Solution Exchange discussion - Preparation of Strategic Plan for Sanitation by DDWS - Advice

From Vijay Mittal, Department of Drinking Water Supply, Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, New Delhi

Posted 04 June 2010

The Department of Drinking Water Supply, Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, is developing a strategic plan for sanitation up to 2022. While sanitation has formed part of India ’s development agenda since the First Five Year Plan, the government prioritized it by launching the Central Rural Sanitation Programme in the mid-1980s. However, this was a supply driven, centralized initiative and followed a uniform approach throughout the country.

The approach and thinking have since evolved. 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 and sanitation.

There is a need for accelerating the process of behaviour change at the individual and community level to increase the percentage of people using 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 boosted 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 has fared.

As part of the planning process, the Department is seeking wider consultations through the Water Community of Solution Exchange. Accordingly, we request Community members to comment specifically on the goals and aspirations as mentioned in the position paper for preparation of the strategic plan for sanitation in the Department of Drinking Water Supply, Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India (ftp://203.124.149.174/public/wes/cr/res-04061003.pdf, PDF, 213 Kb). We would like you specifically comment on the goal(s) and aspirations of the sanitation plan. This should draw on the current status and the target as mentioned in the background documents. You can view the planning template atftp://203.124.149.174/public/wes/cr/res-04061004.pdf (PDF, 44 Kb)

1. A statement that defines the goal(s) of the rural sanitation plan, reflecting the current status and the target
2. How should this inform the core purposes and functions of the Department

Responses were received, with thanks, from

1. Abhishek Mendiratta, Jupiter Knowledge Management and Innovative Concepts Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi
2. Pramod Dabrase, WaterAid India , Bhopal
3. Rajesh Shah, Peer Water Exchange, Bangalore
4. Neelkanth Mishra, Freshwater Action Network South Asia, Hyderabad
5. Amitava Basu Sarkar, Society for Rural Awareness and Development in Himalayan Area (SRADHA), Dehradoon
6. Nripendra Kumar Sarma, PHED, Guwahati
7. Shashikant Kumar, Green Eminent, Vadodara
8. Puran Singh Yadav, Haryana Institute of Rural Development & Department of Development and Panchayats, Karnal
9. Dinesh Kumar, Institute for Resource Analysis and Policy, Hyderabad\Kanupriya Harish, Jal Bhagirathi Foundation, Jodhpur

Further contributions are welcome!

Summary of Responses

Related Resources

Responses in Full

Summary of Responses

DDWS is developing a Strategic Plan for the Rural Sanitation up to the year 2022. The first of a series of discussion on the Community sought inputs on a statement defining the goal(s) of the Plan and how this should inform the core purpose of DDWS.                                                                                                       

Members suggested the following statements that can be included in the goals of the Plan, and how they can inform the core purpose of DDWS:

(A)

Goal statement

• Achieve a sustained change in community behaviour for accelerated household sanitation coverage, usage and sustainability. This behaviour change can translate to public willingness to invest in sanitation and hygiene

Core purpose

• Strong statements on creating awareness among people to drive the sanitation programme; this still remains a major gap
• Ensure funds for information education and communication reach the district, block and gram panchayats instead of being utilized at the state level

(B)

Goal statement

• Political and administrative engagement needed at all levels to champion the cause of sanitation, mobilize resources, create awareness, give direction, monitor, budget and manage expenditure

Core purpose

• Strengthen political advocacy and staffing in the Department for better execution at all levels, from the Central government to the village
• Creation of separate department for sanitation at the state and district levels to bifurcate the water and sanitation functions with adequate salaries for the sanitation department staff
• Work with elected representatives to lead by example and where necessary, participate in watch-and-ward groups to prevent people from defecating in the open
• All places of religious worship to have adequate sanitation facilities for devotees and be the trusts controlling those places to be responsible for their maintenance

(C)

Goal statement

• Decentralise implementation to the Gram Panchayats but integrate at the grassroots level where necessary with other government programmes

Core purpose

• Integrate school sanitation programme with Sarva Siksha Abhiyan for accelerating toilet construction, finance and promoting school hygiene
• Integrate anganwadi toilets with the Integrated Child Development Scheme for better implementation

(D)

Goal statement

• Make sanitation planning a community activity from the village to the district levels

Core purpose

• Build capacity of Gram Panchayats (GPs) to develop sanitation plans. These can be integrated upwards at the block and district levels
• Promote public-private partnerships where needed
• Promote hygiene behaviour through school children

 (E)

Goal statement

• Provide an enabling framework for sanitation

Core purpose

• Change from the current perception of executing the programme, providing subsidy and monitoring
• An analysis of the coverage figures provided in the discussion figure indicates the families below the poverty line (BPL) have toilets; there is thus no need for further incentives.
• Insurance and micro-finance institutions can provide products to encourage people to build toilets
• Greater role for community-based organizations in the construction, monitoring and awareness creation phases

(F)

Goal statement

• Provide incentives for GPs that are open-defection free (ODF)

Core purpose

• Recommend them for prioritization under other rural development programmes

(G)

Goal statement

• Promote eco-sanitation as a sustainable approach

Core purpose

• Study the technical feasibility and environmental sustainability of eco-sanitation in different hydrological, climatic and cultural settings

(H)

Goal statement

• Provide a monitoring framework that involves communities

Core purpose

• Capacity building for those involved in monitoring

(I)

