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January 15, 2002
EXCERPTS: To give a sense of belonging
Arif Hasan explains the underlying philosophy of the Orangi Pilot Project and its working
THE OPP was established by Akhtar Hameed Khan, the renowned Pakistani social scientist, in 1980. The objective of the project was to understand the problems of Orangi Township and their causes. Then, through action research to develop solutions that people can manage, finance and build. For this to happen, it was understood from the very beginning that people would require technical guidance and managerial support to implement the solutions and that technical and social research was a pre-requisite for this. However, Akhtar Hameed Khan was very clear that without the strengthening of neighbourhood or community organizations the OPP would not become a success. In a note that forms the basis of the establishment of the OPP, he wrote:
“We are all living through a period of social dislocation. Where people have been uprooted from their familiar environment, this dislocation is specially acute. They have to re-establish a sense of belonging, community feeling, and the convention of mutual help and cooperative action. This can be done chiefly through the creation of local-level social and economic organizations. Without these organizations, chaos and confusion will prevail. On the other hand, if social and economic organizations grow and become strong, services and material conditions, sanitation, schools, clinics, training, and employment will also begin to improve.”
He further says:
“...The development of social and economic organization cannot be done quickly. Undue haste in this case will surely result in waste. Enough time should be spent on careful investigation of and acquaintance with the local people, their conditions and institutions, a rough timetable may be suggested; several months’ preliminary plan for the initial years, followed by an evaluation based on the analysis of detailed documentation. The process is to be repeated till the emergence of a successful pattern.”
In addition, the note says that two fundamental principles should be followed; one, the avoidance of any political or sectarian bias; and two, the observance of a populist point of view and the preference for the needs of the common people.’.....
Akhtar Hameed Khan was also of the opinion that the OPP institutions should develop models that overcome the financial and institutional constraints that governments face in developing programmes for low-income settlements. He had hoped that these models would become part of the government policy. An essential part of his thinking was that government programmes in Pakistan fail because the bureaucrats and professionals who design them are not conversant with the sociology, economics and culture of low-income communities or the causes of conditions in informal settlements. An essential part of his project was to create and institutionalize a space of interaction between professionals and communities. The above principles have been followed by the OPP.
After years of work the OPP has identified four major problems in katchi abadis. These are sanitation and housing quality; employment; health; and education. People organize themselves to try and overcome these problems, but in the absence of technical and managerial guidance and credit support, their solutions are usually substandard or unsuccessful.
Education project
OPP-RTI’s research has established that there are 682 private schools and 76 government schools in Orangi. The private schools have been put up by entrepreneurs, community organizations or public-spirited individuals. The OPP-RTI programme is meant to support these schools by putting them in touch with government and private support institutions, relevant NGOs and resource professionals. In addition, the OCT provides loans for the physical upgrading of the schools while OPP-RTI provides technical and design guidance. So far, 399 loans of a total of Rs12.5 million have been provided for upgrading 151 schools.
These schools have a much better standard than the government schools since educated women from the neighbourhood teach in them and the children are well-known to them. A parent-teacher dialogue is therefore possible and parents monitor the performance of the school. Because of the involvement of the neighbourhood, the overheads of these schools are low. Fee is between Rs50 to Rs100 and this is considered affordable by the parents of the students. Physical and academic improvement is constantly taking place because the Orangi Charitable Trust’s (OCT) credit for physical improvement is available and the OPP-RTI puts the schools in touch with relevant resource persons and institutions.
In 1995, the OPP-RTI started a programme to support small schools in Orangi. This programme consists of supporting young people who wish to open a school or have already started a small school in their homes or rented premises. A start up grant of Rs3,000-12,000 is provided to upgrade these schools. When a school stabilizes, credit from the OCT is provided for its expansion and construction of classrooms. So far 75 schools have been supported in this manner. Out of these, 59 schools have become solvent. A total of 334 teachers (89 male, 245 female) are employed in these schools and 6,783 children (3,721 male, 3,062 female) study in them. The programme is expanding rapidly.
Because of the OPP-RTI’s education programme there is a major difference between Orangi and other katchi abadis. Orangi has a higher literacy percentage and its schools are better in terms of physical and academic facilities. Many of them have now acquired computers and are training Orangi students in information technology. Young Orangi residents are becoming white collar workers, college teachers, corporate sector employees and formal sector entrepreneurs.
Health project
KHASDA’s health programme initially consisted of creating a women’s organization in lanes that had already built their sewerage system. The women’s lane organization was visited by a mobile team every week for a period of six months after which the visits were phased out. The mobile team advised the women’s organization on the causes and prevention of common Orangi diseases. It also arranged visits by government agencies to the lane for immunization. In addition, it introduced population planning concepts and supplies (the supplies were left with the manager of the lane organization who sold them to lane residents) and gave advice on nutrition, child-care and kitchen gardening. However, the programme could only reach 3,000 families in which 90 per cent of children were immunized and 44 per cent couples adopted family planning. Surveys show a marked decrease in infant mortality and morbidity.
The programme was far too expensive to expand to all of Orangi and, therefore, not sustainable or replicable by the government. As such, it was modified. A survey of Orangi was carried out and it was discovered that there were 647 private clinics in Orangi. In addition, there were traditional birth attendants (TBAs) as well. The present programme consists of training TBAs (377 have been trained) and vaccinators (148 have been trained) from the community. An extension programme has been initiated with the private clinics and they are encouraged to employ the TBAs and vaccinators. Links between the government’s health department and agencies and the Orangi clinics have been established through KHASDA. The clinics were unaware of the government’s support programmes and earlier these programmes had targeted only CBOs and NGOs (many of whom had no experience of health issues). As a result of the KHASDA’s programme, 102 clinics now receive vaccines and 124 clinics receive family planning supplies. These clinics now employ the trained TBAs and vaccinators. The clinics are very supportive of the new programme.
The new health programme seeks to anchor itself in the upgraded Orangi clinics and in Orangi schools where health education is being introduced. An external evaluation of the programme is yet to take place.
Excerpts from
Working with communities
By Arif Hasan
City Press, 316 Madina City Mall, Abdullah Haroon Road, Karachi-74400 Tel: 021-5650623, 5213916
Email: aaj@digicom.net.pk
ISBN 969-8380-52-3 198pp. Rs250
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