss of US$ 270 million compared with USD$ 1.7 bil-
lion (3% of the annual gross national product) for cyclone Sidr (UN 2010; UNICEF
2010). Almost all drinking water sources and ponds were contaminated, and tubewells
were damaged or washed away causing an estimated loss of US$ 14.4 million. At that
time, more than 297,000 people took shelter in high raised embankments, educational
institutions, other buildings and cyclone shelters without sufficient food, safe water,
sanitation and shelter/protection (UNICEF 2010; Islam and Hasan 2016).
Almost all of the ponds in Koyra were submerged by the tidal bore caused by
cyclone Aila contaminating fresh water with salinity causing massive water scarcity.
After Aila, about 95% of Koyra were out of the safe water and sanitation coverage.
People had to depend on rainwater (as a primary source of drinking water), existing
sweet pond and Pond Sand Filter (PSF) water (for cooking), and canal, river and saline
pond water (for washing and bathing) (Haque et al. 2010). Female used to manage
household water as part of their ascriptive role. Adults used hanging-toilet where chil-
dren faeces were thrown away into the river and canals resulting to the outbreak of
waterborne diseases affecting more than 11 thousand people (Islam and Hasan 2016);
among them at least 10,000 people were attacked by diarrhoea (Biswas etal. 2015).
It was estimated that before the cyclone Aila the level of water salinity was 12–16ppt
which were recorded 20–25ppt after Aila (SRDI 2010). Some 78% people had no
access to sufficient safe drinking water where 90% were dependent on pond water; 60%
people including those who have returned home have no sanitation facilities, even after
1year of Aila (ECB 2010). The rotten weeds, trees and dead bodies (both human and
animal) in stagnant water caused a strong odour and waterborne diseases which spread
widely.
In response to cyclone Aila, under the coordination of government agencies, UN
bodies, development partners, and national and local level NGOs have implemented
(also under implementation) WaSH programme for immediate recovery and long-term
rehabilitation. The aim of such programmes was to improve the WaSH situation and
reduce the community vulnerabilities by installing user-friendly technologies, particu-
larly for women and children. After cyclone Aila, bathing, urinate and defecation in the
open was a constant challenge for women. They often have to walk to remote locations
outside the cyclone shelter and home taking risk of assault and potential rape (Jadhav
etal. 2016). They also had to walk a long distance to fetch household water. NGOs
were found implementing WaSH programme using locally appropriate technologies to
increase access of poor and disadvantaged communities (USAID 2014). It was found
that WaSH programme in coastal areas provides a platform for women to assert their
needs and to take action apposite to their needs. The WaSH programme also supported
local government to identify the community needs and plan effectively for meeting
emergencies.
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4 Study methodology
4.1 Study area: Koyra Upazila
Koyra Upazila, with a total area of 1775.41km2 including 951.66km2 of mangrove for-
est, is located in Khulna district of south-western Bangladesh. Geographically, Koyra lies
in the Sundarbans delta between 22°12′ and 22°31′N and in between 89°15′ and 89°26′E
(Fig.1). The unique geophysical location and settings made the area awfully vulnerable
Fig. 1 Location map of Koyra Upazila
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and prone to different natural disasters like tropical cyclones, storm surges, riverbank ero-
sion, tidal surges, tidal floods, salinity intrusion and fresh water scarcity. Koyra has 133
villages under seven Union Parishads (lowest administrative unit of local government in
Bangladesh), and the total population was 193,931 (population density 109 per sq km) of
which male were 95,393 and female were 98,538. The average literacy rate was 50.4%
(male 55.8% and female 45.2%). Main sources of income were agriculture (66.64%), com-
merce (12.66%), non-agricultural labourer (7.12%), service (3.54%) and others (5.97%).
Major agricultural crops were paddy, potato and seasonal vegetables. There was a lot of
shrimp farm, hatchery and shrimp depot in the area. Export items from this area were fish
caught from the nearby river and the Bay of Bengal; fish fry, shrimp, timber, Nypa fruti-
cans and honey from Sundarbans reserve forest; and handicrafts made by the community.
Koyra falls under the extreme poor/lower poverty line (29.1%) to poor/upper poverty line
(49.1%) (BBS 2010).
The area was moderately affected by super-cyclone Sidr in 2007 and severely affected by
a unique storm like severe cyclone Aila in 2009. Before Aila, major income sources were
shrimp farming, agriculture, livestock rearing and commerce as well as collected resources
from the Sundarbans mangrove forest. The storm surge during the cyclone reached at four
metres, breaking embankments and flooding large areas, completely washed away nearly
1026 fish ponds and 8000ha of shrimp (ready to export grade shrimp) farm (Abdullah
etal. 2016). After Aila, approximately 34% people were displaced due to water logging in
nearby safer and dry places and other distant districts, and about 40,000 people migrated
to urban areas as well as to India (IOM 2010). According to ‘Local Health Bulletin 2016
for Koyra Upazila Health Complex’, after WaSH programme pursued by government and
NGOs in Koyra, coverage of households having access to safe drinking water was 92% and
access to sanitary latrines was 96% after 5years of cyclone Aila (MOHFW 2016).
