WASEP model in improving access to water and sanitation in Pakistan: an example in best practices

Post-2015, as global leaders move towards SDGs, it is important for countries in the Global South to situate water and sanitation interventions not simply as ‘ends’, but also as ‘means’ towards achieving broader goals of human development. The paper demonstrates this, firstly, by discussing theoretical debates in secondary data to situate the importance of water and sanitation in human development, and secondly, by using primary data (pre-and-post intervention analysis) from the case study of Water and Sanitation Extension Programme (WASEP) which has successfully applied an integrated model for provision of safe water and sanitation, along with a behavioural change communication strategy for improved health and hygiene practices in the mountainous regions of Pakistan. Drawing from the learning of WASEP approach, the paper concludes that policymakers in the Global South should re-conceptualize WASH interventions to account for issues of community empowerment, WASH sustainability, and the regional/national human development goals.