Community Physical Infrastructure Initiative

In October 2001, SRSP got the Opportunity to pilot test many of these Ideas when DFlD requested it to join it in a partnership to work in eleven Districts of NWFP in collaboration with the newly established District Government. The project was aimed at building new forms of engagement between the citizen and the state by demonstrating new ways in which citizens voices are articulated and represented in the political process and re conceptualizing the meanings of a participation and citizenship in relationship to local governance. It was built around the water and sanitation sector.

The project formulation and Design began in mid October in the highly charged environment; whlch prevailed in Pakistan following the attack on Afghanistan by the Allied forces. The project was to build out the vast outreach, which SRSP had in the communities in NWFP across eleven districts. The project design was kept highly flexible because of the highly fluid political situation in Pakistan find the inability of anyone to predict the course, devolution will take in the country. While it was to originally focus on areas which were to receive large refugee in case the war in Afghanistan took a really ugly turn,) the shape the project ultimately took was that of assisting the devolved district governments at a time, when public expectation from them ran very high and they needed to respond to the public needs to retain their credibility.