AKU-ISMC researcher Dr Jeff Tan has been awarded a £280,000 grant from the British Academy for an ambitious research partnership. Working with AKU-ISMC's Head of Educational Programmes, Professor Stephen Lyon and Professor Attaullah Shah, Vice Chancellor of Karakoram International University, Dr Tan will lead a research project focussed on the Aga Khan Agency for Habitat's (AKAH) Water and Sanitation Extension Programme (WASEP) in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan.
The research will look at scaling up and transferring community-managed rural water systems to urban settings. Access to clean water and sanitation (SDG6 ) is central to health and wellbeing (SDG3) , particularly for the poor. However, capital investment in water in the Global South has been undermined by the failure to finance operations and maintenance because some households often cannot, or are unwilling to, pay.
The successful operation of over 400 community-managed rural water projects covering over 100,000 households in northern Pakistan by AKAH has led to the introduction of community-managed urban water schemes. This research examines two WASEP urban water schemes in Gilgit, to assess the viability of this community-managed model and if it can be scaled up and transferred to other urban settings. It brings together researchers in economics, anthropology and engineering, together with development practitioners and other experts, to identify how economic, social, cultural and technical factors affect the sustainability and impact of community-managed water systems.
Dr Tan said: "The project is interdisciplinary and collaborative, bringing together researchers and development practitioners from the social sciences (economics and anthropology) and engineering sciences in the UK (AKU-ISMC) and Pakistan (Karakoram International University, AKAH). We are delighted to be working in partnership with AKU entities (ISMC and IED) and AKDN entities (AKU and AKAH).
This research is funded by the British Academy's Urban Infrastructures of Well-Being 2019 Programme, supported under the UK Government's Global Challenges Research Fund.
AKU-ISMC researcher Dr Jeff Tan has been awarded a £280,000 grant from the British Academy for an ambitious research partnership. Working with AKU-ISMC's Head of Educational Programmes, Professor Stephen Lyon and Professor Attaullah Shah, Vice Chancellor of Karakoram International University, Dr Tan will lead a research project focussed on the Aga Khan Agency for Habitat's (AKAH) Water and Sanitation Extension Programme (WASEP) in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan.
The research will look at scaling up and transferring community-managed rural water systems to urban settings. Access to clean water and sanitation (SDG6 ) is central to health and wellbeing (SDG3) , particularly for the poor. However, capital investment in water in the Global South has been undermined by the failure to finance operations and maintenance because some households often cannot, or are unwilling to, pay.
The successful operation of over 400 community-managed rural water projects covering over 100,000 households in northern Pakistan by AKAH has led to the introduction of community-managed urban water schemes. This research examines two WASEP urban water schemes in Gilgit, to assess the viability of this community-managed model and if it can be scaled up and transferred to other urban settings. It brings together researchers in economics, anthropology and engineering, together with development practitioners and other experts, to identify how economic, social, cultural and technical factors affect the sustainability and impact of community-managed water systems.
Dr Tan said: "The project is interdisciplinary and collaborative, bringing together researchers and development practitioners from the social sciences (economics and anthropology) and engineering sciences in the UK (AKU-ISMC) and Pakistan (Karakoram International University, AKAH). We are delighted to be working in partnership with AKU entities (ISMC and IED) and AKDN entities (AKU and AKAH).
This research is funded by the British Academy's Urban Infrastructures of Well-Being 2019 Programme, supported under the UK Government's Global Challenges Research Fund.
