| 
The
Aga Khan Planning and Building Services (AKPBS) works to
improve the built environment, particularly housing design
and construction, village planning, natural hazard mitigation,
environmental sanitation, water supplies, and other living
conditions. AKPBS achieves these goals through the provision
of material and technical assistance and
construction management services for rural and urban areas.
News
Archive
World
Habitat Award for Aga Khan Planning and Building Service
in Pakistan
The
Aga Khan Planning and Building Service, Pakistan (AKPBS,
P) has received the World Habitat Award 2006 for its efforts
to improve housing conditions in Pakistan through its Building
and Construction Improvement Programme (BACIP). The programme
has developed low-cost, seismic-resistant, energy and resource-efficient
housing construction methods and standards. Over 15,000
fuel-efficient products have been installed in 7,000 households
to date, benefiting more than 50,000 people. BACIP has been
listed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)-Global
Environmental Facility (GEF)/ Small Grants Programme (SGP)
as Best Practice in UNDP/GEF-SGP 10 years of operations
in Pakistan. For more information, please see the press
release.
"Clean
Village" Award for AKPBS Project in India
The
Indian village of Karan, in the Gujarat's taluka of Siddhpur,
will receive the "Nirmal Gram" Award. The project
to make the village "nirmal" (clean) was undertaken
with the assistance of the Aga Khan Planning and Building
Services, India, with the full cooperation of the Patan
district's rural development committee. Karan has a population
of 766 people and 130 families. Each home has a toilet facility
and underground sewerage. There have also been changes in
common practice that have led to improved health.
AKPBS
Wins Alcan Prize for Water and Sanitation Programme
| |
|
AKPBS was named the 2005 winner of the US $1 million
Alcan Prize for Sustainability. For more information,
please see the press
release
|
On
7 December 2005, The Aga Khan Planning and Building Service
in Pakistan (AKPBS,P) was named the 2005 winner of the US
$1 million Alcan Prize for Sustainability by the Prince
of Wales International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF). It
received the award for its efforts to improve Pakistan’s
built environment and water and sanitation facilities. Launched
in 1997, the programme's aim is to reduce the risk of water-borne
diseases through the provision of potable water as well
as improved hygiene and sanitation practices. The success
of this programme has led to a partnership between AKPBS,P
and the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund. As a result,
the programme is being replicated in several other areas
with the support of donors and partners. For more information,
please see the press
release.
Introduction
AKPBS acts through national service companies.
The service companies plan, organise and finance activities
and operate facilities and programmes in close collaboration
with other AKDN institutions, government agencies and selected
external partnering agencies. The national service companies
are officially registered as not-for-profit, non-governmental
organisations in each country. The international sponsor
of the national service companies is the Aga Khan Planning
and Building Services S.A., which is incorporated as a not-for-profit
company in Geneva, Switzerland. The Chairman and some or
all of the directors of the AKPBS boards in India and Pakistan
are appointed by the sponsoring company. All directors serve
as volunteers on an unremunerated basis.
The activities of the national service companies
are coordinated by the Social Welfare Department at the
Aga Khan's Secretariat in France. This is achieved primarily
through five-year plans, ten-year projections, annual budget
submissions and the provision of technical assistance to
country programmes and institutions.
Current priorities
The
current priorities of AKPBS are:
- to
remain a lead agency in Asia for water and sanitation
programme design and implementation in the rural areas;
- to
expand capabilities to implement village mapping and planning
activities to include disaster mitigation (landslides
and flooding prevention, and earthquake structural resistance)
and management issues; and
- to
achieve optimal cost-recovery methods for low-cost housing
and physical infrastructure improvement projects.
Pakistan
The
Aga Khan Planning and Building Service, Pakistan (AKPBS,P),
established in 1980, is an independent executive body with
the mandate to plan and implement infrastructure and technology
related development initiatives to improve living conditions
of the people. AKPBS,P is mandated to assist local communities
within various provinces and regions, such as the Northern
Areas of Pakistan, The Punjab, North West Frontier Province
(NWFP) and Sindh in development program areas such as habitat
risk reduction, energy efficient building and construction
improvement, water supply and sanitation, and natural resources
conservation.
AKPBS,P takes an integrated, community-based
approach to sustainable development while its development
programmes address not only the immediate needs of clean
water, adequate sanitation and safe housing, but also, the
overall impact that these initiatives have on the economic,
social and environmental sustainability. Poverty alleviation,
environmental sustainability, gender equality, and economic
regeneration are corner stones of AKPBS,P activities. Capable,
proficient, vibrant and self-reliant community based organisations
underpin all AKPBS,P’s developmental interventions.
AKPBS,P undertakes the delivery of services in collaboration
with local and national development agencies, community-based
organisations and donors to have an extended outreach. Two
of the AKPBS,P’s development programmes: Water and
Sanitation Extension Programme (WASEP)-providing an integrated
approach of water and sanitation, and Building and Construction
Improvement Programme (BACIP)-providing life cycle approach
to household energy efficiency, market development and entrepreneurship
have been universally commended by local communities, public
sector organisations and donors for having a visible impact
on the lives of the community in terms of economic benefits,
social improvement, and environmental rehabilitation. In
both cases, technical and engineering solutions have been
supported by social innovations and human resource development
solutions.
AKPBS,P, at present, is actively engaged
in the relief and reconstruction efforts of local communities
following the catastrophic earthquake in Kashmir and NWFP
province of Pakistan. Within the relief phase, AKPBS,P has
provided temporary shelters, water supply, and sanitation
facilities to affected communities and villages. A comprehensive
reconstruction programme encompassing permanent seismic
resistant housing, environmental health, community capacity
building, and livelihood opportunities is planned to commence
shortly.
