PESHAWAR: Water and Sanitation Services Company Peshawar (WSSC-P) and Unicef have agreed to strengthen partnership and collaboration for improved civic services and establish a joint committee for planning.

Both the organisations have also expressed their commitment to exploring the potential of initiating small-scale projects to ensure better water and sanitation services to the residents of Peshawar, according to a statement issued here on Wednesday.

The agreement was reached during a meeting between a Unicef Pakistan delegation led by chief water, sanitation and hygiene (Wash) Cindy Kushner and WSSC-P chief executive officer Yasir Ali Khan.

The civic body’s management briefed the Unicef delegation on potential areas of collaboration, including underground containers, fleet tracking systems, water suction trucks, water consumption pattern survey, rainwater harvesting, solarising tube wells, technical and legal assistance, project designing, water and energy efficiency, and social mobilisation etc.

Yasir Ali proposed forming a joint committee for better service delivery planning, and emphasised the need for collaborative efforts to systematically launch projects. He also highlighted the importance of Unicef’s technical support in this regard.

Cindy Kushner stressed the importance of setting priorities, and said that Unicef would assess the possibilities of providing assistance in relevant areas based on the civic body’s suggestions.

Published in Dawn, January 30th, 2025