Draft Minutes 11th WASH Cluster FATA Meeting

Draft Minutes 11th WASH Cluster FATA Meeting
The 11th meeting of WASH Cluster FATA was held at WatSan Cell/ LG & RDD, Peshawar on February 15th, 2012 at 10:30 am under the co-chairmanship of Mr. Jamal Shah, FATA WASH Cluster Coordinator, Mr. Hikmat Sher, Design Engineer PHED FATA & Mr. Said Rehman, Coordinator WatSan Cell, LG & RDD. The WASH Cluster Coordinator welcomed the participants. After recitation from Holy Quran and brief introduction, agenda items were taken up for discussion;
KP/ FATA IDPs updates:
An update on the KP/ FATA situation was given by WASH Cluster Coordinator. He updated members that currently 3 IDPs camps are functional in KP & FATA, of these 2 camps Jalozai & Togh Sarai are in KP & one New-Durrani is in FATA. He informed that in Jalozai Camp IDPs has a population of 44,000 Individuals including the fresh influx from Khyber agency while Togh Sarai Camp has 1100 families from Orakzai Agency. He said that government is registering all the IDPS with an option that either live in camp or off-camp. NFIs are distributed to everyone. About New Durrani Camp in Kurram Agency he informed that 3556 families are residing in the camp. He informed that UNICEF is providing WASH services in all the 3 camps. He also informed that funding constraints has been a huge issue for last couple of months and currently funds are available until April for Jalozai & Togh Sarai camps for WASH services. About New Durrani camp he informed that funds for WASH services are available until June. He said that the nature in camps is quite different & 100 % WASH facilities has to be provided to camps residents while off- camps IDPs has different scenarios. He also said that in DIK/Tank/Kohat & Hangu around 4, 50,000 off-camps IDPS are residing. This figure may fluctuate he added.
Assessments:
WASH Cluster Coordinator informed that last year a WASH Cluster survey was conducted by NESPAK Consultants in 6 southern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa financed by UNICEF. He told that this was a broad survey and assessment. He said that the results of this survey were presented to Donors. He briefly explained that the survey results and said that issues like Sources of Water, Water Quality, Water fetching and Water Storage Status etc were asked in the survey. He shared one of his visits experience with the forum about assessments and said that he met Orakzai IDPs in Kohat & said that all IDPs thought soap was a luxury & they could not afford it. He was of the view that normally the survey results did not reflect an issue but still the issue is there. He referred to the AWD and said that in cold weather it’s normally un-noticed but in summers it’s a huge issue meaning that water quality is all round the year is an issue but surveys & assessments in the months of January/ February did not reflect it. He informed that Donors normally ask the evidence. He also informed that IDPs normally move from one place to another and year old assessment do not remain valid. Assessments are important tools for any area issues and should be meaningful he added. He mentioned that any assessment should include the current status of services? What are problems/ or issues? And how much funding is required to rectify the issues? He said that IRC-IVAP has conducted an assessment & want to utilize its WASH portion. A query was made about the guidelines for an assessment. He was replied that guidelines are normally generalized information’s and every area/ place has its own specific issues, e.g., an assessment recommends hand pumps in a certain area & hand pumps are not suitable there as we seen in flood disasters that contaminated water was available through hand pumps in a few districts. He also said that articulate WASH needs in assessments. Another point was made regarding the assessments in FATA that security agencies normally did not understand the assessments surveys & organizations are asked to submit their assessments.
IVAP presentation:
Mr. Moiz Ahmed gave a presentation on IVAP. The following points were discussed:
• IVAP achievements;
• IVAP Data Set;
• Current needs of IDPs families in WASH;
• WASH needs of returnees;
• Water availability & water fetching;
He told the forum that all information relating to IVAP is available on website www.ivap.org.pk.
He also informed the forum that after registering with IVAP on website the users can generate reports according to their needs.
It was acknowledged that IVAP has useful data and priority areas e.g. no water areas should be prioritized from IVAP, similarly areas with 1st need water should also be prioritized from IVAP.
A view was raised that if IVAP data could be converted to GIS. On this point red alert areas from IVAP co-related to DEWS & epidemiological data analysis from BHUs was discussed. Miss Irum of IVAP suggested that IVAP will provide the data & mapping should be done by WASH Cluster. She also pointed out the issue of 10,000 IDPs recognized by Govt/UNHCR for WASH services. IVAP also requested the forum for help in security inaccessible areas. KADO informed the forum that 5 staff members were allowed for Hangu with IVAP team and all possible support was extended.
AoB:
1. The forum participants were asked about the frequency of the meetings whether it should be a regular feature or issue based meetings. It was decided that it should issue based meetings & when need arise WASH partners will intimate the Cluster Coordinator to convene a meeting.
2. Mr. Arif Nawaz, Program Officer WASH, RAPID Fund, CONCERN Worldwide informed the forum about the RAPID Fund Call for Proposals.
3. Mr. Tariq Khattak, UWOCD informed the forum about the WASH needs in the neglected areas of Tehsil Mamond.
4. NOC vetting issues were highlighted by Mr. Mukhtar & Mr. Ishfaq of IRC & queried about their NOC vetting for district Dir Lower. Action Point: Mr. Jamal Shah to discuss the IRC NOC issue with PDMA.

Meeting ended with vote of thanks.