4.2 Methods
Data were collected using participatory approaches like face-to-face individual interview,
key informant interview (KII), focus group discussion (FGD), public consultations, case
study and field observation. Qualitative research method was applied to assess the poor and
disadvantaged coastal population’s condition on access to safe drinking water, improved
sanitation and hygiene status. The development partners tried to use effective, appropriate
and scalable climate resilient technologies for improving the WaSH situation in the area.
At first, we randomly selected seven villages from seven Union Parishads, and then pur-
posively WaSH project’s beneficiary households were selected from each village by follow-
ing Creswell (2013). Before going for field survey, qualitative data collection tools were
developed in advance and pre-tested for intelligibility, reliability and validity. After that,
some questions being deleted and some new questions were added to finalize the tools.
A total of 210 randomly selected women beneficiary households (30 from each union)
have been interviewed through an open-ended questionnaire (age ranges from 25 to
50years). Five FGDs were conducted in five unions with both male and female, among
two of the members of Ward and Union level Disaster Management Committees, and rest
three with community people from different groups, occupations, knowledgeable persons
and Union Parishad Chairman and other members (elected persons to run the Union Pari-
shad) (Corbin and Strauss 2008). Six case studies were conducted with six women includ-
ing a woman-headed household, a sick woman, a woman with a disability, a female whose
husband was a disabled one, lactating mother and pregnant woman to know about their
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situation and vulnerability during and after Aila. Similarly, 10 KIIs were conducted with
the NGO officials (Table1).
Following questions were asked to the respondents during household survey, FGD and
KII: experience of cyclone Aila related to water and sanitation; activities untaken under
WaSH programme; safe water sources available including average distance, time and
money required; problems faced by women to collect water; types of latrines used by
them; women’s family affected by waterborne diseases; women’s role in WDMC, UDMC,
‘Union Contingency Plan’, and ‘Participatory WaSH Vulnerable Assessment Committee
(PWVAC)’; women-led post-disaster recovery activities; role of Union Parishad to reduce
women’s disaster risk; operation and maintenance of the water infrastructures; cost shar-
ing for the infrastructures; awareness raising activities and training programme on disaster
risk reduction and WaSH behaviour; positive outcome, weakness and sustainability of the
women-led WaSH interventions; etc.
Interviews were carried out during the daytime and took about 1h on average. Each
discussion was led by a notetaker and a moderator. On each survey topic, respondents were
encouraged to express their views and provide additional information regarding cyclones
Sidr and Aila, disaster relief, disaster recovery particularly post-Aila WaSH recovery in
the study area. Moreover, secondary data were collected from official documents of WaSH
programme, published books, reports, journal articles and searching websites. An audio
recording of each discussion was transcribed and analysed verbatim. The qualitative data
were analysed by themes aiming to draw out key findings (Schutt 2011) in light of the
objectives of the study. Moreover, field level observation enabled the researchers to vali-
date and cross-check the interview findings.
5 Results
5.1 Status ofsafe water sources andsanitation inpost‑Aila period
From the union profile, it was found that the average population of each union was 28,000,
where only 283 safe water sources (on average only 2 in each village) were functioning. On
an average, five national and local level NGOs have been working on WaSH programme in
each union. Responsibilities of each NGO were to create awareness on WaSH behaviour,
provide technological support, ensure safe water and sanitation facilities, make disaster-
resilient pond for year-round water supply, create awareness and provide training for dis-
aster risk reduction, provide support to decrease mother and child mortality, and create
personal hygiene. The scale of impact was significant, but even 7years later many commu-
nities could not have access to adequate safe drinking water and hygienic latrines.
Women and children needed to travel far to fetch water from safe water sources. Due
to widespread poverty in Koyra, it was so difficult for hardcore poor (also called chroni-
cally poor who had the daily intake less than 1805 kilocalorie food) and socially excluded
groups (e.g. the disabled, elderly) to ensure access to safe water and sanitation facilities.
This means that communities did not get their lives dragged back to ‘square one’ and resort
to drinking unsafe water. Moreover, saline water users reported that it affected their health,
with a notable increase in the incidence of diarrhoea and skin diseases.
Before implementation of WaSH programme, community people in Koyra spent more
than BDT. 15–20 (Bangladeshi Taka, the currency, 1 US dollar equal to BDT. 84 as of May
2018) per day to collect a container of safe water from nearby villages where safe water
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Table 1 Sample size of the study
Method Participant Sample size Tool
Household questionnaire survey WaSH programme beneficiary women 210 Qualitative
question-
naire
Focus group discussion Both male and female from Ward Disaster Management Committee, Union Disaster Management Commit-
tee, community people from different ethnicity, groups, occupations and income, knowledgeable persons,
Union Parishad officials
5 Guideline
Key informant interview Both male and female from local level NGO staff whose implemented WaSH programme 10 Checklist
Case study Woman-headed household, sick woman, woman with disability, female whose husband was disable, lactat-
ing mother and pregnant woman 6 Checklist
Public consultation Both male and female from different ethnicity, occupation and income groups, and knowledgeable persons Series Checklist
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sources were existing. People also bought water from sellers who sold water carrying in
the water tank by boat, rickshaw and van. The people need to travel an average distance of
500m to more than 2km per day to collect safe water from tubewell, pond and well with a
minimum time required to more than 30–90min. Moreover, most of the time women and
adolescent girls have fetched water where the water sources were nearby to the house, but
where it was far, rarely male and young child fetched it. In addition, drinking water was
not available round the year, and it was hard to collect on an average 20l of safe water per
person per day for each household. On the other hand, tubewell owners became annoyed
when someone went to fetch water from their tubewell located in their respective house
compound. Some of them also treated water by boiling it. Collected and treated safe water
was used for drinking, cooking and household chores also.