Goal statement

• Wider choice of technology for construction of toilets

Core purpose

• Scientific study of technology options to ascertain their environmental impact
• Suggest only those options that are safe for the local environment rather than promoting one type of technology

(J)

Goal statement

• Emphasis on women and girls in programme design and execution

Core purpose

• Map and activate women sanitary complexes that are lying unused due to various reasons
• Promote menstrual hygiene management
• Ensure separate toilets for girls and boys in schools
• Construction of toilets by members of self-help groups can be a criteria while grading these groups

(K)

Goal statement

• Provide incentives and an enabling framework for solid waste management

Core purpose

• Encourage source segregation and make solid waste management an economically viable activity
• Develop and promote models for suitable activities that can generate wealth from waste such as vermi-composting, selling of recyclable waste and generation of energy

In addition to responses received directly from members, we received the recommendations from a meeting of representatives of funding agencies who held a meeting in Cuddalore to discuss the strategic plan. We have incorporated these into the points above and the full document is referenced below.

Related Resources 

Recommended Documentation

Recommendations from Sanitation Activists for preparation of  strategic plan for rural sanitation sector 2010-2022 by DDWS (from Prakash Kumar, UNICEF-SEI, New Delhi)

Report; by Cuddalore; June 2010; Permission Required:      

Available at ftp://ftp.solutionexchange.net.in/public/wes/cr/res-04061001.pdf  (PDF; Size: 307KB)

Provides the recommendations submitted to the DDWS for preparation of a strategic plan for the rural sanitation sector 2010-2022.

From Sunetra Lala, Research Associate

Sanitation: A Human Rights Imperative

Report; by Maria Katsabanis; Centre for Housing Rights and Evictions, Water Aid, UN-Habitat, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation; Geneva; 2008

Available at http://www.cohre.org/sanitation (PDF, Size: 716KB)

It is an advocacy document to encourage more funding for sanitation, more debate and research into the barriers to accessing affordable sanitation and how to remove them

Going Public: Southern Solutions to the Global Water Crisis

Report; by High Warwick and Vicky Cann; World Development Movement; United Kingdom; 2007

Available at http://www.wdm.org.uk/resources/reports/water/goingpublic14032007.pdf (PDF, Size: 3.2MB)

Features public water experts from Brazil, India and Uganda, describing the successes they have had in connecting the poor to clean water and sanitation services

Sanitation Promotion

Book; by Mayling Simpson-Hébert and Sara Wood; Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) and World Health Organization (WHO); Geneva; 1998

Available at http://bookorders.who.int/sig/en/login.php

Compilation of articles and best practices by WSSCC and WHO designed to change public perceptions about the sanitation sector and attract crucial new investments

Designing Water Supply And Sanitation Projets to Meet Demand: The Engineer's Role

Report; Water Engineering Development Centre and UK Department for International Development; 2001

Available at

http://web.mit.edu/urbanupgrading/waterandsanitation/resources/pdf-files/DemandResponsiveApproach.pdf (PDF, Size: 284KB)

Investigation of design strategies to effectively address demands for better sanitation based on a review of literature and field studies in South Africa, Nepal and India

Manual on the Right to Water and Sanitation

Book; Centre for Housing Rights and Evictions; 2008

Available at http://www.cohre.org/manualrtws

Designed to assist policy makers and practitioners in adopting the human right perspective to water and sanitation

Ecological Sanitation

Book; by Steven A. Esrey; Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency; Stockholm; 1998

Available at http://www.gtz.de/ecosan/download/sida-ecosan-en.pdf (PDF; Size: 1.24MB)

Describes alternatives to conventional approaches to sanitation, approaches based on an ecosystem perspective and new technologies for constructing toilets

From Nitya Jacob, Resource Person

Studies from the Water and Sanitation Program Library

Books; by Water and Sanitation Programme;

Available at http://www.wsp.org/index.cfm?page=page_disp&pid=1507

The page has links to studies conducted by the Water and Sanitation Program on sanitation in South Asia

Burden of Inheritance

Book; by WaterAid India; New Delhi; October 2009;

Available at http://www.wateraid.org/documents/plugin_documents/burden_of_inheritance.pdf (PDF; Size: 1.1MB)

Analyses the incidence of manual scavenging and the work that different organizations are doing to eliminate it

Impact Assessment Of Nirmal Gram Puraskar Awarded Panchayats

Report; by TARU; UNICEF; New Delhi; August 2008;

Available at http://indiasanitationportal.org/ngp/ngpdata/NGP_IAFR220808.pdf) (PDF; Size: 3.5MB)

Discusses the reasons for slippages in sanitation coverage and use, especially among villages that have received the Nirmal Gram Puruskar

Study on Perception and Practice of Hygiene and impact on Health in India

Study; by Kumar Jyoti Nath, Barenyo Chowdhury, Anish Sengupta; New Delhi; February 2010;

Available at

http://www.irc.nl/redir/content/download/147452/482756/file/Nath_SulabhInternational_Study%20and%20perception%20and%20practice%20of%20hygiene.doc) (DOC; Size: 100KB)

This research paper assesses the level of health awareness and hygienic practices and its health impacts in urban vis-à-vis rural areas in the five select states of Eastern India