AKPBS,P has been named as the 2005 winner
of the US $1.0 million Alcan Prize for Sustainability by
the Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum
(IBLF), for promoting sustainable social, economic and environmental
development in the country through its efforts to improve
the built environment and water and sanitation services.
The Water and Sanitation Extension programme (WASEP)
Approximately 80 to -85 percent of the population
of Northern Areas of Pakistan and the Chitral in the NWFP
province does not have access to potable water, whereas
up to 60 percent of the population collects water from open
channels, often requiring a walk of up to 3 km a trip several
times a day. Women and children are mostly responsible to
collect most of the household water and hence bear the most
burden.
WASEP was initiated in 1997 with the aim
of providing integrated water supply infrastructure services
to local communities and to help prevent water related diseases
though improved hygiene and sanitation practices. Development
of community capacity in design and maintenance of these
services is a key element of WASEP’s integrated approach.
Communities also take the responsibility of the operation
& maintenance of the scheme, as well as contribute to
a fund for salaries of community scheme based operators,
health monitors, and spare parts. WASEP provides engineering
and construction services, non-local materials, skilled
labor, training, and health and hygiene education during
the scheme implementation. WASEP’s integrated intervention
package includes:
- Community mobilization and participation;
- Potable water supply infrastructure;
- Water quality management;
- Grey water drainage infrastructure;
- Household sanitation infrastructure
and
- Health and hygiene education, including
Community Health Intervention Programme and School Health
Intervention Programme
Until June 2005, WASEP had successfully
partnered with 130 rural communities of the Northern Areas
and Chitral region in developing water supply and sanitation
infrastructure services. WASEP has supplied potable water
to 116,900 people, installed 9,200 latrines, and conducted
5,700 hygiene education sessions, generally with women and
children in rural communities, and has trained about 50
public sector and other NGO staff in the design and operation
of integrated water and sanitation services.
Some of the key achievements
of WASEP after eight years of intervention through its integrated
W&SS approach include:
- It is observed that the level of water
borne diseases in WASEP’s programme villages has
gone down by an average of 60 percent
- The March 2003 issue of the Bulletin
of the World Health Organisation (WHO) states that WASEP
integrated intervention package has reduced the diarrhea
incidences by at least 25 percent
- Successful demonstration of workable
and replicable Private-Public Partnership model
- All of the 130 water supply schemes developed
by WASEP are currently operational and being run and operated
by communities who also have contributed approximately
US$ 1.85 Million in kind and in cash towards its construction
and the operation and maintenance fund. More over, in
all such communities:
- Water quality is at an acceptable
level (85 percent of schemes to WHO standard)
- Water treatment plants are fully
operational
- Microbiological contamination is
minimised
- Water Supply Operators and Water
and Sanitation Inspectors are performing their duties
- Water and Sanitation Committee
are administrating the water management system, and;
- Communities are aware of how to have
system maintenance performed
The Building and Construction Improvement Programme
(BACIP)
Energy
efficient products and Technologies as a means to natural
resources conservation and improved livelihood
The Northern Areas of Pakistan are disaster
prone, located in a seismically unstable zone. Degradation
of natural resources, especially loss of foliage and vegetation
cover at an alarming rate has caused land degradation and
soil destabilization, resulting in increasing loss of life
and livelihood opportunities.
High pace depletion of natural forest in
mountain areas is due to rapid and sustained cutting of
the forests, mainly as timber for house construction and
firewood for heating. An estimated 15 percent of all household
income is spent on heating, cooking and house maintenance
needs.
Building and Construction Improvement programme
(BACIP), established in 1997 as a research and extension
programme has introduced over 70 products and technologies
in local communities where approximately 15,000 energy efficient
and living condition improvement products etc have been
installed in various households.
When applied, such techniques and products
can, on average :
- Reduce biomass consumption of up to 60
percent -app. 3.3 tons/ per month or US $ 30-36 / month
(Pak RS 1,800-2,200/ month).
- Incidence of ARI, pneumonia and other
health related disease in women and children are reduced
up to 50 percent (especially during winters)
- Save health related household expenditure
amounts to approximately US $ 58/ annum
- Increase household disposal income by
25 percent
- Reduce recurring house maintenance cost
by 10 percent
Some of BACIP’s standard products
inlcude:
- Roof hatch window, double glazed windows
which allows for more light, conserves heat;
- Fuel-efficient stoves with water warming
facility with the same amount of fuel.
- Floor insulation, wall insulation and
roof treatment techniques for thermal efficiency
- Light-weight and low-cost galvanized
iron wire reinforcements for walls to strengthen housing
structures against earthquakes and encourage multi-storey
construction.
- Wooden bow-string composite beam for
earthquake proof light roof construction reducing timber
use in roof construction by 500 percent/ roof
- Solar cookers and solar water heaters
for fuel conservation.
- Bedding racks and shelving to protect
items from dampness dust and dirt
- Fanoos (candle wick lamp) for energy
conservation in indoor lighting
- Household level Bio-gas plants for alternative
energy source for cooking and water heating
- Locally adaptable Arch foundation construction
techniques to address construction in high water table
area
The BACIP programme activities have recently
been accorded a Global Best Practice status by the UNDP/
GEF Small Grants programme.
India
Aga Khan Planning and Building Service,
India (AKPBS,I) has been active since 1970. A major element
of AKPBS,I's programmes has been the installation of sanitation
units in the villages of Gujarat state. AKPBS,I also assists
communities with the improvement of village water systems,
the construction of water harvesting systems, and water
quality monitoring. AKPBS,I also provides technical advice
in design, construction and financing. For more information
of the number of installations and beneficiaries, please
see the table.
Central
Asia
Making use of the experiences in Pakistan
and India, there are advanced plans for the establishment
of AKPBS companies in both Afghanistan and Tajikistan.
|