After cyclone Aila, most of the people used pit latrines having no cover; open and hang-
ing latrines; uncovered water framed latrines; and only a few of them used latrines with
aseptic tank. That time open defection was a common scenario in the area. Survey revealed
that after the Aila, the cost of installing a latrine was prohibitively high for them, and mate-
rials need to be brought in from the nearby town which was so difficult to carry due to
awful road condition. Due to lack of sanitation and hygiene awareness, some households
thought that a latrine means an unnecessary expenditure for them. For that, nearly every
household used shared latrines, and on average 5–15 families were sharing one latrine in
the study area. Some problems related to use of latrines were observed such as latrines had
broken easily, bad smell and germs of diseases spread out, poultry moves across and latrine
goes under water or overflow by floodwater. In some cases, it was difficult to sit down on
the toilet or latrine slab, have full risk of falling down and faeces floating over the water.
In such condition, disable and old-age people did not want to use latrines, foot stand was
too high and pit mouth hole too big for children; in turn, child did not feel secure to use the
latrine for which they used to go for open defecation.
5.2 Attempts toovercome WaSH challenges inKoyra
After cyclone Aila, government and NGOs undertaken couple of activities to improve the
community’s WaSH situation, most of which include: installation of tubewell with raised
platform (Fig.2a), low-cost water treatment plant (desalination plant) (Fig.2b), low-cost
rainwater harvesting plant (Fig.2c), low-cost latrine with PVC (polyvinyl chloride) ring
slabs (Fig.2d) and Pond Sand Filter (PSF)1 (Fig.2e); distribution of chemical additives
(clotech, chlorating and alum) for water purification; raised platform of latrine, pond dewa-
tering and cleaning, up-gradation of cyclone shelters through repairing water and latrine
facilities. Conducted mass awareness raising activities like shown video documentaries
on climate change and disasters; distribution of leaflets, health and sanitation-related IEC
(information, education and communication) materials among school-going children; pro-
duction of the traditional folk song, Pot(picture) song and drama, and painting competition
among school-going children. In addition, arranged training on climate change, disaster
and WaSH behaviour; formed different groups involving women and adolescents for social
1 PSF is an alternative option of potable water supply in coastal belt and arsenic prone areas in Bangladesh.
PSF is installed near or on the bank of pond, which does not dry up in the dry season. The water from the
pond is pumped by a manually operated hand tubewell to feed the filter bed, which is raised from ground,
and the treated water is collected through tapes. There are two standard sizes of PSF, the PSF-500 (large)
for approximately 500 users and the PSF-300 (small) for up to 300 users.
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mobilization; formed WDMC, UDMC and PWVAC in each Union; developed different
action plans in each ward and Union level; observed rally during national and international
environment days, etc.
A unique feature of WaSH programme pursued in Koyra was to bring men, women and
adolescents under hygiene education and promotion which were otherwise overlooked.
WaSH programme involved women in design and planning of all types of WaSH infra-
structure and taken voice during decision-making. Moreover, for the operation and mainte-
nance (O&M) of water structures particularly PSF, rainwater harvesting plant, desalination
plant and deep tubewell, each community has its own Bank account in the name of the
management committee. Daily or monthly payment given for water use was fixed by the
management committee to ensure continued water supply. President of a WDMC argued
that:
In each meeting, we had given the opportunity to women to speak out because they
have good ideas to share even sometimes better than men. Both men and women are
now collaborating which helps to talk and listen to each other. Both groups were
involved in the collective decision-making process about the WaSH facilities. The
women contributed a lot because they wanted everything in the community action
plan that to take place. As women were seen very punctual to attend the meetings,
they were enough confident to speak out in the meetings.
To protect the tubewells from saline and flood water, the platform of each tubewell was
raised above the highest known flood level with a concrete platform. Moreover, mobile
water treatment plant—an alternative source of potable safe water supply in the coast of
Bangladesh during an emergency—served quickly, reliably and cost-effectively to meet the
problem of water crisis during and after Aila.
