United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), Punjab

Poor access to safe drinking water, lack of adequate environmental sanitation and poor hygiene are still major threats for survival of Pakistani Children. Deteriorating water quality both bacterial and chemical especially arsenic is a very serious issue faced in Punjab province. About half of girl primary schools in Punjab do not have access to WES facilities in primary schools which is thought to be one of the contributing factors for high drop out of children from schools. The overall objective of the Water, Environment and Sanitation (WES) Programme is to increase primary school enrolment and retention in 2 districts. The Programme has three projects of School Water Environment and Sanitation (School WES), Water Quality & Management and Community WES. The WES interventions in schools will include support to provision of safe water and sanitary latrines in girl primary schools, capacity development of SMCs and teachers, hygiene education amongst others.

The primary focus of water quality and management will be on arsenic mitigation in the affected districts. Hygiene promotion and establishing open defecation free model villages will be primary focus of community WES in these two districts.

to contribute to water quality and water resource management;

to promote household latrines and improved hygiene practices in rural areas in two districts; and

to enhance preparedness and response in emergencies with a focus on provision of safe water and promotion of improved hygiene practices.