Recommended Organizations and Programmes

From Rajesh Shah, Peer Water Exchange, Bangalore

Arghyam, Karnataka

Number 599, 12th Main, HAL 2nd Stage, Indiranagar, Bangalore 560008, Karnataka; Tel: 91-80-41698941; Fax: 91-80-41698943; info@arghyam.org; http://www.arghyam.org/ASHWAS

Conducted a participatory water and sanitation survey that covered 28 districts of Karnataka covering more than 17,200 households across 172 gram panchayats

Nirmal Gram Puraskar, New Delhi

9th Floor, Paryavarn Bhawan, CGO Complex, Lodhi Road , New Delhi 110003; Tel: 91-11-24366372; Fax: 91-11-24364113; nirmalgrampuraskar@nic.in;

http://nirmalgrampuraskar.nic.in/nirmalgrampuraskar/index.jsp

Incentive scheme to promote sanitized and "open defecation free" Gram Panchayats, Blocks, and Districts, which has led to better management of solid and liquid waste

The World Bank, New Delhi

69-70, Lodi Estate, New Delhi 110003; Tel: 91-11-4617241; Fax: 91-11-4619393; info@worldbank.org; 

http://www.worldbank.org.in/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/SOUTHASIAEXT/INDIAEXTN/0,,menuPK:295589~pagePK:141159~piPK:141110~theSitePK:295584,00.html

International agency, works in the area of water and sanitation across India, including decentralised water management systems at the gram panchayat levels

From Neelkanth Mishra, Freshwater Action Network South Asia, Hyderabad

School Sanitation and Hygiene Education (SSHE) Programme, New Delhi

Office of Joint Secretary, Department of Drinking Water Supply, (Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission), Ministry of Rural development, Govt. of India, 9th Floor, Paryavarn Bhawan, CGO Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi 110003; Tel: 91-11-24361043; Fax: 91-11-24364113; jstm@water.nic.in; http://ddws.nic.in/ssheindex.htm

Programme to ensure water supply, toilet and hand washing facilities in schools which helps to facilitate school enrolment for girl children in particular

Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC), New Delhi

Ministry of Rural Development, Department of Drinking Water, 247, A Wing, Nirman Bhawan, New Delhi 110011; Tel: 91-11-23010207; jstm@water.nic.in; http://ddws.nic.in/tsc_index.htm

Programme aimed at increasing awareness on sanitation among rural people, school students and construction of toilets for enabling girls' participation in schools

National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), New Delhi

Ministry of Rural Development, Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi 110001; Tel: 91-11-23063581,23034922; Fax: 23385466; singhrp@sansad.nic.in; http://nrega.nic.in/guidelines.htm;

Provides for 100 days of work per year to each person in a family below the poverty line; works taken up under the scheme include construction of water structures

Sulabh International Social Service Organisation, New Delhi (from Puran Singh Yadav, Haryana Institute of Rural Development & Department of Development and Panchayats, Karnal)

Mahavir Enclave Palam-Dabri Road , New Delhi 110045; Tel: 91-11-25031518; Fax: 91-11-25034014; sulabhinfo@gmail; http://www.sulabhenvis.in/

Has conducted a study which focuses on leadership development of women for ensuring effective and gender-sensitive WATSAN services

Public Health Engineering Department, Assam(from Nripendra Kumar Sarma, PHED, Guwahati)

Block B, Assam Secretariat, Dispur, Guwahati 781006, Assam; Tel: 91-361-2237009; Fax: Fax No. cepheas@assam.nic.in;http://aphe.nic.in/promenvfr.htm

Implements the Total Sanitation Campaign in the state of Assam, drinking water supply is also one of its core mandates in the state

From Sunetra Lala, Research Associate

Ministry of Rural Development, New Delhi

9th Floor, Paryavarn Bhawan, CGO Complex, Lodhi Road , New Delhi 110003; Tel: 91-11024361043; Fax: 91-11-24364113; jstm@water.nic.in; http://www.rural.nic.in/g1.htm

Central government ministry in-charge of all rural development schemes, including sanitation, drinking water, rainwater harvesting employment and other welfare schemes

National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), New Delhi

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, 401 & 404 A Wing, Nirman Bhawan, Maulana Azad Road, New Delhi 110011; Tel: 91-11-23061647; health@hub.nic.in; http://mohfw.nic.in/

Adopts a synergistic approach to improving rural health services by relating health to determinants of good health namely, nutrition, sanitation, hygiene and drinking water

Sarva Shikha Abhiyan (SSA), New Delhi

Department of School Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi 110001; Tel: 91-11-23074113; webmaster.edu@nic.in; http://ssa.nic.in/

Seeks to open new schools and strengthen existing school infrastructure through provision of additional class rooms, toilets, safe drinking water, etc

From Nitya Jacob, Resource Person

Gram Vikas, Orissa

Mohuda Village, Berhampur-760 002, Ganjam, Orissa; Tel: 91-680-2261866; Fax: 91-680-2261862; iinfo@gramvikas.org; http://www.gramvikas.org/

Works to bring about sustainable improvement in the quality of life of poor, pioneered the cause of good quality toilets for the rural poor in Orissa

Gramalaya, Tamil Nadu

12, 4th Cross, Thillainagar West, Tiruchirappalli 620018, Tamil Nadu; Tel: 91-9443161263; Fax: 91-431-4021563; gramalaya@airtelbroadband.in; http://gramalaya.org/contactus.html

