Access to infrastructure services programme

Practical Action Bangladesh

On the issue of poverty, technology and services, poor people are excluded from essential infrastructure facilities, such as water, sanitation, energy, transport, waste, education, health as well as lacking adequate shelter. The trend to privatise basic services has also increased costs for many poor people, and small scale service providers tend to be under- resourced and expensive.

Practical Action Bangladesh's Access to Infrastructure programme aims to increase poor people's access to, control over and choice of appropriate and sustainable infrastructure services through building effective partner-ships between marginalized people and the public and private sectors. The programme promotes innovative models of pro-poor service delivery, having a positive impact on livelihoods. The programme also advocates to policies, regulations and finance models for infrastructure services to make them more accessible for the poor.

The priority areas of interventions are:

• Housing and shelter 
• Technology for solid waste management
• Rural transport
• Clean, sustainable renewable energy
• Water and sanitation services
• Technology for locally managed communication services

In Bangladesh, the following projects are being implemented under the programme:

• Improved river transport in the char areas of Faridpur
• Reducing of greenhouse gas emissions through the dissemination of cook stoves in Bangladesh
• Environmental initiatives, waste management and technology dissemination in Bangladesh
• Understanding urban livelihoods: project experiences
• Integrated approaches to improving the urban environment in Asia

Practical Action's international Access to Infrastructure Services programme