Type of Change: New/further knowledge gained
Boundary Level: Community
Summary/Theme: Working with civil society and local government from Bangladesh to enhance awareness on the nexus between WASH and climate change through workshops and campaigns
Cap-Net Bangladesh conducted ‘National Level Training on Climate Change, Water and Health’. Mr. Mahbub Alam, Programme officer at the Association for Social Development in Bangladesh (ASDB), was a participant. During the training, Mahbub learned that entire communities in Bangladesh were being displaced in search of access to available drinking water due to increasing salinization. He also learned about different adaptative technologies, such as reverse osmosis and bio-sand filtration, are being used in coastal regions to address this.
Eager to share these possible solutions with communities, Mahbub, along with the ASDB, organized consultation meetings to raise the awareness of government officials, development practitioners and local community members on the climate change, water and health nexus. The meetings brought clarity and solutions: the ASDB and Mahmud started a project called ‘Safe Ground Water’, to advocate for the protection of water supply. Thanks to the project, the local government was prompted to end trade licenses with companies that were negatively impacting ground water supply systems in those districts.
Mahbub highlighted that the training helped him enhance his overall project management skills, which he has applied and shared to make water resource management more resilient and in turn protect the health of vulnerable communities in Bangladesh.