Implements sanitation projects and promotes community-managed toilet systems in the slums of Tiruchirapalli

Recommended Portals and Information Bases

From Sunetra Lala, Research Associate

Both ENDS, Amsterdam

http://www.bothends.nl/index.php?page=_&Language=en; Tel: 31-20-5306600;

info@bothends.org

Provides resources on funding opportunities for water and sanitation initiatives, along with descriptions of some 30 organizations worldwide providing assistance

GlobalGiving, The GlobalGiving Foundation, Washington DC

http://www.globalgiving.com/aboutus/partners.html#36; Tel: 1-202-2325784

Provides descriptions of various corporate/institutional partners, project partners, and funding partners cooperating with GlobalGiving in sanitation related projects

Responses in Full 

Abhishek Mendiratta, Jupiter Knowledge Management and Innovative Concepts Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi

I am giving the brief outline on WASH strategy as below:-

Brief Outline on WASH Strategy

There is a need for Government to remain informal but also to identify partners committed to its main principles and willing to work on a voluntary basis. There is a need to strengthen linkages with different regions and to have different linkages within the regions. Primary targets for partners: solid waste associations; associations of mayors (regional or international), local expert practitioners, solid waste managers, CBO owners and leaders. It is also important to try and strengthen links with universities. There is a need to address more of the social cultural issues in SWM having stronger links with the MDGs. The logframe should be completed, discussed and finalized.

Systems and technologies

• Advanced systems to emptying pit /VIP latrines
• Vulnerable friendly technology e.g. disabled, aged.
• Child friendly technology
• Special tool kit for adverse hydro-geological conditions

Subsidy

• There is a need to change the terminology. Better terms to use would be investment for the poor, or capacity building, or infrastructure, smart subsidy, investment in material, social marketing, hidden assistance, indirect assistance, paying part cost on behalf of the poor, community support, giving materials to bridge the gap.
• The idea of performance responsive subsidy as a way of bridging gaps between wills and means
• Time-scale for social marketing - subsidy considered as performance responsive strategy
• The need for subsidies to be smart and well-targeted.
• Another strategy for increased engagement might be a 'Déclaration sociale', - to publicize via the media the engagements of the communities
• A sanitation strategy would be to categorise the support in percentages for the various social groups
• Setting standards for adequate sanitation facilities

Suggestions:

• Safe distance between latrine pit and water sources - carry out research study to find out the
• Optimum safe distance for various soil formations and hydrogeological situations.
• Promotion of cluster of latrines for several families connecting to a common biogas plant - an additional issue here is the relatively high operation and maintenance demands.
• Promotion of eco-urine separation latrine and reuse of sludge and urine

Themes / topics that should be touched in Sanitation strategy

Sanitation

• Rural sanitation & hygiene improvement in the area of difficult circumstances - seasonal flooding, floating communities
• How to operate different kind of environmental sanitation on household level and on public level (schools, café, shops etc) - how to use faecal from this kind of sanitation
• Management of waste from septic tanks
• Operations of small sanitation systems
• How to promote low sanitation technologies
• From conventional sanitation to sustainable sanitation
• Standardized household centered sanitation systems

Sanitation Programming Approaches

• Community led total sanitation approach
• Sustainable sanitation through behavioural change & sanitation marketing

Urban Sanitation

• Sustainable urban sanitation
• Working with urban poor communities in improving access to water and sanitation

Sanitation Subsidy

• Sanitation financing systems for poor urban and rural people in a country where there is no subsidy at all from government
• Subsidy for poor families to allow them to have access to latrines

Wash and Disasters

• Disaster preparedness - with emphasis on WASH
• Disaster preparedness for small islands
• Emergency sanitation initiatives at disaster situation

HIV/AIDS & WASH

• Mainstreaming HIV/Aids into WASH
• Mainstreaming HIV/Aids into WASH
• HIV/Aids as it relates to WASH

Water Safety and Quality

• Mobilize community to identify threats to drinking water sources due to poor sanitation
• Water safety plans for small communities - small scale systems
• Hygiene and sanitation as preventive measures for safe water and health
• Communities’ right to protect their water source
• Water safety & quality

Climate Change and Wash

• Climate change & WASH
• Climate change and WASH : connections/links/impact on water resources to be documented
• Global warming and its effect on water and sanitation

Hygiene Promotion

• Holistic approach to hygiene promotion
• Deworming in children as entry for improved sanitation/hygiene as prevention
• Home hygiene
• Food hygiene

Equity and Inclusion

• Governance, equity and inclusion
• Equity and inclusion: research on existing practices
• Participation in people-centred approaches
• Focus on community mobilisation

CSO Support

• Empowering CSOs engaged in WASH issues to have advocacy and lobbying skills
• Supporting / building local CSO networks to engage actively and effectively in WASH

Trade and Services

• National policies for PPP, privatisation and trade liberalisation in water supply and sanitation services

Supply Chain Management

• Supply chain through private sectors
• WASH for islands

M&E

• Monitoring framework for sanitation programmes and hygiene programmes

Local Government / Decentralisation

• Local governance on sanitation
• WASH decentralisation at country levels
• Scaling up from pilots to everyday improvements
• Promotion of household rainwater harvesting
• Management systems for organisation
• Sustainable support mechanism including institutions
• WASH linkages to IWRM

