‘Pee-Poo’ Provisions in Dhaka City Slums

Viewpoint from Political Economy and Political Ecology

Abstract

‘Pee-Poo’ Provisions in Dhaka City Slums: Viewpoint from Political Economy and Political Ecology Md Mizanur Rahman[1] Abstract: Dhaka is one of the fastest-growing megacities, where most of the rural-to-urban migrants are settling into slums dotted throughout the cityscape. The government and some NGOs are undertaking different development projects to establish better sanitation facilities in these slums. However, this can lead to the emergence of conflicts of interest, as the government and NGOs end up involving their own political agenda. This paper explores the existing political dimensions, i.e. political ecology, political economy and existing ‘pee’ (urination)- ‘poo’ (defecation) provisions, associated with slum-sanitation projects. Four slums of Dhaka have been selected for this study. Both quantitative and qualitative methods have been adopted to collect primary and secondary data which has mostly been analyzed qualitatively with thick description, applying the grounded theory approach. This study suggests that the future direction of water and sanitation programs should be based on an integrated political economy approach involving education, hygiene and health, simultaneously with water and sanitation infrastructure.

[1]   Professor, Department of Geography and Environment, Faculty of Social Sciences, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka-1342, Bangladesh. Email: m.m.rahman@juniv.edu