ISLAMABAD: The Punjab government has planned to achieve a 100 per cent open defecation-free Punjab by 2025, and for achieving this goal, the provincial government led by Shahbaz Sharif is seeking the World Bank’s assistance for the ‘Punjab Sanitation and Nutrition Improvement Project’ focusing on improving hygiene and sanitation, according to a document released by World Bank on Saturday.

Out of the total cost of the project amounting to $60 million, the Punjab government will contribute $50m while the remaining $10m will be provided as a grant through the Pakistan Partnership for Improved Nutrition (PPIN) Trust Fund which is administered by the World Bank.

The proposed project will focus on three key areas: reducing open defecation through a community-based, nutrition-sensitive, behaviour change approach involving community mobilisation, formation of Village Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) committees, communication and messaging, training; implementing total sanitation interventions in selected villages by providing adequate drainage systems, and piloting technologies like oxidation ponds and solid waste management to demonstrate total sanitation models for replication in the rest of Punjab.

Published in Dawn, December 11th, 2017