Field visit to Jalalabad
Day: February 25-27, 2010
Gender Team (Geeta) and GMU (Daria)
Context: Taking forward the steps to gender mainstreaming in WSP, one of the
explorations is in the area of empowering women and strengthening their role in new
technologies identified for HWT such as the BSF. This exploration is one of the tangible
offshoots to the Balkh pilot assessment wherein both men and women expressed an
interest in improving role of women in WSP activities. The week long workshop on the
technical and operational aspects of BSF was attended by the Gender Adviser to get a
better understanding of the technology, manufacturing, operations and maintenance
aspects with the primary purpose of the potential it has for including women in roles in
addition to being the primary user and in community health promotion.
To assess the community’s experience of working with BSF, the GT & GMU team
members accompanied the WSP and CAWST teams to Jalalabad to join in with their user
interaction part of their schedule. The purpose was to meet women in select households
who are using the BSF; and also discuss with women members of the WSP team (the
hygiene education and community health promotion team) the real possibilities of
involving women in manufacturing aspects of the BSF-the opportunities, interests,
concerns and the hurdles. We visited women in 5 households in Behsud
What women said
In all of the HH, the women were the primary users (‘handlers’) of the BSF. There is one
woman in these HH who is trained by the community health person on the use and
maintenance of the BSF. She received the training on BSF usage directly from the
women Community health promoter.
Water Quality: On the quality of water, women said they find the water quality clearer
and hence better. They also remarked on the taste of the water which they said was
‘delicious’.
Water Quantity: In the households visited, user number was an average 15-18 people. In
addition they sometimes gave clean water to the neighbours. Except for one house, which
said it used the BSF water only for drinking purpose as the water collected was not
enough to meet other requirements, all other households found the water from BSF
adequate for their drinking and cooking purposes. It took 1 hour to fill a 20 litre can. The
HH filled the water atleast twice a day
Time saved: In terms of time saved from having a household filter, women said there is
no direct saving of time as the previous water source was a river close by or a well (still
being used) next to the point of BSF placement. The time saved was for them in the
reduced time they now had to spend on taking care of sick children who were previously
often getting ill due to bad quality of water.
Time usage: On being asked how they used the saved time, women responded saying it
was spent on doing household chores, especially looking after children and house
cleaning. One of them remarked that as she and her husband were tailors, she spent the
extra time in increasing her sewing work
Maintenance: women were also responsible for maintenance of the filter. They said they
cleaned the filter when they saw the colour of the water had changed slightly, which was
every day or every alternative day. The cleaning they did was the ‘swirl & dump’ method
Roles for Women: When asked if they thought they would like to participate more
actively in the manufacturing and maintaining of the BSF, their immediate response was
‘no’, as it would increase their HH burden. Yet when they realised that it would be a form
of income generation they were encouraged by the idea as increased income meant
improved better clothes, education, medicine for their family. They also said that given
that there is so much of work (‘always busy’), the new work has to blend in with their
existing household activities. The specific role discussed was in sand preparation for
BSF- a process that was explained to the women we met.
The concerns were at two levels they had to be working in their households/compounds so they could also do their
household work.
 permission from male members of their family
When asked that they did other kinds of work such as agricultural work, milking cows,
poultry, for them it was these melted into what they called ‘household work’. Sand
preparation work was seen as an external activity, for an outside agency.
It is important to note following points
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not all women we met were enthused by the idea. Some of them clearly stated their
satisfaction with the way things were i.e. men being the only earning members
we did not visit any women headed HH as the response of women in these
households would be different
in discussion with women members of the WSP provincial team, they agree with the
idea of exploring opportunities for women such as in sand preparation as it would be
one way to empower them. They indicated though that it would be meaningful and
easier to start this with widows or women headed households where the needs was
clear and higher was such opportunities
Internal Discussions
Post the field visit, discussions were held to explore what models might work to include
women in BSF. Sand preparation was identified and agreed as doable activity wherein
women could be involved as a starting point, with a view to empowering women and
improving their capacities and understanding of manufacturing and operational part of a
HWT. The operating model options discussed were-
Model#1:
Women collective/cooperatives: a group of women working on a women’s exclusive site
preparing sand. The sand is sold to DACAAR. There is a wage rate fixed per bag and
women get paid based on what they produce. The women are dropped and picked from
the site by DACAAR. Sand quality being the prime factor in the quality of filtration,
anchoring this within DACAAR will ensure control of this process. While the idea of a
registered cooperative is a long term aim, to start with we could have women’s collective
/group, which in time becomes independent and autonomous
Because women cannot be at the site all day log due to other responsibilities, there would
be number of women working on rotational basis (estimated 3-4 women/shift).
Strength:
 women would be able to have focused attention on the work.
 does not mix with their another HH responsibilities
 sand quality in DACAAR control
 DACAAR has existing experience of facilitating the setting up and running of women
collectives through WRC’s, women saffron associations, Zardozi
Weaknesses
 Women will not be open/permitted to be picked and dropped into work sites, far from
home
 DACAAR’s reputation may be questioned if it proposes that women members be
sent for work, away from homes
Other concerns raised
 Who will the contract be with? Who will sign it on behalf of women?
 How and what form of interaction will women have with other parts of the BSF
production chain esp how will the handover of sand happen? Who will check quality?
Model#2:
Household level: 2 or 3 households are contracted to do sand preparation. The contract is
done with the male members of the HH. Each house has a fixed number of sand units that
they have to produce /day/week. DACAAR arranges for sand to be picked and dropped at
the households. All interactions between DACAAR and the HH is with the male member.
The quality of sand is tested at the location of picking point
Strengths:
 Doable and men will agree to this
 Women may find it easier as it blends into their existing roles in the HH
Weakness
 No control on who all gets involved in this work, especially use of young children as
labour
 If male members continue to be in control of contract, wages etc, no real shift in role
of women as it just becomes an additional burden with no gender equity benefits.
Model #3
Existing manufacturing site: just like DACAAR is training technicians for the BSF in its
currently operating manufacturing unit in Jalalabad, instead of the sand preparation work
being done by men, offer the work in the current location to women from around the area.
Ensure that the area for sand peroration is effectively secluded and safe for women to
work in
Strengths
 Women are trained on site and are a available resource pool to further create interest
and motivate other women to set up the women unit for sand preparation
 It will be a pilot model and will help us assess the possibilities based on real ground
data
Weakness
 DACAAR doesn’t work in the area where the manufacturing unit is and hence
difficult to influence communities to have women work on the present site
 DACAAR’s motivations will be under suspect
 Men will not permit
 Women may not agree to leave their HH work to work onsite
Way Forward
While no decision was reached, Eng Haji Amin (Provincial Manager) agreed to pursue
the discussion further with the community elders and the engineers later in the next few
weeks to get their opinions
Other suggestions included1. Given the regional diversity across Afghanistan, and fewer restrictions on women in
terms of mobility and roles, the model of having women collectives may be more
viable in other areas and that east may not be the right place to start.
2. A focused, informed and inclusive process to share the proposed idea with
communities should be done wherein discussions are held with women, men,
religious heads, elderly women, CDCs and other influential/ strategic stakeholder.
3. While younger women may find it more difficult to be part of this, the process may
focus on widows and elderly women to start with as the restrictions on them are
fewer.
4. Similar discussion to be initiated in Mazar where the team will travel next and also
continue these talks within the core programme team members