We’re working to transform opportunities and living standards in seven villages across Tharparkar in Sindh province, Pakistan through an integrated programme. In Sindh, an estimated 64% of people rely on unimproved water sources, and almost 30% of children are malnourished. Our programme combines several different types of projects, such as water, hygiene, food security, and sustainable livelihoods, to provide well-rounded solutions to the causes of poverty in each village, which drastically improve the quality of life in entire communities for years to come.
After piloting the transformation of one village in Tharparkar – to remarkable improvement in health, livelihoods, and nutrition, we’re now replicating this success in seven more villages. We consult with local communities and organisations to select the villages where this project will make the most impact, and work with them to provide innovative, life-changing solutions.
In each supported village in Tharparkar – which host an average of 1,626 people – we’re installing solar-powered water pumps and street lights.
There will be separate community toilets for men and women, respecting cultural practices and protecting women and girls. We’re also training villagers to adapt to changing weather patterns, and to sustainably grow food in kitchen gardens. Through animal vaccination and de-worming, we’re helping farmers’ livestock to stay healthy, ensuring a secure and sustainable income.
Every village member will have direct access to clean, safe water and sanitation facilities, as well as the means to grow food and sell crops to earn a living, giving them the tools to be self-sufficient year after year.
We’ve already transformed 18 villages for 30,000 in Tharparkar, and we’ve got big plans to support 27 more, helping 43,200 more.
In order to ensure the long-term impact of this project, we’re founding and training a local committee who will manage and maintain the new facilities. All of our projects use locally-sourced materials making it easy to repair and replace parts in the future. Once we’ve completed the project, we monitor and assess the progress of each community do that we can improve our future projects and continue to support the most vulnerable.
How much is our admin fee?
When you donate £1, just 9p goes into keeping Human Appeal running.
Another 13p goes back into raising funds – this allows us to be ready to raise awareness at a moment’s notice when tragedy strikes. Between 2019 and 2021, we grew our income by a huge 186%, allowing us to support an extra 2.8 million people, by raising funds through that small 13 pence.
Finally, and most importantly, 78p out of every £1 you donate goes straight to helping the most vulnerable people.
Charity is a gift, offering endless mercy to those who give, as well as mercy to the vulnerable people who receive it. Our admin fee helps us to get your donation to where you intended it. That’s why we like to think of it as the stamp on the envelope of your mercy.
How does our admin fee support this project?
It costs £3,500 to transform the life of one person in these villages – and the portion of your donation that goes towards admin costs makes a huge, impactful difference in every community.
The admin portion of your donation is what allows us to hire specialists in agriculture, climate resilience, and clean water provision, making each project safe and sustainable. It’s what helps us to monitor progress, continuously evaluate and learn, allowing us to improve project quality and to report all of our work back to you with transparency.
It’s what allows us to train our staff to protect those we support from gender-based violence, child abuse and exploitation. It means that all our staff are trained in corruption and whistleblowing, and agree to our code of conduct and protection and safeguarding policies.
We train all our staff working with beneficiaries on further protection principles, safeguarding, and gender equality.
When we hire any new staff we perform background checks and check their safeguarding history with previous employers.
The safety of the people we help as our ultimate priority, and none of these checks, training, or policies would be possible without our admin fee.
Our admin fee is what creates safe, lasting, sustainable impact.
Let’s hear from Aamir, Human Appeal Pakistan’s Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Manager on why our admin fee is so important to our integrated project in Tharparkar.
Aamir joined Human Appeal in 2013. He has a Masters in Project Management, and accreditations in WASH for emergencies, management of safe drinking water and sanitation, project planning, and financial management.
His team includes highly-qualified civil engineers, architects, food security specialist and water experts who work together, and with the government, organisations, and research institutes to ensure that all aspects of this project are safe, sustainable, and impactful.
I manage all our water projects in Pakistan, from design right through to implementation, providing technical support to installation team. I make sure that our projects are continuously improving and developing innovative solutions, while staying cost-effective and efficient.
The advanced knowledge of our team here in Pakistan allows us to develop technically sound projects that are safe and stand the test of time. It’s what ensures that our projects comply with international safety and sustainability standards, such as the Do No Harm principle. For example, our gender and safeguarding experts ensure women, children, older people, and other vulnerable groups are included, and that our projects dedicate resources to meet their specialised needs with dignity.