Additional points

• Need to ensure more capacity building of local organizations vs. international organizations
• Look at public-private partnerships in rural sanitation improvement

Outputs

Regional / National Activities

• Success and failures of WASH initiatives in India
• Toolkit on building CSO capacity

Issues in WASH

• Understanding pro-poor issues in urban reforms
• Steps to guide CSO to engage with government / service provider
• Cost of sanitation for poor: strategy for sanitation promotion; common vision\
• Guideline manual for complete process to set up a subsidy system for sanitation
• Rights-based urban sanitation for marginal groups
• Environmental sanitation management at communal / quartier levels
• Guide for decision makers on sanitation planning
• WASH decentralization at country level - overcoming constraints and obstacles
• Waste water management at the household level: Lessons learnt from the field

Climate Change

• Climate change and WASH : adaptive measures and mitigation
• Tool for adaptation to climate change for water and sanitation
• HIV/Aids and WASH : guidelines on mainstreaming; case studies
• Water safety plans for small rural water supply systems
• Case studies on how to promote WASH in areas of conflict, poverty and political turbulence.
• Capacity building on prevention of intestinal worm infection (output)
• Comprehensive M&E system
• Monitoring and evaluation of awareness materials developed on WASH
• Harmonization of manuals & approaches
• Regionalization of WASH outcomes
• Kit for Capacity building on household rainwater harvesting (output)
• Technical template with low cost design for toilet in the area of difficult circumstances
• School sanitation and hygiene - for teachers and for children
• Compendium on Sanitation technologies

Pramod Dabrase, WaterAid India , Bhopal

It is indeed landmark initiative taken up by the DDWS to develop a strategic long term plan Rural Sanitation Sector. DDWS may like to consider the following comments in context to the paper that was circulated to the members of the Water community

• The strategy must emphasize on engaging political anchor at all possible levels to champion the cause – political leadership can provide the much needed impetus to push the programme, generate demand, create awareness and mobilize resources 
• The strategy must also emphasize on engaging administrative anchor at all possible levels to provide appropriate directions to the programme, ensure proper monitoring, track progress, budget allocation and expenditure management and to provide a strong and committed institutional backing
• Device a institutional mechanism at the lowest level i.e. GP and villages to ensure that 100% sanitation is maintained once the benchmark is met by the respective area/s- by making local leadership (political and administrative) responsible for monitoring, reporting and taking corrective action/s. It can also be made part of their individual performance appraisals and achievements 
• Training and capacity building of elected representative, officials at various levels, local volunteers, SHGs members forms backbone of the entire programme. A strong emphasis and investment on training and capacity building of all important core stakeholders must be given to drive the programme
• Promote a system for septage management in the areas where septic tanks are being used for disposal of human excreta– services may be provided directly by the GPs or by the private parties by providing then incentives
• Subsidy regime has its own advantages and disadvantages – the subsidy was not successfully due to inappropriate fund utilization. However if the subsidy is totally discontinued it will have adverse impact on the programme. Depending only on CLTS approach will not be feasible under all the circumstances. Therefore, targeted subsidy, targeting the poorest (who can not build toilets on their own) must still be a part of the programme.
• The strategy must highlight necessity and take appropriate steps to improve service delivery mechanism by restructuring relationship between the main actors involved in service delivery chain so as to promote performance and responsiveness to demand and to ensure  accountability
• It is important to establish database system at GP or block level and linking it to the district, state and central level to track the progress – such a system would reflect real time situation at all levels and would help in appropriate decision making and will facilitate easy monitoring of the programme
• IEC strategy based on the overall programme IEC strategy must be designed at Block level for appropriate and effective results. The strategy must clearly identify role for political and administrative anchor, CBOs and NGOs, media, private sector so that the programme becomes sustainable
• Rural sanitary marts must not be consolidated, established and used only for producing and supplying sanitary material but the centres may also be made a ‘nodes’ for generating awareness, distributing IEC material, conducting trainings and meetings (where feasible) and also undertake other livelihood activities so as to sustain these centres once the demand for hardware is reduced.
• Sanitary mart may be opened for private sector participation to bring in competition, ensure spread of sanitation facilities and also ensure quality of material supplied
• Revolving fund backed by the government, financial institutions or donor agencies may be provide to the households through SHGs so as to ensure speedy recovery by peer to peer pressure and to ensure its use for the intended purpose –NGO may be involved for facilitate functioning of SHGs. Revolving fund may be made available to the APL households
• NGP scheme must be continued with more rigor since it has been able to increase sanitation coverage and attract resources from various sources including community. States and GPs seem to be in the race to send NGP applications without checking the authenticity of the data and quality of the work, which has raised serious question on sustainability of the NGP awarded GPs. It is therefore necessary to device and consolidate a mechanism to make the process full proof so that the deserving receives the award/s
• Community toilets must be strongly discouraged in rural context to the extent possible and individual household toilets must be promoted.
• Nomenclature of the toilet complexes for public places like market areas, bus/taxi stand, etc may be carefully classified as Public Toilet to avoid confusion. Responsibility of operation and maintenance of the public toilets may be given to local user groups and committees, SHGs, or specialized agencies involved in the job, on pay and use basis. Local institution (such as GP) may play anchoring role to ensure proper operation and maintenance
• School sanitation and hygiene education component must, in addition to making provision for toilet facilities and conducting awareness programme, also adequate respond to the needs and demands of the adolescent girl students by provisioning facilities for privacy so that issues such as menstrual hygiene are taken care of. Possibility to attract PPP may be explored to sustain the programme
• It will be appropriate to define timeline for the programme to achieve expected results. If the position paper is designed for 2010-2022- it will be appropriate to state - how the programme is being converged with the MDG.
• Approaches and technology such as Ecosan requires government to play facilitating role (and provide enough backing support) to encourage use of urine as fertilizer, compost as manure and wash water as a water for secondary purposes such as kitchen gardening. Therefore appropriate arrangements for testing, quality control, institutional arrangements for facilitating use of by-products may be made. Marketing arrangements within or outside rural market along with appropriate awareness will also be necessary so that people are confident while promoting adopting such technologies
• Similarly, in case of solid waste management, availability (or lack of it) of market for organic manure is a crucial factor - appropriate market provisions, purchase guarantee (tie up with relevant departments such as agriculture, horticulture) for the generated manure, will encourage people to take up composting and also attract small entrepreneurs in managing the waste in a organized  manner
• It must be made mandatory for institutions, departments and the staff working in these institutions to have their own sanitation facilities also maintains them and adopts safe hygiene behavior. In case they fail to create and maintain the facilities, provision for penalty may also be made (Penalty may not be in cash. Other options such as negative publicity eg. publishing list of employees not having or maintaining their toilets may also be a better way)
• Advisory panel at all the institutional level must be constituted to provide appropriate advice, suggestion, observations to the Centre, State, district, block and GPs – the panel may consist of eminent practitioners, media representatives, NGOs, experts.

