From Vijay Mittal, Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, New Delhi
Posted 6 July 2010
This is the second in the series of three queries the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DDWS), Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, is posing to the Community to seek inputs for the strategic plan for rural sanitation up to the year 2022. The first query dealt with the aspirations, purposes and functions of DDWS and we thank you all for the responses. As mentioned earlier, the stress now is on a community-led flexible approach that accommodates the local geo-hydrological, climate and cultural variations. The sanitation programme emphasizes behaviour and social change in favour of using toilets. Additionally, there is a strong emphasis on community mobilization for creating a demand for better sanitation services. This is carried forward in the proposed new strategic plan for sanitation.
There is a need for accelerating the process of behaviour change at the individual and community level to increase the usage of toilets. The stress is on acceptance of the toilets by communities backed by an information education and communications strategy. The school sanitation and hygiene education programme has to be further strengthened to ensure all government school and anganwadis have separate toilets for boys and girls, and an assured water supply. The Department is reviewing the NGP scheme to assess how it can be made more effective and how it has fared. There are several technical innovations in the pipeline as well.
The process of preparing the plan has been divided into four stages – defining the aspirations, assessing the situation, developing the strategy and plan implementation. This query addresses the second stage – assessing the situation. Accordingly, we are seeking inputs from you on the current situation. The discussion paper (ftp://ftp.solutionexchange.net.in/public/wes/cr/res-04061003.pdf) provides the details on the current status of sanitation, while the second row of the template (ftp://ftp.solutionexchange.net.in/public/wes/cr/res-04061004.pdf) gives the approach we are following.
Kindly respond to the questions below:
- What are the challenges in achieving these goals based on field experiences from practitioners
- Who are the key stakeholders in the area of rural sanitation
- On what terms can the Department engage with them, based on comparative strengths
Please see attachment below for the responses.