The Project :
The
“Integrated Community-based Arsenic Mitigation Programme
in 100 Unions” project addresses the arsenic poisoning
problem of the 0.42 million households in rural
Bangladesh. The project is in compliance with the
National Policy for Arsenic Mitigation 2004 of
Bangladesh Government. The focus of the project are to
improve community awareness on various aspects concerning
arsenic contaminated water and alternative arsenic-free
safe water, to increase number of capable and aware
partners and groups to respond to arsenic mitigation needs
of the target communities, to provide fully operational
and accessible alternative arsenic-free safe water
options, to increase access to proper diagnosis facilities
for arsenic affected patients and to improve standard of
living for arsenicosis affected patients and families.
Project Implementation Area :
100 arsenic affected unions in 34 upazilas of 20 districts
under 7 Regions of NGO Forum (Barisal, Comilla, Dhaka,
Faridpur, Jessore, Khulna and Rajshahi). Project Duration : January
2006 – December 2009
Development Objective :
To improve
quality of life for arsenic affected communities.
Immediate Objectives :
1. Improved level of awareness among
arsenic affected population regarding impact of ingestion of
arsenic contaminated water, alternative arsenic-free safe
water sources and other mitigation options and remedial
measures against arsenic poisoning;
2. Strengthened
capacity and enhanced knowledge of partners and societal
groups including target communities to deal effectively with
the arsenic crisis;
3. Increased
coverage with fully accessible and functional alternative
arsenic-free safe water options; and
4. Provisions
for appropriate diagnosis, management and rehabilitation of
arsenicosis patients.
Project Activities:
■
Social mobilization
■ Training
■
Advocacy
■
Development communication
■
Installation of alternative safe
water technologies
■
Distribution of maintenance tools
& technology manuals
■
Water quality testing
Target Groups:
A total of
around 0.42 million households (2.3 million people) of 100
arsenic affected unions fallen under NGO Forum’s 7 (seven)
regions (Barisal, Comilla, Dhaka, Faridpur, Jessore, Khulna &
Rajshahi) will directly benefit from the provision of safe
water facilities, awareness raising related activities and
income generation supports of which around 0.9 million of
direct beneficiaries will be women, around 1.0 million men and
around 0.3 million children under the age of five. In
addition, around 2,000 local medical practitioners and 2,000
health workers working in the target communities will directly
benefit from capacity building in the relevant areas of
arsenic mitigation and patient identification and management. |
