[3] With endogenous research, the community was able to make an affordable sanitation system for the treatment of sewage, which helped to reduce the spread of disease.
[6] Dr Akhtar Hameed Khan (1914–1999) was the founder and first director of the project,[7][self-published source] and through his dynamic and innovative skills[8] managed to bring modern sanitation to the squatter community of 1 million people.
[9] He was also a research fellow and visiting professor at Michigan State University (US), Director of the Pakistan Academy of Rural Development and Principal of Victoria College (Bangladesh).
The most impressive demonstration of the spirit of enterprises is the creation of employment everywhere in the lanes; inside the homes there are around twenty thousand family units, shops workshops, peddlers and vendors.
In response to the dual challenge of inflation and recession, the residents have invented working family, modifying homes into workshops, promoting the women from mere dependents to economic partners and wage earners, abandoning the dominant patriarchal pattern with surprising speed.
On the basis of the research findings, Orangi Pilot Project (OPP) decided to arrange access to credit to these micro enterprises.