Policy Advocacy Initiatives calling for Integration of Climate Resilient WASH in Public Sector Plans and Policies to ensure increased Financing for Climate Resilient WASH

Policy Advocacy Initiatives calling for Integration of Climate Resilient WASH in Public Sector Plans and Policies to ensure increased Financing for Climate Resilient WASH

Project Title: Policy Advocacy Initiatives calling for Integration of Climate Resilient WASH in Public Sector Plans and Policies to ensure increased Financing for Climate Resilient WASH

Duration of Project Start and End Date: 4th July 2024 to 31st March 2025

Donors/Partners:  WaterAid, Pakistan

Project Focal Person from SDPI Dr Shafqat Munir Ahmad

Project Focal Person’s Email Address shafqat@sdpi.org

Locale: Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi

Project Lead Dr Shafqat Munir Ahmad

Project Team Muhammad Awais Umar, Salman Danish, Ali Rehmat and Ramsha Mehboob

Unit Name Sustainability and Resilience Programme

Program/Project Rational and Background

Access to safe WASH is pivotal in ensuring better health, education, food security, and nutrition for vulnerable and poor populations. WASH is integral to supporting community resilience to climate change and to ensuring that ‘no one is left behind’. Climate-resilient WASH goes beyond infrastructure to ensure that solutions meet the needs of the most marginalized and can continue functioning in the face of climate hazards.

Pakistan is highly vulnerable to climate-induced disasters, including floods, earthquakes, cyclones, and droughts. The increasing frequency and intensity of these events, exacerbated by climate change, pose significant risks to WASH infrastructure, impacting public health and community resilience. Being one of the most water-stressed countries, Pakistan's per capita water availability decreased from 5,237m3/year in 1962 to 1,188m3/year in 2021 . The Government of Pakistan, in its National Climate Change Policy 2021, prioritized climate-related risks based on an assessment of technological and infrastructure options to improve resilience in the WASH sector. The Policy’s goal for 2030 is to ensure sustainable management of water resources for all, in alignment with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation). After the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, MoCC initiated a massive response in the WASH sector and established a WASH strategic unit.

Pakistan has been facing significant challenges in integrating climate-resilient WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) into public sector plans and policies. These challenges also hinder securing funding for these initiatives. They include a lack of WASH-specific funding, stringent donor requirements, fragmented and incomplete information about WASH investment and its impacts, lack of comprehensive and reliable national baseline data, limited understanding of climate risks, limited awareness, and capacity among public officials, lack of technical expertise at CSO levels, and the unintegration of WASH, climate change, and disaster risk reduction policies. These challenges result in inadequate consideration of climate risks in WASH planning, leading to vulnerable infrastructure and discouraging further investment due to perceived high maintenance costs and reconstruction needs.

The current project seeks to unpack and address these challenges by advocating to generate debate for the integration of climate-resilient WASH into public sector policies and increasing the allocation of resources for these initiatives.

Planned Deliverables/Outputs

With Dates (Mandatory)

• Inception report along with the detailed implementation plan (15 days after the signing of the contract)
• Development of 4 Policy Briefs (September 2024)
• Policy Dialogues, 2 in Islamabad, one in Karachi and one in Lahore (dialogues in Islamabad will be held during September 2024, while in Lahore and Karachi will be held during October 2024)
• 6 podcasts related to the themes of policy papers (one each month starting from August 2024 till the end of January 2025)
• Participation in 3 TV shows (one will be held during October 2024, 2nd in December 2024, and 3rd in January 2025) 
• position papers/OPEDs (starting from September 2024 to December 2024)

Impact/Outcome Sought or Achieved (if any)

Outcome:

Through an increased knowledge and awareness, improved policy integration, and enhanced capacity, Pakistan will achieve sustainable water resource management, improved public health, and increased community resilience to climate change, aligning with SDG 6.