Rajesh Shah, Peer Water Exchange, Bangalore

It is good to see government departments reach out to the community (and beyond). The questions are:

• A statement that defines the goal(s) of the rural sanitation plan, reflecting the current status and the target
• How should this inform the core purposes and functions of the Department

The answers can be made simpler if we use their vision, which is "... improving the quality of life of rural people and to provide dignity to women." But we need to reflect the current status into the answers too. And while the report they provide has a lot of statistics, we need to look a little beyond the numbers into the existing reality.

Most of this community will have studied the Ashwas report  by Arghyam. It highlights the dismal sanitation situation in rural Karnataka. In this state, 78% of the rural population does not have access to sanitation and often the village maps show the open defecation places dangerously close to the water sources.

As everyone on this forum knows, the Nirmal Gram Puraskars are used in government statistics and by institutions (such as the World Bank, the UN, and NGOs) to show progress. The Ashwas report shows that of the 14 surveyed winners of the Nirmal Gram Puraskar in Karnataka, not one was worthy of the prize a year following the award; they had all regressed to some level of open defecation. Both these awards and the sustainability of projects are huge discussion issues, and should serve a warning about reading too much into prizes and progress metrics being touted.

Given that situation and everyone's agreement that installing toilets is the easy part, their long-term use and sustainability form the crux of the problem, the department should focus on.

The department’s paper gives a good background document, explaining that the earlier centralized strategy did not work and also expanding their priorities to schools and girls.

Their plan to execute by 2012 needs to be questioned in light of the sustainability issue and moving away from installation. Choosing a date is good, but it needs to be ambitiously realistic say 2020 which includes many years of monitoring and assessment to show that the projects are sticking.

So we need to execute a decentralized strategy. To achieve the vision by 2020 we can plot a graph of the work that needs to be done. It will start small and expand massively over time. The only model that achieves dignified and effective sanitation provision to every rural person is one that has a core viral component. This viral component has to go beyond any department, any agency, any NGO to reach every community. It can only be achieved by ensuring that each community not only implements and manages their own sanitation but spreads the word and work.

To assure that the model is working and results are being achieved, there are many social technology tools available. For example, with mobile technology, we can design an assessment program where every community gives an SMS report on the use of facilities and reports of open defecation weekly.

The role of the department is to fund, facilitate, and share knowledge. So now we can say that its core purpose and functions are to create a viral program of action, one that not only replicates success and learns from failure, but one that grows exponentially until every community is covered - until every Indian has access to safe and effective sanitation facilities that provide dignity and security.

And we need to keep the vision (statement of goals) simpler than the 10 points listed on the first page of the department's report. Keeping a single simple aspiration clarifies thinking and action and also aligns and motivates in an extremely empowering manner. "Providing every Indian a safe and effective toilet and ensuring their use by 2020".

We all need to align ourselves again behind Nehru's observation: "The day every one of us gets a toilet to use, I shall know that our country has reached the pinnacle of progress".

Neelkanth Mishra, Freshwater Action Network South Asia, Hyderabad

The Government of India administers the Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC), a comprehensive programme to ensure sanitation facilities in rural areas with the main goal of eradicating the practice of open defecation and ensuring clean environment. The main components are incentive for Individual Household Latrines (IHHL), School Sanitation and Hygiene Education (SSHE), assistance for Community Sanitary Complex, Anganwadi toilets and Solid and Liquid Waste Management. Still, Coverage of all school and Target of IHHL is lagging behind. The construction model of TSC supported toilet is also not user friendly.

