Under the shades of silence

Mirzapur in Bangladesh was visited two years after a donor-funded project had ended there. The site was found to be clean, most of the Tara handpumps were working and nearly all the latrines were being maintained hygenically. This was in strong contrast with the insanitary conditions of a nearby village where no intervention had taken place. The Mirzapur project was originally set up by the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Diseases Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B) who had supplied the Tara pumps free of charge. Because the community initially felt that handpump maintenance was not their responsibility, the NGO Forum for Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation was requested to promote community-based maintenance. Videos were found to be a good way of doing this. By showing a video of a female handpump caretaker, women were induced to follow caretaker training courses. Although the first courses only involved women it was later decided to include male caretakers as well. Women were found not to be able to deal aptly with financial matters when spare parts had to be purchased. When new problems arose around ownership of the pumps, 5 member committees, consisting of community leaders and caretakers, were set up. A woman was placed in charge of a shop selling spare parts.