Rainwater tanks and "Paani Apa" bring relief to women and families living in Bangladesh's southwest
In the southwestern region of Bangladesh, the water crisis during the dry season is a battle that every woman has to fight. Women of every household have to walk for hours to fetch water from sources far from their homes.
Raushan Ara Akhter, locally known as "Paani Apa", has received training to install rainwater harvesting systems and fix technical issues related to them. She now goes door-to-door, fixing the water tank pipelines of every house and cleaning the filters.
Under a project funded by the Green Climate Fund and supported by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), families in the vulnerable coastal upazilas of Koyra, Dakop, and Paikgachha in Khulna and Assasuni and Shyamnagar in Satkhira have been given a 2,000-litre water tank to collect rainwater, in an attempt to solve their drinking water crisis over crucial months.
"But many people do not know how to manage the filter properly. So I was given training on how to properly install and clean it, to ensure a steady supply of safe drinking water," said Raushan.
"All the families have my contact number. They can call me if they face any issue with the rainwater tank. I go immediately to fix it," said Raushan.
Read the story 'Water crisis in the Southwest: ‘Paani Apa’ to the rescue'
For more information on the UNDP-supported GCF-funded project 'Enhancing Adaptive Capacities of Coastal Communities, especially Women, to Cope with Climate Change-Induced Salinity in Bangladesh' (known locally as the 'Gender-responsive Climate Adaptation project, or GCA project), please click here.