That is why in most of the household such toilets are used for keeping addition household items. We appreciate the way department is analysing status of NGP villages. In similar way issue related to why IHHL models Toilets are not being properly used has to be analysed and if possible change in model has to be made by department. Personally I have also seen in many tribal villages of Orissa toilets are constructed near entrance of houses. Obviously in such cases toilets will be not used by households. Secondly, the share from center is 1500 and state is 700 that is not sufficient for construction of safe and secured toilets.

In the new strategy, Department should propose at least 3500 costing for making toilets. TSC at present is being implemented in 606 districts.  TSC is a demand driven programme. Until it will become 100% inclusive program at village level without making discrimination of APL and BPL families-This program will not give desired result. Sanitation in Indian context is a behavioural issue. So a Intensive IEC campaign launched to change traditional sanitation behaviours and promote usage of toilets .In many state, the amount of fund released for last two years under ILCS scheme is nil like in Bihar, WB,JK , Assam etc because state had not submitted proposal for grant under same scheme. In such situations, Objectives related to sanitation will not get achieved in Indian state.

The funds in TSC are released to the districts based on eligibility through State Water and Sanitation Missions as per decision taken in the Plan Approval Committee meetings. Department should propose for making panchayat, block and district level sanitation plan - and that plan should be funded to its separate account. Many state government has received external aid support to water and sanitation projects like Kerela, Panjab, Uttranchal, Karnataka and Maharashtra - proper community participation has to be insured to improve governance and transparency in such million dolor projects.

TEG report also proposes changes in administrative and management system for proper implementation of such program, but even that report doesn't address requirement of involving community in planning and management of such program. Along with IEC, department must develop capacity of VWSC and panchayat members to develop village specific sanitation plan,.

Being an active part of SACOSAN and signatory of SACOSAN commitments, department must ensure and address commitment made in Sacosan process in their annual plan. Plan of action under Sacosan declaration are much more participatory in nature and action oriented.

One last but important issue, Linkages with NREGS is captured in vision document of both drinking water and sanitation plan up to 2022 by DDWS. How it will be approached, how guidelines of NREGS will incorporate use of NREGS for creating water and sanitation facilities at village level is going to be a real challenge because it involves different departments and administrative structure.

Amitava Basu Sarkar, Society for Rural Awareness and Development in Himalayan Area (SRADHA), Dehradoon

I feel, India is moving in the right direction - from supply driven, high subsidy regime of the first five year plan (1951 - '56) to demand driven, community led, low subsidy regime "Total Sanitation Campaign" started in April 1999, to ensure access to safe sanitation facilities for all. TSC objectives are ideal, without any doubt, aiming to ensure toilet for all by 2012.

TSC has been going on for more than a decade now and prior to finalizing the strategic plan for sanitation we need to look at the problems faced and lessons learnt;

1. Being implemented by the state, with minimal involvement of the NGOs, CBOs - it has become another target oriented initiative.
2. State departments do not have the qualified man-power (in most of the cases), willing to let go of their ego and talk to, listen to the rural communities, thus, empowering the communities to ensure behaviour change has not materialised.
3. To expect the GP to take the entire burden to disseminate all project related information - ensuring behaviour change to all feasible technical options, to the entire community is far fetched. How will the GP be empowered, without systematic, sustained effort from the project and more importantly who is to do that?
4. Budgetary allocation of the TSC makes it amply clear that it is perceived to be a hardware problem - construction of 100% latrine units will solve the problem. On the contrary, it is about behavioural change, putting sanitation on the priority list of all the rural populace. That will only happen when they clearly see the connection between safe sanitation facility and good health leading to a general improvement in their life. That can and will only happen when meaningful dialogue among the/ with the community is ensured. It takes time, skilled manpower and financial resources. Our focus has to change from hardware to software and CBOs/NGOs have to be involved in a much more meaningful manner, to ensure that the impetus created by the project initiative is sustainable. The aim of TSC should be to create ODF GPs and not aim for only 100% coverage. There are references to Nirmal Grams Panchayats relapsing into open defecation practice, implying that only physical target was achieved but behavioural change has not occurred! 
5. Recently I had the privilege of participating with ISS - Kolkata, in the technical evaluation of Integrated Low Cost Sanitation (in the urban area) in UP and Uttarakhand. There also the most common bottlenecks mentioned by all the stakeholders are: - a) the awareness among the beneficiaries is very low. This should have been addressed in the project planning stage by allocating sufficient budget, time, and human resources. b) The role of community mobilisation/empowerment was not specifically assigned to any stakeholders.
6. There are cases - where as per the government records the only the name of the family patriarch whereas the family was divided into a number of brothers. Thus only one unit will not solve the problem of open defecation.

Only when these basic issues are addressed then we should build into other aspects like physically disadvantaged people and those related to natural disasters. There also should be sufficient flexibility allowed to make sure that local social and cultural aspects are addressed. And this is entirely my own point of view; this work needs to be done only be the grassroots level NGOs/CBOs. For that adequate resource has to be allocated.

