The Sanitation Programme of the Orangi Pilot Project – Research and Training Institute, Karachi, Pakistan

The OPP-RTI has also worked closely with international agencies and donors and has reached a number of conclusions regarding this association. These conclusions are given below.

• Donors have their own agenda which consists of quantifiable targets and large scale spending. This approach makes it difficult for them to support for any length of time a process of exploration and gestation. And without such a process, innovation and its institutionalisation is difficult, if not impossible. In addition, most donor concepts are based on wrong assumptions. It is assumed that government departments can fulfill the roles that donor projects assign to them simply if training is imparted to them or they are ordered by their higher-ups to perform. The fact that capability and capacity, given the organisational culture of state institutions, cannot be enhanced without the establishment of a process of accountability and transparency, is often overlooked. Donors also manage to impose their own culture on government agencies. This culture consists of impressive seminars and publicity and, in some cases a show of affluence. This not only alienates katchi abadi residents, but also makes the project appear “non-serious” to project staff, since seminars, workshops and news are seen as an end in themselves.
• There is also the issue of monitoring of donor-funded projects. This monitoring is usually carried out by people who have very little to do with the implementation of the project and its day to day affairs. The result is that this monitoring is no more than policing and creates a conflict between the project and the monitors who are more interested in finding out what is “wrong” rather than sympathetically understanding issues and guiding the project actors.
• Donors have an important role to play. They can positively influence policy and they can provide much needed funds for experimentation. However, to play this role effectively, they must have a good idea of processes in low income settlements, rather than merely the conditions, and the assumptions regarding government agencies and inter-agency relations should not be based on incorrect information or assessment.