KWSSIP Katchi Abadi Project Faces Questions Over Unregistered CBOs
KARACHI (staff reporter) : Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) formed under the Karachi Water and Sewerage Services Improvement Project (KWSSIP) Katchi Abadi initiative are reportedly still without formal registration or a clear institutional mandate, raising concerns about the future of community participation.
The CBOs were formed to involve residents in the project and to create a link between the communities and the water and sewerage authorities.
The project covered Essa Nagri and Welfare Colony in District East, and Soba Nagar and Goharabad in District Central.
However, after around two and a half years of community mobilisation, the CBOs are still facing questions about their legal and institutional status.
An unregistered organisation has limited ability to work as a formal representative of the community. It may not be able to enter into official agreements, maintain a recognised institutional structure, or take formal responsibility for community-level activities.
This also creates uncertainty for the residents.
If the CBOs are supposed to represent the communities, what authority do they actually have?
The CBOs were created after residents were mobilised and encouraged to participate in the water and sewerage project. Community members attended meetings and supported the social mobilisation process.
But if these organisations do not receive formal recognition, there is a risk that the efforts of the communities and the resources spent on mobilisation may not produce a lasting institution.
Another concern is the future of the CBOs after the project or implementing organisation completes its work.
Without registration and a clear mandate, the organisations may become inactive once the project ends, leaving residents without a recognised platform to raise their water and sewerage issues.
A community representative said: “We were asked to participate and were told that the CBO would represent the community. But if the CBO has no official status, we want to know what authority it has and how it can help us.”
Another resident said: “People gave their time to meetings and community activities. The CBOs should now be given a proper role so that the community does not lose the benefit of all this work.”
The issue therefore requires clarification from the concerned authorities.
KWSSIP and the relevant implementing partners should explain why the CBOs have not been formally registered, what their present status is, and what permanent role they will have in the future.
Community participation should not end with the completion of meetings or the end of a project.
If CBOs were created to give local residents a voice, they need recognition, a clear mandate and a sustainable future.
Otherwise, there is a risk that the communities mobilised under the project will once again be left without an effective and recognised platform to participate in decisions about their basic water and sewerage services.
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