Safe Water Supply and Hygiene Promotion Project in Kunar Province The proposed project will provide sustainable and durable solutions to the communities' needs of clean drinking water, poor hygiene, and poor sanitation in Dara-e-Pech, Sarkani, Nari, and Nurgal districts of Kunar province. The needs in the targeted districts/communities were critical in relation to clean water, hygiene, and sanitation. To identify the specific needs concerning this project, a needs assessment was conducted from October 1 2022 to October 4 2022 in all four mentioned districts by an experienced and qualified team consisting of female and male denominators. 

As a result of the assessment, the following urgent and serious needs were identified: 
	85% of the targeted population needs hygienic awareness. 
	75% of the targeted population needs safe drinking water. At the moment, they are fetching water from open streams, rivers, and canals using donkeys, and in some areas children and women fetch water. 
	57% population needs latrines since they are using open areas while in some areas nearly 90% of the people use open fields and nearly hills for open defecation. 
	People use donkeys to fetch water as well as children and women brings 1 to 3 KM away 
	90% of the population is not using soap and wash their hand after the washroom.
	Almost 80% of households have issues with waste water around their houses and environment.

To meet the identified needs under this project, SEARCHO will construct 5 pipe schemes that will provide clean drinking water to the target communities at their doorsteps. These five pipe schemes will provide clean drinking water to 550 households in Dara-e-Pech, Sarkani, Nari, and Nurgal districts of Kunar province. Presently, women, girls, and children are fetching water, as indicated in the assessment report, from locations that are very far and insecure from a protection point of view. The pipe scheme is a longer-term and durable solution to the needs of the community to provide clean water at their doorsteps. The pipe schemes will not only provide clean drinking water but will also protect women and children from gender-based violence and health issues. As mentioned that sanitation is also one of the critical needs of the communities, to meet the sanitation needs, the project will construct 30 latrines in the four districts. These latrines will be used by the local communities to avoid open defecation in the open field and hills to not only protect the environment but also the people. As mentioned under the identified needs that in some areas nearly 90% of people do not wash their hands, 2500 hygiene kits (to be supplied by WASH Cluster) will be distributed to 2500 households to suffice their WASH needs. And, as mentioned that 85% of people need awareness of hygiene and gender-based violence, the project will conduct 100 sessions to promote hygiene practices and prevention of gender-based violence and a clean environment in the target communities. The project will be providing the mentioned services to a total of 25320 people in the four mentioned districts of Kunar province. 

SEARCHO completed a similar UNOCHA-funded Pipe Scheme Construction amp Hygiene Promotion Project in Kunar Province ended in August 2022. SEARCHO has the technical capacity, experience, and access to implement this project with the highest standards. There were lessons learned and some best practices in the newly completed project which will be used during the implementation of this project to make this project as impact as the previous one. SEARCHO has access to the entire eastern region including the target districts. SEARCHO enjoys good relations with communities, and good relations with local authorities which will make this project a successful and impactful intervention to bring about positive changes in the lives of the target people/communities. In addition, SEARCHO has systems, policies, procedures, and competent human resources in place to ensure the successful implementation of the project.