Fig. 2 Different WaSH structures in Koyra Upazila. Clockwise: a installation of tubewell with raised plat-
form, b an active desalination plant, c household rainwater harvesting plant, d improved sanitary latrine
attached to the home, and e women collect safe water from PSF
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During post-disaster recovery, under the WaSH programme, Koyra people got different
types of sanitary latrines like an eco-sun toilet, sanitary latrine with septic tank and sani-
tary latrines with PVC ring slab. Some advantages of using such latrines are pit/hole and
septic tank can be easily clean, pollution can be prevented, and filth can be used as organic
manure for farming. Some NGOs also distributed a special type of latrine called ‘Squat
Latrine’ for the disabled persons. Women were found regularly cleaning properly their
usable latrine and strictly suggested family members including children to wearing sandal
while going to use toilet. In the case of disposing-off children’s faeces, they used house-
hold latrines, digging a hole in the soil, throw into the household garbage and throw into
the surrounding river/pond/canal water. Household members used soap after using latrine,
cleaning children’s faeces, and before and after taking a meal, as well as before feeding
child by a woman. Level of hygiene awareness, as well as personal hygiene and sanitation
practices, was found to be promising in Koyra. Such practices make women as an agent to
bring about a social change from the family level practices.
5.3 Role ofwomen‑led WaSH interventions inpost‑Aila recovery
Women collected and fetched safe water through earthen and silver jar and by plastic con-
tainers. They used to store rainwater in the plant during monsoon which could be used
for drinking, cooking and household chores. Those families lived far away from the water
sources; women of these families collect pond water for household chores, bathing and
washing, and used safe water for drinking and cooking. Water sources/structures under the
WaSH programme were managed under a joint ownership scheme. Moreover, to collect
water from PSF, ‘water collection group’ consisting of 4–5 women were formed where
each woman sequentially pumped the tubewell and others collect water sequentially. After
water collection, they used to clean the platform, surrounding drain and places of PSF and
tubewell so that structure and water do not get polluted. Indeed, PSF induces community
cooperation where the members of the community were mutually dependent on each other
for ensuring safe drinking water supply for the area, contributing to or strengthening the
social solidarity among them.
The users have formed a management committee consisting of 6–10 members includ-
ing 40% active women members who took the sole responsibility to take necessary steps
for regular O&M. The committee received necessary technical support and guidance on
O&M from respective agencies. The committee keeps all types of records including meet-
ing minutes, procurement, income and expenditure-related documents. Within each com-
mittee, four caretakers (two male and two female members) were selected by the users to
look after a structure. For a small structure like deep and high platform tubewells, the care-
taker was the person who was the owner of the land where the structure was installed. To
look after the small water structures, caretakers did not receive any remuneration from the
management committee, but those who look after the large structures like rainwater and
desalination plants they received a small amount of remuneration per month. Committee
used to charge the users on daily or monthly basis based on his/her amount of water collec-
tion. Persons who collect water from desalination plant need to pay BDT, 120 per month
as O&M cost. Those who collect water from PSF, deep tubewell and shallow/high platform
tubewell they used to pay the O&M cost in four modes: cost-recovery method, no-cost
method, actual-cost method and monthly cost method.
NGOs hygienic promotion approaches include stopping open defecation, safe disposal
of children’s faeces, and maintaining personal and family hygiene practices. That inspired
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them to improve their hygienic practices leading to their willingness to install water and
sanitation facilities of their own. WaSH programme made school-going children aware
about drinking safe water, use of sanitation latrine, and go for hygiene practices through
different awareness raising activities like the school-based campaign, leaflet distribution
among students, painting competition and organized cultural programmes like screening
movie and drama show.
Figure3 contains a model of the women-led WaSH programme in Koyra what has been
termed here as a ‘Techno-Social Contingent (TSC) Model.’ This model shows that the pro-
gramme creates an enabling environment for WaSH recovery by synchronizing technical
and social arrangements at the community level. For making technical arrangement, some
social preparations were made which include conducting WaSH needs assessment; meet-
ing with Union Parishad officials; site selection for fixing the water treatment equipment;
constituting a management committee; raising maintenance fund; opening bank account;
Cyclone Aila in Koyra
Emergency response by government departments,
NGOs and humanitarian organizations
WaSH recovery process
→Extreme limited support from government
departmentsfor the people
→People did not get support from kith and
kin
→Donors supportedto the NGOs for
rehabilitation and reconstruction
Women-led WaSH initiatives
by NGOs
Boosted up the UDMC Selection of worse affected people
focused on women (group based)
Formation of WDMC&
PWVAC
Prepared ‘Ward Development Plan’,
‘Emergency Plan’, ‘Union Risk
Reduction Action Plan’, and ‘Union
Contingency Plan’
Formation of Youth Club, Mother’s
Club, Student’s Club, Child Club,
Ethnic Club, Professional Club,and
Adolescent Club
→Water infrastructures (improved
tubewell, PSF, rain water harvesting
plant, and desalination plant)
→Installation of sanitary toilet
→O&M Committee
→Caretaker
Users
NGOs
monitoring
Adopted with hygiene and sanitation issues
after eight years of cyclone Aila
Partial recovery of usable water after
eight years of cycloneAila
Hygiene lessons and practices
Technical
Social
Outcome
Fig. 3 Techno-social contingent (TSC) model of women-led WaSH programme in Koyra
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orienting the management group on construction to check the quality of construction mate-
rials; imparting maintenance training to the management group; imparting a separate train-
ing to the caretaker; accounts keeping by the caretaker; organizing the adolescent clubs
to check the lid of the tank and to prevent other people to collect unsafe water from the
pond. The outcome of this process was partial recovery of usable water and adoption with
hygiene and sanitation issues after eight years of cyclone Aila. This social preparation was
in process followed by the preparation for technical implementation which went together in
a synchronized method for which it has been called TSC Model.
