A man of utmost simplicity, Wattoo is the definition of larger than life. Coming from humble beginnings himself, Wattoo brings a jubilance and humility to the table that make his story truly inspiring. His insight is precious, and he doesn't hold his tongue when it comes to pointing out what's wrong with the development sector today.
Wattoo's take on development is simple: "This is your home. You want to make it better; do it. If you don't, that's your choice. What's it to us? Our job is simply helping you, facilitating you, guiding you."
Wattoo - who names his mentor as none other than Dr Akhtar Hameed Khan of the Orangi Pilot Project - believes in a bottom-up approach to development. He claims that to address the problems of a community, you must first interact with the community itself, involve it, and find in actors that are willing to help.
Humble beginnings
The year is 1962. A small village in Faisalabad has just been introduced to the hand pump, but with no concept of drainage. Resultantly, in two years' time due to water runoff, the village's entire marketplace has been turned into one giant cesspool.
Five friends hang out at a tailor's shop every day after school. The good Samaritans in them decide to take their shovels one fine day and lead the water away from the market and into a 'talaab'. The market dries up, and they are praised for their community spirit. Motivated by the praise, the five friends decide they want to do more - they get a letterhead published for a social services foundation. That NGO is none other than Anjuman Samaji Behbood (ASB), and the youngest of those five friends, its founder Nazir Ahmed Wattoo.
Writing letters to various departments, ASB started changing the landscape of the village; electricity poles were erected, a post office was made, a HBL branch was opened. "In those days, if we wrote 100 letters, we got 98 responses. Today if we write 100 letters, we get 2 responses. This is the 'progress' of this country."
Soon enough, false rumours of Wattoo's corruption caught wind in his village. When he'd invite government officers over for raising funds, serving them drinks and sweets, he raised many an eyebrow. But little did the people know that this man was spending from his own pocket. "People used to say to our face that we're doing such a great job, and behind our backs they'd call us cheats. But we'd spend our college fees on this initiative; such was our passion."
Microcredit programme
In 1994, Hafeez Arain of the well-known Orangi Pilot Project (OPP) in Karachi gave Wattoo the idea of initiating a microfinance program. Having a 30-year long reputation for being corrupt in his neighbourhood, Wattoo hesitantly brought forward three cases to Arain, who then sent him the money. Eventually, word of his honesty spread and his infamy was lifted. "There was a label on me, and removing that was not an easy task." Over its five-year tenure, ASB's microfinance program doled out loans to around 600 people, with almost all the loans having been repaid.
Changa Pani
ASB's defining project is 'Changa Pani.' This project brings together the government, the NGO, and the community. The goal of the project was bringing clean water and drainage to underdeveloped areas.
The idea was that the government would be responsible for external development ie setting up pumping stations, laying the main pipeline, making the prerequisite arrangements for drainage, etc. Meanwhile, ASB would be involved in establishing dialogue with the community, social mobilisation, training, finding labour, supervision, etc. Finally, the last piece of the puzzle was the people; the people were responsible for laying their own pipelines and connecting them to the main hub. A committee was set up for the collection of payments for the water used. These payments are used to cover any expenses related to the project, including maintenance. And so, after this one-time expense, the community becomes self-sufficient.
When ASB started working in Faisalabad, it interacted with 103 neighbourhoods. But Wattoo knew that if you demonstrate the idea in just one neighbourhood, the people will make the remaining hundred themselves.
"Our role is defined; we are there to guide the people. We don't involve ourselves in money. We provide the estimates for the project. We introduce the labour. We do the planning. We tell them the method. When the work is being carried out, we even supervise it for free."
Wattoo believes this community-led approach is the way forward for development.
No donors
Having been in the field for so long, Wattoo pinpointed what's wrong with the way things are currently run - the 'process approach.' This means that the government measures progress in terms of money spent, rather than targets achieved. "This happens year after year, and your money is being wasted. They sell the old bricks, and put up new ones in the name of development."
He adds that in development, there's no one-size-fits-all. Watoo maintains that development community needs to account for differences between cities, and among neighbourhoods, and even family to family, which is why there can be no replication of a policy or its implementation: "The word 'replicate' doesn't exist. A replica is someone identical to you in each and every regard, and that's impossible. There's no such thing as replication. There is, however, evolution."
Wattoo mentioned that his organisation has learnt not to take loans from donors, because then he would have to write fictitious receipts. He lamented that there's no tradition of receipt checking in this country. "Everybody knows all the receipts they have are fictitious. All these institutions are hiding them." Wattoo emphasised the role of trust-building with the government and with the community.
Finally, drawing on his personal experiences, Wattoo left no doubt that he has walked the talk. "I've seen poverty. Half my life I didn't have shoes under my feet." In all humility, he mentioned his own illiteracy and his poor background, giving the impression that he is still that youngster who, along with his five friends, set out to make a difference.