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How Sida is facilitating Bangladesh to achieve clean water and sanitation goal

Ayoub Hameedi

The acronym of Sida is Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency. It is an agency to facilitate Swedish parliament and government to fight poverty across the globe. Sida comes under the umbrella of Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The government allocates 1% of its GDP to aid on annual basis. The total development aid budget for year 2018 is SEK 49 billion, out of which SEK 6 billion is invested to facilitate refugees, provide assistance to EU and to finance budgets of UN agencies. This leaves a total aid fund of worth SEK 43 billion out of which SEK 41.2 billion would be channelized through Sida to mitigate poverty and to promote sustainable development in countries across the globe. The already spoken finances are generated through tax that masses pay each year in Sweden. It is important for readers to understand the thematic areas of Sida and how the organization works. Briefly speaking, Sida focuses on environment and climate, gender equality, a violence free society to ensure human rights and decent working conditions, health, education and research and finally humanitarian aid. Each year, Sida submits a report to government to highlight how the given funds were used and what results were achieved. The submitted report is then evaluated by the government. An effective follow-up then guides the government further when it comes to allocating budget to Sida for the coming fiscal year. Sida has framework agreements with 19 civil society organizations (CSO) in Sweden that facilitates the agency to accomplish its goals. Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC), WWF Sweden, Olof Palme International Center and Plan Sweden are few examples in this regard. In case of a financial discrepancy, Sida demands the repayment of the funds, launch an investigation and suspend the supply of financial resources till the issue is settled in a sustainable manner.

As spoken earlier, a key aim for Sida is to reduce poverty. In Bangladesh, Sida is achieving this goal by providing clean water and sanitation to masses. The agency is carrying out its work in collaboration with WaterAid organization and local NGOs in the country. An example of collaboration is Promoting Environmental Health for Urban Poor (PEHUP) initiative. Through this program, all of the involved stakeholders have managed to provide clean drinking water, sanitation facility and information concerning how to practice better hygiene to 300,000 masses in a financially tight situation in the country. A positive achievement in this regard is a case from an informal settlement located close to chittagong city, where the absence of drinking water infrastructure forced the women to walk 1 – 2 kilometers to fetch drinking water. However, situation completely changed when a deep well was constructed through the financial support and technical expertise of Sida, WaterAid and a local NGO Dustho Sastho Kendra (DSK). The constructed well was then connected with six water outlets along with 36 supply lines to provide drinking water to masses. The construction of well together with taps and supply lines eliminated the need for women to walk a kilometer or two for this purpose. As a result, women now have the opportunity to invest their available time and energy to attend school or to learn a craft to mitigate poverty. An access to clean drinking water is a basic human right and it should be made readily available to everyone. During the time period of 2011 – 17, Sida has collectively provided financial assistance of worth SEK 41 million to improve the drinking water and sanitation facilities in Bangladesh. WaterAid contributed the remaining 40% of the financial resource to ensure the sustainable achievement of the goal.

All in all, access to clean drinking water and sanitation facility is an effective strategy to promote growth in an area or community. An easy availability of both facilities will release stress from masses who can then use the available time and energy to participate in economic activities to increase their income. This increase will certainly reduce poverty and put the country on the much needed path of sustainable development. 

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