HYSAWA (Hygiene, Sanitation and Water Supply) is a non-profit financing organization, registered under the Companies Act, 1994. Established in 2007, the organization primarily aims at mobilizing resources for and supporting capacity development of local governments and communities to empower them to manage decentralized WatSan services in Bangladesh.

Institutional objectives of HYSAWA include:

• Mobilizing resources for financing WSS infrastructure at the UP;
• Creating institutional and technical condition for fiscal discipline and financial accountability in participating UPs;
• Enhancing transparency in decision-making in all allocation of financing;
• Improving institutional capacity and skills of LGIs to plan and budget.

Designed as a multi-donor funding mechanism to directly support local governments, HYSAWA since its inception continues to contribute to the decentralization process and improve the quality of governance. The concept of direct funding to local government institutions and its delivery are pioneered by HYSAWA in Bangladesh. From 2007 to date, the organization has funded 1,182 UPs out of a total of 4,554 UPs throughout the country and provided them with greater financial and administrative power. The route chosen by HYSAWA to achieve its governance objectives is through supporting hygiene, sanitation and water supply service delivery, as an example. Citizen participation is integral to the planning and implementation of HYSAWA-supported services which helped establish a structure and system of participatory democracy at local level. Additionally, the organization makes efforts to ensure that more people, especially women and poor, are aware of and active participants in UP development planning and budget meetings as an important step to promote people-centric development.

HYSAWA has facilitated establishment of necessary institutional arrangements within Union Parishads, and engaged private sector management firms and NGOs to provide capacity support to UPs. Some 14,000 UP functionaries were imparted with requisite capacity-building trainings so far to ensure service delivery in an effective, accountable and inclusive manner. With HYSAWA’s financial and technical assistance, Union Parishads successfully installed over 75,000 deep tube-wells and 237 piped water systems, among others, by taking into consideration the views and priorities of local people, which indicates the success of HYSAWA’s governance initiatives.

HYSAWA promotes transparency across procurement processes of the Union Parishads through ensuring use of procedures and principles prescribed in Public Procurement Rules (PPR) and formation of local committees at grassroots level. Organizing workshops on various Union Parishad and Upazila Parishad (UZP) laws and regulations is also a regular event under HYSAWA projects because it is apparent that only after the local government functionaries clearly understand their legal responsibilities, they can be expected to follow them.

Through its projects HYSAWA creates scope of cooperation, collective planning and resource sharing among different tiers of local government. With HYSAWA’s facilitation, some Zilla Parishads (ZPs) and UZPs have begun to provide financial and technical support to their respective UPs under a cooperation model and it not only opened up new avenues of sustainable local development but also brought qualitative changes in LGIs’ interrelations.

The organization is governed by a Board which is chaired by the Secretary, Local Government Division of the Government of Bangladesh and comprised of representatives from ministries, Local Government Institutions (LGIs), civil society and development partners. The Board provides policy and strategic direction for its operations to the Managing Director who oversees its day-to-day management. The HYSAWA Fund Management Office (FMO) is responsible for the fund administration, technical supervision, overall monitoring, quality assurance and audit. Some of these tasks are outsourced to specialized individuals or agencies to address emerging needs. HYSAWA is monitored externally by the Government and donors, which ensures that there is an external oversight of the progress and experiences gained through HYSAWA model.