A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Urban Environmental Management

Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2009

Safe access to sanitation is one of the basic human needs to the quality of life. Any failure to ensure an effective and responsive public spending on sanitation can result to loss and wastage of public money. Unfortunately, in Dhaka, major challenges include a legacy of fragmented institutional arrangements, financial inefficiency and neglect of the poor. This research evaluates the impact of public expenditure in sanitation provisioning and the extent to which it filters down to the poor. A single embedded case study research was conducted using multiple sources of evidence. The results of the key informants interview, focus group discussions and a survey of 88 households have been analyzed by both qualitative and quantitative methods. Research findings revealed that there has been a built-in failure that arises out of erratic budget allocation coupled with weak institutional arrangement. Even within the institutional level, priorities were misplaced and non»committed to the needs of the poor. The result shows that public spending was more towards construction of latrines without any consideration to sustainability and the specific needs of women. Physical components were even left unfinished incurring huge loss. The recommendations suggest an effective sector expenditure program under a multi-year budgeting framework duly interfaced with the institutional arrangements. Increased community involvement and explicit targeting of the women can also provide valuable inputs to the system