After cyclone Aila, women got emergency responses from government agencies, NGOs
and humanitarian organizations which led them to WaSH recovery processes. NGOs
initially boosted up the UDMC to the selection of group-based severely affected people
including women for the formation of WDMC and PWVAC. These two committees pre-
pared several local level action plans including ‘Ward Development Plan’,2 ‘Emergency
Plan’,3 ‘Union Risk Reduction Action Plan’4 and ‘Union Contingency Plan’.5 After that
several local level clubs were formed for mass community development like ‘Youth Club’
for the young boys and girls, ‘Student’s Club’ for the school-going children, ‘Mother’s
Club’ for the pregnant and lactating mother, ‘Child Club’ for the children, ‘Ethnic Club’
for the ethnic/indigenous people, ‘Adolescent Club’ for the adolescent boys and girls, and
‘Professional Club’ composed of different professionals. In addition, O&M committee was
formed by the users, and a caretaker was appointed to take care of each structure. Respec-
tive NGOs monitored the O&M activities (Fig.3). The survey revealed that beneficiaries
fully had the improved sanitation and hygienic practices but partially recovered the usable
water after eight years of devastating cyclone Aila. Women were actively involved in the
programme and played a vital role in uplifting their social status, dignity and make the
community a disaster-resilient community. A WaSH beneficiary woman stated that:
Now we are comparatively more aware than before of health and hygiene issues. As
the uses of safe drinking water and sanitary latrine have increased, in turn, preva-
lence of diseases has decreased to a great extent. It has happened due to the aware-
ness raising activities of WDMC, UDMC and different clubs.
5.4 Design andlimitations ofWaSH structures
Deep and shallow tubewells were easy to use, convenient, cost-effective and highly
accepted by the community. Nevertheless, during a disaster, due to its lower level platform
such tubewells went under water, penetrated saline and brackish water into the pipe result-
ing in contamination. In some places, deep tubewells were not feasible for installation due
to non-availability of the aquifer, or aquifer contaminated with arsenic and salinity.
2 Listed the community needs through participatory process and prepared a development plan based on the
needs for community development.
3 This plan gives direction to the people during the emergency, such as where you can contract during dis-
aster, prepare transport, collect phone number of doctors and shopkeepers, plan for evacuation and rescue,
shelter management for minimizing distress, etc.
4 This plan identifies and prioritizes community approved actions that are beyond the resources of the com-
munity to implement and in turn requires external support. On average 200 people were engaged during the
preparation and its validation of this action plan.
5 This plan includes the process and reflect the needs of the most vulnerable communities keeping in mind
the gender equity, the needs of children, persons with disability, old-age and other socially excluded groups.
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The PSF was a low-cost technology with high efficiency in turbidity and bacterial
removal, and quality of water was better than pond water but it too required constant moni-
toring and repairing. The PSF receives water from the pond where the pond was kept out
of bathing, washing of household utensils, clothes, domestic livestock, but fish cultivation
was allowed. Calcium carbonate (CaCO3) or lime was added at regular interval for puri-
fication of pond water, and the pond was always kept clear from any floating materials
like water hyacinth and fallen leaves from pond bank trees. However, lack of large pond in
Koyra and unavailability of water in the dry season were the major limiting factor for the
PSF. Women reported that during the dry season, they spent up to 20min waiting for col-
lecting water during peak hours; longer delays discouraged users and tended to fetch water
from nearby canal/river. And, it was very difficult for a pregnant and lactating woman to
fetch water from PSF, while their physical condition was unsupportive to that hard work.
The PSF and deep tubewell located far away was another key problem for fetching water
by the women. Lack of properly trained caretaker for O&M was another impediment to it.
PSFs were difficult to operate for its high raised platform, required to take extra care dur-
ing pumping, and to maintain a long queue for water collection. For this, most of the time
management committee did not allow children and old-age women to collect water from
PSF. The system also required routine maintenance to prevent sedimentation which can
cause clogging of the filter. In some cases, filter media needs to be replaced after 2–3years.
It was also important to ensure that the salinity and iron content of the pond water must not
exceed 600ppm and 5ppm, respectively, at any time of the year. Another WaSH benefi-
ciary woman explains:
We collect our necessary water from PSF, but we don’t know whether it is arse-
nic free or not where most of the tubewells of the area are affected by arsenicosis.
Moreover, some PSF in the area remained unusable. Those PSFs are under threat
due to damage of pond bank caused from over pressure of users, as well as by runoff
and seepage water from the drain. Sometimes PSF users also quarrel with each other
when someone made attempt to overtake the long queue for water collection.
