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From Canada to the High Mountains of Northern Pakistan: The Time and Knowledge Nazrana Journey of Firdosh Datoo
Posted on Saturday, 13 December 2014
Village filtration plant built under WASEP, Northern Areas, Pakistan. Photo courtesy of Aga Khan Planning and Building Service, Pakistan.Firdosh Datoo, an enthusiastic volunteer from Canada, came to Pakistan in February 2012 to devote his time and knowledge towards a four month assignment with Aga Khan Planning and Building Service, Pakistan (AKPBS,P). He had taken up the task of conducting a technical audit of one of the flagship programmes of AKPBS, P-the Water and Sanitation Extension Programme, being implemented in the mountainous region of Gilgit-Baltistan and Chitral and southern coastal parts of Pakistan. This programme of AKPBS,P was initiated in 1997 to provide access to clean drinking water and hygienic sanitation facilities to the marginalized rural communities of the region. Through its interventions, AKPBS, P has been able to improve the quality of life of the people by reducing the incidence of water borne diseases benefitting women and particularly children under the age of five.
Firdosh is a qualified engineer from Ontario with over 20 years of experience in the field of water and wastewater treatment. His TKN assignment offered him an opportunity to share his technical expertise for an AKDN Institution, an experience that was both personally and professionally gratifying and the cause of utmost honour for him.
Firdosh humbly shares,
“In our professional lives, we apply knowledge-based intellect to gain material prosperity. For TKN assignments, the same knowledge is applied to assist OUR institutions, whilst gaining inner satisfaction. My journey was no different; it was filled with collaboration, knowledge, and memories…all leading towards spiritual fulfilment!”
Firdosh’s assignment particularly focused upon a technical audit for longevity of WASEP’s infrastructure, engineering, health and water quality management. To conduct the audit with professionalism and as per international practice, Firdosh developed a multifaceted index system based on technical, sustainability and improvement in the quality of life indicators. The system was formulated towards evaluating capacity, environmental conservation, intra-organizational collaboration as well as the constant monitoring and control mechanism aspects of the programme. This paved the way for assessing sustainability, quality of life and technical durability of schemes in the selected 26 villages that he visited in the Gilgit, Baltistan and Chitral regions of Northern Pakistan.
Sounds technical? It is! Firdosh’s contribution has enabled his specific expertise to benefit communities immensely. Based on Firdosh’s assessment, WASEP is one of the most technically sound Water and Sanitation projects in the region. On the technical durability of the programme Firdosh says,
“My technical audit findings showed that the fifteen-year-old WASEP programme is bringing quantifiable changes within the community it serves, improving the quality of life of more than three to four hundred marginalized communities regardless of their socio-religious leanings”.
On his learning from the assignment, Firdosh says,“The initial collaboration between the institution and me translated in to a two-way channel of strategic planning and new ideas. Subsequently, my knowledge base grew, as I learnt about multi-input area development and how it is applied by all AKDN Institutions to develop the socio-economic standards of the communities it serves, as a result, improving their quality of life”.
Firdosh’s assignment provided newer learning perspective to AKPBS, P to improve its management structure mechanisms, reform processes and engineering designs coupled with water quality governance and creation of feedback loops for programme sustainability. As a result of the audit assignment, WASEP will be embracing higher standards in the form of best practices. Firdosh recommended that WASEP should continually identify greater opportunities through global linkages and alliances and lead formation of the Global Water Engineers Resource Team (GWERT) which would provide technical support and advice to the WASEP team on any issues related to technical aspects of the programme.
The assignment enabled formation and capacity enhancement of the engineering resource team. Inclusion of this team coupled with TKN support would enable AKPBS, P to expand their reach out to new geographical areas and communities and build further linkages for working with partners from around the world. Furthermore the high quality technical report presented by Firdosh will be used by AKPBS, P to show objective assessment of the programme and will be a remarkable indication of the high standards of quality assurance maintained by AKDN and its institutions.
On the value of TKN assignments, Firdosh says,
“Finally, TKN assignments bring endless memories of encounters and historical episodes of empowered humans within the regions. During my assignment, my experiences with these inspired individuals have led me through mixed emotions filled with: patronage towards our Imam, pride for our brethren and privilege of calling myself an ISMAILI!”
On his overall overwhelming experience of the Time and Knowledge Nazrana, Firdosh says,
"To this day, I cannot find the right words to describe how the assignment changed my life. In the event that a TKN opportunity presents itself to you, in all earnestness, you shouldn’t be asking, “How will I do it?”, rather “When can I start?” Your TKN journey may not be ideal, but you can be certain that the memories will be etched in your heart forever. We will, as a global Jamat, work with our Imam…by His side! Until the next inspiring journey…Salam!”