Progress Report: Water Governance and Capacity Building -WGCB

The contract for this project was signed on April 16, 2019, and the project duration is for 2 years. The cost of the contract is USD 2,053,426. The project includes activities contributing to improved sub-national governance and increased and broad-based citizen engagement with the government. It has been designed to support USAID/Pakistan's broader Community Resilience Activity, specifically its "Strengthening Local Governance" and "Community Resilience" components. The WGCB activity links to two sub-implementation results: Sub-IR 3.2.1, which aims to improve sub-national governance, and Sub-IR 3.2.2, which seeks to increase and broaden citizen engagement in community decision-making. In the inception phase, HANDS submitted a pre-mobilization plan and budget, which was approved by USAID on May 28, 2019. The annual work plan is being modified and re-submitted in light of USAID's feedback. Key and core staff were taken on board at the outset of contract award, and the recruitment of additional staff, including 16 social mobilizers, 1 MIS in-charge, 1 program associate, 1 security coordinator, and 4 security guards, was completed in May and they resumed the project from June 1, 2019. Staff training and orientation were conducted, with a two-day orientation session held for social mobilizers at Jacobabad on June 18-19, 2019. The session covered community engagement, M&E, reporting and recording tools, school WASH clubs, and HANDS HR SOPs. The technical team is preparing a capacity needs assessment report to improve the capacity of the technical staff to operate, maintain, and repair the water supply system. Weekly checklists for the supply of water and lab test reports have been shared with USAID for review, and the technical team is reporting on these checklists. The project has made progress in various areas, including the formation of schools WASH clubs, regular meetings with Mohalla WASH committees, and site visits to filtration plants. A mandatory session for USAID/Pakistan implementing partners was conducted, and meetings were held on tax exemption and custom duty. The project has also made progress in staffing and management planning, with the orientation of the chairman MC, technical staff, and councilors. The technical team has provided water supply system orientation to MC staff in the field and has analyzed trends of some water parameters.