Development Organisation of the Rural Poor (DORP), a non-governmental organisation has celebrated the receipt the ‘Water for Life’ award from the UN World Water Assessment Programme Unit, on Monday at a city restaurant for its outstanding contribution to the water and sanitation sector in rural Bangladesh.DORP got the award in recognition of its Health Village, Health Budget Monitoring Programme, WASH, Innovation and Practice Initiative, said DORP officials.
Sara Ahrari, Senior Programme Officer of SIMAVI unveiled the certificate of the UN award yesterday in presence of DORP Founder and Secretary General AHM Nouman.
Among others, Torsten Malmdorf, Senior Sector Advisor of Policy Support Unit under Ministry of Local Government, Mr. Abdul Qayyum, additional secretary in chare of Disaster Management, Ms Suraia Aziz, additional secretary, Ministry of Local Government, Mostafa Kamal Majumder, Editor of Greenwatch Dhaka and Zobair Hasan were present at the ceremony.
About 46 development organisations from various countries including Asia, Europe, Latin America, Caribbean, North America and Oceania presented their water related programmes and activities to the UN for the award that DORP has won, Zobair Hasan, Chief of DORP research cell said.
“DORP won the 3rd position in ‘B’ category as the lone development organisation from Bangladesh,” he said.
DORP has been implementing various programmes on water, sanitation and hygiene under ‘Health Village: Wash Monitoring Perspective’ in six upazilas of the coastal, haor, char and flood prone areas like Barguna, Bagerhat, Sirajganj, Lakshmipur and Kishoreganj.
The organisation has been implementing the innovative health village, wash monitoring programme since 2005 aiming to establish the rights of water, sanitation and hygiene of the rural poor and ensure transparency and accountability of the local government in spending budget in this sector.
Earlier in 2006 DORP won the chancellor award of South Australian University in recognition of the same programme.
