The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has signed an agreement with the Ministries of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) and Finance (MoF) to provide water and sanitation to communities hosting returnees from Pakistan and Iran.

The initiative, part of the IOM's Socio-Economic Reintegration of Afghans Returning from Iran and Pakistan (RARIP) programme, is funded by the Japanese government. It will help local authorities in six Afghan provinces to provide a total of 114 water collection points and 342 latrines that will benefit around 20,000 people.

'The large-scale return of Afghans has stretched to breaking point the capacity of local authorities to deliver basic services, especially clean water,' says Robbie Thomson, IOM Chief of Mission in the country. 'More than 560,000 Afghans have returned this year and the communities they are returning to need help to absorb them.'

Related news: Afghanistan: UNHCR signs agreement on drinking water, NATO builds village water system, Source South Asia, 21 Nov 2008

Websites: MRRD; MoF

Source: IOM, 04 Nov 2008

Tags: emergencies, on-site sanitation, south asia, water collection