Improving access to infrastructure and services

Providing access and services to the poor involves addressing a number of diverse requirements. For example, the access and service needs of people with disabilities is different from the needs of any other. Practical Actions work during the past four years provided an insight to the poor and marginalised communities’ infrastructure and service requirements.

Our work in the past gave a special emphasis to the needs of communities affected by armed conflict, urban low income settlements and people with disabilities. By building effective partnerships between marginalised communities and the public and private sectors we could move towards developing plans that could deliver and sustain infrastructure services.

Work carried out by the theme Improving access to infrastructure and services focuses on improving poor communities access to basic services such as energy, transport, water, sanitation and shelter. In order to have an environment that allows mainstreaming community voices in the development process and to progress towards a system where there is increased access for the poor to infrastructure and services a number of initiatives are now underway. These initiatives or projects are: