Sector specialists have urged the government to ensure adequate allocation in the upcoming national budget for the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector.

They also called for equitable WASH services for all citizens.

The demand was made at a press conference held on Monday at the National Press Club, jointly organised by WaterAid Bangladesh, Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC), MHM Platform, Freshwater Action Network South Asia (FANSA), Bangladesh Faecal Sludge Management (FSM) Network and Sanitation and Water for All.

When speaking, Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman of PPRC said that access to WASH services is a basic human right and essential for sustainable public health and social development.

He noted that although the government has taken various policies and strategic plans for the WASH sector, recent trends in budget allocation are concerning.

From the fiscal year 2016–17, WASH sector funding had shown a positive trajectory, but that momentum stalled in FY 2023–24, with a 22.46% decrease from the previous year, he said.

The allocation dropped from Tk 182.28 billion in FY 2022–23 to Tk 139.72 billion in FY 2023–24. Though the revised FY 2023–24 budget saw a modest 7.22% increase to Tk 149.81 billion, the proposed budget for FY 2024–25 reflects another 22.46% cut.

This downward trend poses a serious challenge to ensuring safe water and sanitation for the citizens of the nation.

Fayazuddin Ahmad, Policy and Advocacy lead at WaterAid Bangladesh, criticised the inconsistency in budget allocation for vulnerable regions such as hill tracts, coastal areas and haor areas.

While coastal allocations increased slightly in FY 2023–24 due to new projects, equitable distribution among all high-risk regions remains unaddressed, he said.

He added that such a pattern does not align with the government’s pledge to ensure safe water and sanitation for all.

During the briefing they placed the following key recommendations:

·         Ensure equitable WASH allocations across rural and urban areas, towns and remote regions.

 ·         Sub-sectors like sanitation and hygiene, along with projects like FSM, solid waste management and climate-resilient initiatives, should receive proportionate and fair increases under the ADP.

 ·         Promote inclusive WASH investments that uphold women's rights and ensure fair budget allocations for marginalised groups including tea workers, river gipsy (Bede) Dalits, Harijans, Jaladas and others.

 ·        Enhance project implementation capacity to ensure timely budget utilization and reduce the risk of budget cuts in revised allocations.

 ·        Stabilise WASH budgeting by aligning increases with ADP growth to avoid erratic fluctuations in funding.

 ·         Encourage WASH-centric climate financing across all 25 relevant ministries, incorporating risk communication and community engagement (RCCE) strategies, along with community capacity-building initiatives.