In my capacity as a water expert, I help to ensure our projects are designed for the local environment, located in areas safe from contamination, and that they are water and energy efficient, helping to ensure that the project continues to benefit the community for years to come, without negative side-effects.
Why are integrated projects so impactful?
Based on our research in the field, we developed our Tharparkar integrated project, which has made communities more resilient and self-reliant by combating the key causes of poverty, child and maternal mortality, malnutrition, and food insecurity.
An integrated project holistically transforms a community. For example, if we only provided these villages with clean water points, but we didn’t work to improve community awareness about handwashing and open defecation, then the village would still practice poor hygiene, despite having clean water available to them, which, in turn, would affect their health. If we provided them a sustainable clean water source, but didn’t provide training on drought mitigation or agricultural techniques then they would still suffer the effects of drought and be unable to grow the plants and food that they need.
Integrated projects also make sense for organisations. Not only do we build independence in a community by focusing on building all their resources, but we also minimize our costs, working in one location for a period of time and maximising value-for-money to our donors.
The impact of this project isn’t just limited to the villages we work in; we train villagers as community resource persons, giving them the skills to train others to replicate our project. Today, many neighbouring villages have benefited, replicating our project independently. We involve the community throughout the process and have a thorough complaint feedback mechanism.
Finally, we’ve developed a set of performance indicators that help us to continuously monitor and improve our work, correcting our project as needed, while continuing to learn. We innovatively adapt our programmes based on evidence, delivering high-impact, cost-effective projects.
What difference do your experts really make? Aren’t they just a waste of money?
Absolutely not. In fact, the opposite is true. Without experts, our projects wouldn’t stand the test the time, and we’d be back doing the same projects in a few months. Our specialists design effective solutions tailored to each community.
For example, a water engineer surveys the ground to select a safe site where there’s plenty of water for the community. Any charity who digs a borehole or well without surveying the ground could put the community at risk with unclean water, or waste all their resources building a well in an area that will dry up in a few months.
As another example, our food security and agriculture specialists ensure the crops we grow and seeds we provide are drought-resistant and consume less water than plants which wouldn’t survive extreme temperatures or drought spells. Without them, a kitchen garden project is setting itself up to fail, and to let the community down with improper agricultural resources and advice.
How this project empowered women
Socially, the responsibility to collect water falls on women and girls in the communities we support in Tharparkar. Typically, they have to walk 3 kilometers to fetch water, and must undertake this journey several times a day. By installing water points close to each home, we drastically reduce this labour, freeing up time for women and girls to earn a living or attend school.
Prior to our intervention, women and girls would relieve themselves in open fields after dark; our latrines provide a safe, private space for women and girls, reducing their vulnerability to violence and unsafe hygiene practices. This project is helping to transform lives by reducing inequality between men and women, providing equal access to resources and services, including decision making processes, community institutions and livelihood opportunities.
With plenty of female staff in our office, we ensure that they take the lead on projects involving women and girls where cultural norms could make it uncomfortable for our beneficiaries to speak to or work with men.
We have a thorough and open tendering process and our technical staff monitor, correct, and document any risks. We have midterm and annual audits from external firms which we share with our stakeholders. Our feedback mechanism with well-developed and works successfully to ensure buy-in from the communities we help.
35-year-old Noor lives with her husband and five children in Sarrah village in Tharparkar, where we have already implemented this integrated project. We spoke to her before the intervention:
“We don’t have basic life essentials, like electricity, gas, water and infrastructure… my husband doesn’t have a regular job, sometimes he works in daily labour. I support my family too through embroidery work.
“Because of our lack of resources we live hand-to-mouth and we can’t fulfil the basic needs of our children… due to eating less nutritious food they are weak, and during winter they get ill and need medical treatment, which is difficult for us.
“The main problem in our area is poverty, and the lack of resources. We don’t have ways to earn a living here.”
But how has our integrated project helped Noor?
“Human Appeal installed a solar powered water pump… now we’re very happy that we have access to water right on our doorstep. They also provided us with seeds for each season, and helped us to start kitchen gardens, with tools and a trainer.
“My husband and I started kitchen gardening, and we were surprised that after two months we had green vegetables in our home, my children are also happy to eat the meals they love on a daily basis.
“It used to be difficult for us to get fresh vegetables, but now my children are getting healthy and my husband is also able to sell our extra vegetables to others for a profit.
“I’m very grateful to all those who supported us for their efforts to reduce the difficulties we face, and I request that you continue this project among other vulnerable people in our area.”
