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HSBC and WaterAid Bangladesh started a new programme with an aim to ensure safe water and sanitation for people of remote and marginalised area of the country, said a statement.
Under the programme, pure water supply and climate resilient sanitation facilities will be improved in 5 upazilas. At least 173,322 people will get benefits from this project directly in the next two years.
‘HSBC Water Programme 2nd phase’ was launched recently in a programme held at Hotel Pan Pacific Sonargaon, Dhaka.
Md Mahbub ur Rahman, Deputy CEO and Country Head of Commercial Banking of HSBC was present at the event as the special guest, Dr Md. Khairul Islam, Country Director of WaterAid Bangladesh delivered concluding remarks and Dr Imrul Kayes Muniruzzaman, Director – Fundraising and Learning delivered welcome speech.
The second phase of the HSBC Water Programme will be implemented in Gangni Upazila of Meherpur district, Tahirpur in Sunamganj, Dacope and Paikgacha of Khulna and Shyamnagar of Satkhira. The areas are suffering from climate change affected acute WASH conditions spanned over multiple climatic and disaster-related challenges. The project implementation duration is October 2017 to December 2019.
The project in its new phase intends to improve water and sanitation services along with hygiene behaviour in the five upazilas. It will emphasize on working with and strengthening existing formal and informal structures to establish clear channels of accountability and sustainable WASH services, and resource management in local government, communities and health facilities, alongside a very necessary component of service delivery for highly marginalised and poor people living in hard-to-reach areas.
Dr. Md. Khairul Islam, Country Director of WaterAid Bangladesh said, “Climate change poses many challenges towards accessing water, sanitation and hygiene services in the coastal belt of our country. The water and sanitation infrastructure in the marginal and hard-to-reach areas are fragile and there is a huge gap between need and actual availability of these services. This programmeaims to create opportunities to deal with the challenges as well as to bring about positive and sustainable impact in the lives of many across the most vulnerable areas of Bangladesh’.
-rmc//