Improving access to services

International programme: access to infrastructure services

Poor people are often excluded from essential services such as water, sanitation, energy, education and health - as well as lacking adequate shelter.

Improving access to services for poor people is one of Practical Action's key strategic aims. Practical Action works with poor people throughout the world to build on their skills and local knowledge, and to use appropriate technology, to improve their lives.

Locally-managed, sustainable and decentralised services offer low-income communities the best hope of satisfying their need for affordable water, sanitation, housing and energy.

The following projects demonstrate some of the ways that Practical Action is improving access to services - which include energy, transport, shelter, waste, water and sanitation, and information services - and show how locally managed, decentralised solutions are often the most appropriate to the needs of the poor:

Slum improvement An integrated approach to slum improvement in Bangladesh includes better waste collection, improved latrines, water filters and new income generation. Gravity ropeways Depending solely on gravitational force - and using no external power - gravitational ropeways are simple and inexpensive to operate as well as environmentally friendly.

Toilets without water Bio-latrines are "dry" toilets that require no water to work. In areas where water is scarce, such as Kitale in Kenya, they have helped to keep schools open. Animal-drawn carts in Sudan A simple donkey cart allows a Sudanese farmer to transport all his produce to market in one trip, saving packing costs and journey times.

Practical Action's Improving Access to Services programme is one of four international programmes through which we carry out our project work. The others are Reducing vulnerability, Making markets work for the poor and Responding to new technologies.