Desalination plant (with bacteria and saline recovery technology) and small-scale house-
hold-level rainwater harvesting plant were installed on a limited scale in Koyra. Those
plants completely depended on canal water and rainwater as having no suitable catchment
area or large reservoir. When no or limited rainfall occurs at any time of the year the plant
becomes unusable. Additionally, women reported that their family members suffered from
a headache, fever and skin diseases after drinking rainwater from rainwater harvesting
plant. As a result, many of them avoided it. Initial installation cost of such plants was also
high for the poor households. After removing bacteria and other pollutants from the water
of desalination plant, wastes were discharged to the nearby agri-lands or ditches which
could hamper land productivity and affect soil quality due to that process of pollution. It
can spread diseases to human, fish and livestock.
Most of the riverbank villages were flooded during monsoon. At that time, children,
old-age, pregnant women and disabled persons faced problems in using toilets. School
WaSH programme in the study area had some other limitations which include: have no
separate toilet for boys and girls as well as for female and male teachers. Almost all schools
have only two toilets, one for teachers and the rest for all students. Toilets were found hav-
ing pan and pit latrines, dirty, unclean and unhygienic too. Female teachers and adoles-
cent girls faced the problem and felt uneasy to use the toilet during their menstrual period.
There was no separate place for changing sanitary pad and handwashing, and no bin for
deposition of menstrual waste. Although students drink safe water from school’s tubewell,
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all students (more than 50 students) use only one water pot or a glass to drink water which
is clearly unhygienic and unsafe for health.
5.5 WaSH related challenges encountered bywomen toimprove thesituation
5.5.1 Household‑level challenges
Field level observation revealed that working women have to collect water only after work-
ing hours. Those who could not carry water physically, they transported through rickshaw
and van paying daily or monthly basis at a rate of BDT 1 per litre. Although there was no
direct cash cost for collection of water except in some cases, other challenges were there
which troubled their daily lives. It was not altogether hazard free for them who were com-
pelled to collect water from far away. The opportunity cost was not there directly as the
women live in the village, where they rarely get a chance to get involved in any cash-earn-
ing activities.
Case studies showed that women faced lots of water collection related problems like
woman-headed household faced the problem of collecting water spending 1–2h a day
following a big queue and had to carry water pitcher on the waist, sometimes travelling
through the local market which was embarrassing for a rural woman. Sick woman faced
several problems including husband and children used to collect water for her household
from a long distance where it takes 2–3h; sometimes requested relatives to bring water for
her family while visiting her house; when water of the pond goes down in the dry season
her family members used to collect dirty water using small mug which they drunk after
using alum. Woman with a disability such as having a problem in one leg even needs to
collect water from distant shallow tubewell where it takes about 4h in a day. She had to
take rest on the way as could not walk easily and speedily. The same situation was faced
by her whose husband was a disabled one, where she had to collect water from a long dis-
tant shallow tubewell leaving her children alone in the house. Similarly, lactating mother
faced problems like she had to spend 2–3h for collecting water from a distant water source
leaving her baby child alone in the house. In the case of a pregnant woman, it was difficult
for her to collect water from tubewell and PSF for which she went to her father’s house to
avoid the trouble of collecting water.
5.5.2 Community level challenges
Water collection groups have been formed beyond any village or kinship boundary rather
it has been formed based on the zone of influence. There were some inherent weaknesses
such as sometimes one member was leaving the area or not paying the dues in time. Sec-
ondly, group solidarity was there, but it was a need-based group rather than a kin group.
Thirdly, sometimes competition among the women for the leadership of the group was also
there which weakened the solidarity or cohesiveness of the group. There was a debate cen-
tring the installation location of desalination or rainwater harvesting plants in some cases.
Rainwater harvesting plant was installed by the rich family, but rarely shared water with the
neighbouring poor families.
NGOs and the management committee had no plan to recover the installation cost of
water structures. In the case of awful road communication, it was also not easy for women
to collect water from a long distance. Collection of water was not a 1-day task rather the
same task to be done every day whether one has physical preparation to do it or sickness
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or even having sickness of child. Additionally, women in the area also cannot go outside
the home after sunset as there was no street lighting. The girl who has to attend school
or coaching needs to make a trade-off between the two demands. If the girl is adolescent
she cannot go alone to collect water as the boys do stalking if the young girl moves alone.
When they move they move in a group like ‘women-for-women’.
6 Discussion
6.1 Women underWaSH programme
WaSH programme implementation is a complex and comprised of a large set of ‘hardware’
and ‘software’ elements including a community-based approach that focuses on creating
demand for sanitation and changing unhealthy behaviours (Campbell et al. 2014). The
study found that women experienced differential outcomes in the post-disaster recovery
phase and sometimes their life became more challenging. A positive impact of the WaSH
programme was women’s increased access to safe water, use of sanitary latrines and prac-
tice of hygiene as well as becoming a disaster-resilient community. In order to make the
intervention sustainable in Koyra, NGOs ensured participation of women in WaSH pro-
gramme where they played a significant role in the decision-making alongside men as a
part of community-based disaster recovery (rehabilitation and reconstruction) approach.
The present study found that women were engaged in day-to-day household WaSH
activities where mostly men were customarily the decision-makers. Similarly, after cyclone
Sidr it was observed that women had limited scope of exercising power, making plan and
decision (Nadiruzzaman and Wrathall 2015). World Bank in an evaluation study of 122
water sector projects reported that the projects’ effectiveness was 6–7 times higher where
women were involved than where they were not (Bazilli and Maisonet-Guzmán 2012).
