EDITORIAL ‘Building capacity on water and sanitation (WatSan) management ix Baneladesh 438 a prerequisite inthe present world simation where all people need to have ‘sustainable access to safe, relinble, and affordable water supply, sanitation and ‘solid waste manazement services. The GoB has declared a more optmisnic ‘Sanitation for All by 2010" which is beinz pursued by the concerted efforts from different NGOs, academicians, professionals and different other stakeholders to achieve the national sanitation zoal. Banzladesh has already achieved 88% ‘sanitation coverage as a consequence of implementinz “Sanitation for All by. 2010”. But the coverage is not beine implemented in parallel to the hard-to-seach areas like hor, tes earden, coastal zone and hilly areas. “Although, Bangladesh had achieved 97.6% coverage in the area of safe-water ‘supply, but the identification of arsenic in groundwater threatened the success of drinking water supply to come down ata very low coverage, yer different arsenic smitigational drives along with safe water supply initiatives have made it possible ‘to muaintain the coverage at 74%%, A perplexity arised that arsenic has been found ‘in the Deep Tubewell water. Bur so far conducted research on Deep Tubewell. ‘water do not support that arsenic can be found there. So, It is wery necessary 10 ‘carry out further extensive study whether Deep Tubewell water can be ‘contaminated by arsenic or not. Alongside arsenic contamination some other challenges like adverse effect of ‘climate change on WatSan, intrusion of saliniry and water logging in the southern [Part of the commtry, undermining factors for improved sanitation services in rural ‘Bangladesh especially obstacles in mwvolving VDCsSMC/PTA im planning aud ‘umplementation of WarSan project inthe schools, umsustammable developraznt practices, declining of groundwater table, iron concentration in groundwater, ‘difficulties inmanazing WatSan in the haor, tea garden, billy and rocky areas, ‘etc. Inthis prevatling situation the UN-declared Fnternational Decade for terion “Water for Life, 2005-2015” has been appeared just 25 a new hope for ‘Bangladesh in relation to water supply and basic sanitation promotion. ‘Despite high economic growth rates and increasing investment in infrasrucnure, ‘service delivery in Bangladesh water and sanitation secror remsins inadequate ‘Most citizens are affected, but the poor pay the highest price as they do nothave ‘he mesns to cope with and overcome the obstacles that prevent access to safe znd reliable services. The ruzal poople do not even have proper knowledge on water ‘and sanitstion crisis and management. So without building capacity at local & ‘national level snd without adequate funding on water snd sanitation management {ts not possible to achiove sustainable development. Mareaver, working ‘environment of the development process sbould be congenial for is long-term. ‘banefit, which must be participatory in nanare. So far, The Gos positive and decisive roles in formulating and ratifying ‘sectoral policies and stategies ive made significant davelopment. The National Policy for Safe Waar Supply & Sanitation bas been brought under uniform. ‘smplementation by major stkeholders, and many directions in the policy have ‘boon materialized. These pictures shaw us positive lights towards a better and. ‘susuinable WarSan tomarraw.WatSan An Exploration of Undermining Factors Influencing Willingness to Pay for Improved Sanitation Services in Rural Bangladesh Asa part of the study on ‘Willingness to Pay (WTP) for Sanitary Latrines’, field visit was undertaken at Dinajpur and Jessove districts. The objectives of the field visit were to 4) discuss with the local community to have = ‘better understanding of their existing Iatrine facilities. ii) discuss with the field level staff of WASH ‘programme about the opinions they have received from the respondents about the ‘reasons behind not having sanitary latrines at their premises. iii) gather information about WTP and Village Sanitation Center (VSC). Respondent's viewpoint: accessibility, acceptability nd strdbilty options can be used to explain consumer behavior. These factors are often used to understand the buyers” decision-making process, both individually and in roups. Respondent's viewpaint about payment mechanism- Most of the respondents showed keen interest in hhaving sanitary Iatrines. They mentioned economic hardship as the main constraint to buy latrine. Different views about the payment method came out from the discussions with the respondents. Monthly installment: Most preferred payment method according to the respondents is “Monsify Installment” Due to low income level and other socio-economic status respondents’ capability of “One time payment’ is really low. Most of them showed positive response to pay monthly installment for buying sanitary latrines, Upfront Payment: Some of the respondents agreed om “Upfront Payment’. Respondents who were interested in “Upfront Payment’, preferred to pay just after the harvesting season as they have cash in hand during that period. Shamim Ahmed Place of Purchase: Almost all the respondents expressed their dissatisfaction about the place of purchasing latrine materials. They specifically mentioned the following points regarding this Distance vs. Time and Cost: People said that the distance between their house and Village Sanitation Center is too mmch. They added in most of the cases they have to travel 8-9 kilometers to buy ting and slab. tis inconvenient due to the transportation cost as most of the respondents are unwilling to pay more than 40 taka for van fare. Moreover, they have to spend almost the whole day for this purpose and they do count the ‘opportunity cost of investing time for buying and installing latrines. Distance vs. Quality: Quality of ring and slab was questioned by almost all the respondents. In many cases low quality products prevented the respondents from buying those. Most of the respondents said that if the VSC is 8-9 kilometers away from the household, possibility is higher that ring and slab will be damaged. So, they do not want to go that far. Respondents want the VSCs to be established within 2-3 kilometers from their house They also asked for a free ‘home delivery service’ provided by the VSC if the distance is more than 3 kilometers. Information Gap: Almost half of the respondents were ‘unaware about the location of the VSC. Marketing strategies fiom the local VSC seemed to be non-existing. Quality of ring and slab was questioned bby almost all the respondents. The amount of loan given by different NGOs could be used for opening the outpost centers. In that case without investing much the existing centers will be able to produce quality products nearby the villages at the outpost centers and. vill be able to do good business. People will also be able to buy the products at an affordable price. Recommendations: 1, Payment method should have two provisions. A) Upfront Payment and B) Monthly Installment 2. Considering the socio economic condition of the respondents, some outpost centersof the existing Villare Sanitation Centers (VSCs) ‘might be established in locations suitable for the srespoudents to see the impact on the local market ‘Loans provided by NGOs could be used for this -punpose. 3. VSCs should start strong marketing strategy to ‘promote their materials and services in the locality. They ean also consider providing Van service/Home delivery for free or at cheap rate to the villagers which can be covered through the Policy Implication: (Considering the socio-economic condition of the respondents it cam be said that instead of establishing new VSCs, a rationale step will be to open outpost centers at different locations near the distant villages ‘by the existing centers. ‘The amount of loan BRAC provides (10,000 taka) can be used to open outpost centers. In that case without investing auch the existing Centers will be able to produce quality products nearby the villages at the ‘outpost Centers and will be able to do good business People will also be able to buy the products at an affordable price and at convenient distance NGOs can involve their micro credit programme to help the consumers buying ring and slab through convenient installments, Both monthly and weekly installments should be provided considering the economic well-being and need -based assessment of the respondents. While discussed about various issues wath the respondents to know about their preference of Payment methed and others it haz been seen that people make their decision based on availability, accessibility, acceptability and 2ffardability. (Considering these points in mind we would suggest, ‘model that shows people's preference to choose latrine facilities over the existing model, Diagram 1: Existing Village Samitatiom Model in Rural Bangladesh