Brac's frugal forum doesn't want to waste human waste

Bangladesh has made a remarkable progress in terms of sanitation with open defecation now only at one percent. But the question arises where are the human excreta going or can it be turned into something beneficial?

Yes. Practical Action, an international NGO, has proved its multi-faceted benefits by turning the human excreta into natural compost in a treatment plant it established in Satkhira municipality in 2014.

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The compost has been found to enhance crop production as an alternative to chemical fertilisers and increase soil nutrients that are dwindling fast, said Hasin Jahan, country director of Practical Action, Bangladesh.

"We're working to establish a bigger plant in Faridpur," she told some 150 South Asian development practitioners and researchers at the Frugal Innovation Forum at Brac Centre for Development and Management in Savar yesterday.

"What about the human excreta in Dhaka? Only one percent is treated and the rest gets to the canals and rivers, creating huge environment pollution," she said.

Bangladesh would not need to import chemical fertiliser if human excreta could be treated and turned into compost, she said, adding that it can save environment, enhance crop productivity and also save foreign currency.

Practical Action's is one of the dozens of such innovative ideas and projects being discussed at the forum organised by Brac from March 22-24 with the theme, "Scaling Resilience".

The Daily Star is the engagement partner of the Forum.

The issues discussed included climate change, disaster management, health, urbanisation, micro finance, gender, social entrepreneurs, regional partnership and technology.

Asif Saleh, senior director (strategy, communications and empowerment) of Brac, said often western ideas were tried in the global southern countries, which seldom worked.

"So, this is a global south forum to discuss solutions that come from the communities, relevant and can be replicated," he told this correspondent.

Saleh said climate change, disasters like flood and cyclones, drought, salinity intrusion, food security, unplanned urbanisation are some of the major issues.

Sharing and perfecting the solutions that are simple and low-cost, and the policy changes that have far-reaching impacts, can be a strong tool for scaling up, Saleh added.

"Participants are building partnerships, learning new lessons to take back home," he said, adding that they have already established a South Asian Learning Network that helps them to know how they can make the region resilient.

For example, Hasina Kharbhih, founder of Impulse NGO Network of Indian state of Meghalaya, said they are going to start a joint collaboration with a Bangladeshi NGO to prevent women trafficking to India.

"We have developed software and are training the Bangladeshi NGO to use it for women-trafficking prevention and a swift rehabilitation of the survivors," she told this correspondent.