National Sustainable Development Strategy (2010–2021) of Bangladesh underscores the
need to undertake measures to protect women from economic vulnerability and risk arising
out of natural disasters and climate change (GED 2013).
Present study recorded that 59% household used improved sanitary latrine which was
slightly lower than the national average of 61% but better than the national average for
rural areas (55%) (BBS 2012). An evidence-based report argued that WaSH intervention
can lower the incidence of waterborne and communicable diseases (WSSCC 2006). In
Koyra, the WaSH programmes promoted low-cost water and sanitation technologies at the
individual, household and community levels combined with hygiene promotion. The sur-
vey revealed that WaSH intervention reduced waterborne diseases and related deaths par-
ticularly child death at a satisfactory level. Respondents pointed out that adolescent girls’
skin became rough and unattractive because of the continued use of saline and contami-
nated water, which made girls less attractive to potential marriage partners. According to
WHO (2008), handwashing with soap could prevent half of the diarrhoeal deaths, a third
or more of neonatal deaths, and a quarter of pneumonial deaths, flu and other commu-
nicable diseases. In case of hygienic practices, study result shows that household mem-
bers and school-going children used to maintain improved hygiene in their daily life which
increased the attendance rate in schools.
The present study identified some behavioural changes among women like the use of
safe water for drinking and cooking, time-saving for water collection, trying to maintain
improved personal and menstrual hygiene and cleanliness, use the sanitary latrine, wearing
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sandals while using the toilet and washing hands with soap. Azad and Khan (2015) reported
that before Aila women were working in the agri-field and serving their family, while in
the post-Aila period they had to face hardship. But after WaSH programme, they also got
engaged in economic activities like fishing, growing vegetables, livestock rearing, making
handicrafts and involved in cash-for-work programmes, taking microcredit for investment
in livelihood related works as well as involved in planning, designing and implementation
of O&M of WaSH interventions.
UNICEF (2009) argued that increased access to safe water close to home means more
time and energy for women to get engaged in income-generating activities and for girls
to attend schools. Gender-sensitive planning and preparation for addressing a disaster can
reduce mortality, and morbidity rates, facilitate equitable distribution of emergency relief,
improve safety conditions in shelter houses and improve disaster mitigation (Ahmad 2012).
Harvey (2011) from World Vision’s WaSH programme noted that when women had own-
ership and control over resources, they invest more of their income in the health, education
and well-being of their families for which the organization involved at least two females in
each of their WaSH management committee.
Women have the best knowledge about local water and sanitation practices and any
other associated problems. Under WaSH programme women got involved in different
social mobilization activities like motivational work on health, sanitation and hygiene
rules, warning about upcoming disasters, trained people on disaster preparedness, distribut-
ing relief, medicine and water and learning-sharing. WaSH programme in Koyra ensured
women’s participation in all water management activities including O&M. Women groups
were found more cooperative rather than competitors. Local government institutions (Upa-
zila and Union Parishad offices) in Koyra had strengthened their capacity under WaSH pro-
gramme to tackle the water and sanitation crisis after a disaster. Chairman of Koyra Union
Parishad stated:
We learned and did different tasks under WaSH programme like inform people about
safe water planning meetings, raising awareness to drink safe water, also conduct fol-
low-up of the government and NGOs’ activities. Now my Union Parishad’s capacity
has increased to the extent to distribute relief after a disaster, repairing roads, doing
tree plantation, delivering medicine, taking pregnant, disabled and sick persons to
cyclone shelters, and so on.
A similar result was also reported from Ghana WaSH programme, where women were
at the forefront of addressing sanitation issues by mobilizing their community to build
household latrines. Their women were involved in everyday management and undertaking
O&M responsibilities including fetching water, cleaning of water sources and the latrines
(Ghana WaSH Project 2015). In Bangladesh, ‘Disaster Management Act 2012’ incorpo-
rated women involvement in emergency evacuation and rehabilitation activities, as well
as one-third of the ‘Cyclone Preparedness Programme (CPP)’6 volunteers were women.
Moreover, in post-disaster recovery the targeted beneficiaries were mainly women, who
were more than 70% of the total beneficiaries (Alam and Rahman 2013, 2014).
6 CPP is a mechanism which relies on technical skills and volunteers’ commitment for ensuring that all
potential victims of an approaching cyclone are given sufficient warning so as to enable them to move to
safe- sites including cyclone shelters and buildings. After the cyclonic storm, volunteers go out for search-
ing, rescue and evacuation of injured people and serve them with first aid. In post-disaster, they assist in
relief distribution, rehabilitation, and health and sanitation management.
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6.2 Women’s gain fromWaSH programme
Women were the main actor to change the WaSH behaviour to other household mem-
bers. They significantly contributed to improving the community resilience and ability
to maintain improved WaSH behaviour after natural disasters. WaSH programmes were
essential for women’s social and economic development, gender equality and realiza-
tion of their rights during an emergency situation. The present study found that WaSH
programme in the study area brought some unforeseen gains for women such as direct
gains (e.g. free of cost safe water sources and sanitary latrines, learned about improved
hygiene practices, and able to saved time, money and labour that was required for water
collection), and indirect material gains (e.g. new house with attached toilet, improved
cyclone shelters, new embankments, bridges, culverts and roads and maternal and child
healthcare services) and indirect institutional gains (engaged in local management
committees to prepare and implement different action plans, organize educational and
awareness raising campaigns) (Fig.4). However, studies, e.g. WSSCC (2006), Gutier-
rez (2007), Kilsby (2012) and Ngure etal. (2014), showed that WaSH programme has
been considered helpful to improve women lives, rights and strengthen community rela-
tionship in the short term as well as spur positive economic growth and technological
renewal in the longer term—depending on the domestic capacity of nations to rebuild
Women's gain
Direct gain
→Got freeofcostsafewater
sources andsanitarylatrines.
→Got purified ponds in most of
thevillagesfor year-roundwater
supply.
→Learnedabout improved
hygiene practices.
→Women couldsave timefor
collectingwater.
→Women couldsave time,
moneyand labour forhavingless
patients from WaSH-related
diseases in thefamily.
→Increased in school attendance
of thechildrenparticularly girls.
Indirect material gain
→Got new house with attached
toilet as replacementofold
thatched one fromthe aid-giving
agencies.
→Constructionand repair of
cycloneshelterswithwater and
latrinefacilities.
→Constructionand repair of
embankments,bridges,culverts
and roads.
→Constructionand repair of
schools with waterand sanitation
facilities.
→Increasedmaternaland child
health care services.
→Increased girls' educationand
improved menstrualhygiene.
→Increased opportunityof
economic empowermenttoget
involvedinincomegenerating
activities.
Indirect institutional gain
→Women gotinvolvedin
management committeeand
appointedascaretaker to look
afterthe structures.
→Involvedinpreparation and
implementation of different
action plansunderWaSH
programmes.
→Involvedin‘Disaster
Management Committee’and
‘Participatory WaSH Vulnerable
AssessmentCommittee’ in each
union.
→Performed as an active
member of differentclubs under
WaSH programmes.
→Attended WaSH community
meetingalongside male
members.
→Organized educational
programmes forchildren, and
awarenessraising campaignsfor
non-beneficiariestoo.
Fig. 4 Women’s gains from WaSH programme in Koyra
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and the inflow of international assistance. One more WaSH beneficiary woman argued
that:
More than 70% people in my village have become aware of health and hygiene
issues compared to before the WaSH programme. Now nobody can go for open
defecation, do not drink unsafe water as well as maintain personal hygiene prac-
tices in their daily life.
In Koyra, improved sanitation enabled women to contribute to economic development
through increased productivity, reduced healthcare costs, and prevents illness, disabil-
ity and child mortality. The time earlier dedicated to fetching water was made free for
income generation. They can pay the cost for O&M and replacement from their income,
develop a business plan for their products like vegetables, handicrafts and sewing
through a market study with the help of NGOs. Several studies such as Nasreen (2000),
Enarson and Fordham (2001), Nelson and Stathers (2009), Sultana (2009, 2014), Dhun-
gel and Ojha (2012), Alam and Rahman (2014, 2017) and Alam etal. (2018) show that
women empowerment decreased the tendency of household to go for urban migration.
7 Conclusion
1-h damage may require one decade to overcoming it even partially. The WaSH pro-
gramme in Koyra succeeded to solve the water and sanitation requirement of the area
considerably through active participation of women. A two-part strategy was followed
where one was to make technology that supporting social arrangement and another was
social arrangement that supporting technology. The NGOs’ role in the build, operate
and transfer (BOT) approach was also commendable increasing sustainability, local
ownership and innovation where women are the main agent of change and beneficiaries.
It appears that the common dependency can contribute to social solidarity in the area
which was visible during their sharing of common water sources. On the other hand,
they can motivate other non-beneficiary women what can ensure the sustainability of
WaSH programme. Women, among others, also can contribute to improvement of the
ecosystem resilience. For augmentation of water sources, more funding could be asked
from the local community involving women following the Willingness to Pay (WTP)
approach. Women were found more supportive to ensure fund for the continuation of the
programme. In future in such disaster-affected areas, WaSH recovery may be attempted
following the same approach what has been attempted here. Despite all arduous effort,
there were some technical and social limiting factors which impeded complete WaSH
achievement in the area. In the case of such disaster, there were always some natural
remedies, but that has to be harnessed by the community members through their well-
planned efforts. Meanwhile, a good amount of field level findings are published sporadi-
cally on which a further research may be carried out to develop a grand disaster recov-
ery theory.
Compliance with ethical standards
Conict of interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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Aliations
KhurshedAlam1· Md.HabiburRahman2
Khurshed Alam
khurshedbisr@gmail.com
http://www.drkhurshedalam.info/
1 Bangladesh Institute ofSocial Research (BISR) Trust, House No. 6/14, Block No. A, Lalmatia,
Dhaka1207, Bangladesh
2 Laboratory ofTropical Forest Resources andEnvironments, Division ofForest andBiomaterials
Science, Graduate School ofAgriculture, Kyoto University, Kyoto606-8502, Japan
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