Nripendra Kumar Sarma, PHED, Guwahati

At the outset, I would like put forth a clarification that the views and comments expressed in this write up may not belong to my departmental policy. Being involved in implementing TSC in the districts of Assam , I have initiated discussions with my friends from Public Health Engineering Department , Assam and different NGOs also involved in implementing TSC, in connection with the proposed strategic plan for implementation of TSC. The different views coming up during such informal discussion are summarized as follows: 

In Assam , the status of sanitation in rural areas is as such that open defecation is not a normal practice. However the majority of the rural community uses a “Kutchcha Latrine” for defecation. Such a “Kutchcha Latrine” is constructed by digging an earthen pit and fitting therein, an arrangement for defecation, with a temporary superstructure above it. But such “Kutchcha Latrines” are not sanitary latrines. So some of the major challenges, identified in Assam in the rural sanitation sector are as follows:

• Conversion of the “Kutchcha Latrine” into sanitary latrines.
• To increase the coverage of the different sanitation facilities in rural areas.
• To change the perception of rural population about the safe sanitation and to encourage wide use of different sanitation facilities and proper hygienic behaviour among all communities.

So far implementation of TSC in Assam is concerned; Sanitation sector still lags behind drinking water provision and is not a high priority. It is not yet recognized as an issue of high concern to influence the state level policy makers. So, although the Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) has created a thrust for improving the rural sanitation status, yet the major issue is the approach of different stakeholders that it is looked as a Govt. sponsored programme/scheme only aiming to achieve the target oriented hardware activities. But for making it a success and to ensure sustainable rural sanitation, it should be oriented with felt need and be implemented in a real campaign mode with a collective approach and without considering as a mere Govt. approach.

In Assam , although the institutional framework and implementation strategy of TSC includes DWSM and DWSC, yet the implementation of TSC has remained as a responsibility of PHED, Assam . Neither the Zilla Parishad nor the Panchayat accord high priority in this regard to consider TSC as an important flagship programme for rural development. Only reason for this seems to be the perception that the fund is routed through the PHED. Sometimes it is agreed to have consorted efforts through convergence at the state and district level. But such convergence is not decentralized to the grassroots level. In the grassroots level of implementation, the felt urge among the stakeholders is that it is the “baby of PHED and PHED only should take care of it”.

Moreover there is one factor of duplicity also. In some districts, Panchayat & Rural Development Department utilizes the fund from Finance Commission Award ( 12^th & 13^th Finance Commission ) to construct household toilets in supply driven approach ( without any beneficiary contribution, as it was in case of CRSP in earlier times ) and that too without considering the BPL /APL and with a model of higher cost. As a result of which, grassroots level PRIs tend to be more interested in implementation of Finance Commission Award than TSC. This happening also plays a negative role while implementing the TSC in the grassroots level.

On the other hand, the drinking water supply in rural areas has remained as the core sector for involvement of PHED, Assam and hence, while implementing rural water supply and sanitation works, sometimes the implementation of TSC seems to be a burden for the grass root level PHED officials due to the absence of necessary collective approach and active cooperation from other stakeholders.

Likewise, the School Toilets are constructed under TSC and handed over to School Management Committee (SMC) of the concerned school to ensure its use and necessary maintenance. But in many cases, such toilets do not remain operational due to the perception of the SMC that necessary repairing and maintenance of the School Toilets should be taken up by PHED, as the fund for construction of the same is facilitated by PHED under TSC.

Moreover, when the fund is released to the SMC for construction of school toilets, then in certain cases, the SMC do not construct the School Toilets in true perspective and in time even after repeated persuasion. This happens in spite of the agreed principle of convergence between SSA and PHED at state / district level. Another factor of duplicity is also occurred, because SSA has taken up construction of Girls’ Toilet with the unit cost of Rs. 40,000.00 for the same unit (same model) being constructed with Rs. 20,000.00 under TSC. So the SMCs are more interested in the grants from SSA than it from TSC to construct the school toilet.

Same scenario prevails in case of Anganwadi Centre Toilets also. In Assam , Anganwadi Centres are being constructed by Social and Welfare Department , Assam and the proposed building includes the provision of one hand pump and construction of an attached toilet in it and that too with a provision of septic tank. But in many cases, the hand pump is not installed and the toilet is not constructed with anticipation that installation of hand pump is the responsibility of PHED and the toilet will be constructed by PHED under TSC.

So considering the present status on the rural sanitation sector in Assam , our state specific Goals and effective Strategies might be as follows:

Goals for the Rural Sanitation Sector:

Main Goals:- 

• Access to Safe Sanitation at all households / Institutions / Public places etc.
• Total Environmental Sanitation in each habitations / villages.

Suggestive Strategy:

• Community oriented approach, keeping GP in the forefront of implementation under the effective leadership of ZP, to ensure access to safe sanitation at all households / rural public places and Total Environmental Sanitation in each habitations / villages.
• More stress on community mobilization for ensuring sustainability.
• Uniform policy (state specific) on rural sanitation. 
• Like Govt. Institutions, the community managed Institutions, which have applied for Govt. recognition should also be considered financial assistance for constructing their toilet.
• The tag of subsidy should be removed and there should be a provision of incentive for construction of IHHL available for the poorer sections as decided by the Gram Sabha. The required criteria, in this regard for selection of poor households may be decided by the State Panchayat and Rural Development.
• After attaining the ODF status, each GP should be given top priority for other Rural Development Programmes as an incentive. Ration of food grains for all with more subsidies for a period of 2 to 3 years may prove to be successful.
• Monitoring and Evaluation on the performance oriented effectiveness and the accountability of implementation stakeholders.
• The Education Department should be entrusted with SSHE to ensure access to safe sanitation and behavioural practice of hygiene at all Institutions.

Thanking you and looking for the much awaited Strategic Plan to ensure sustainable and safe sanitation in rural areas.

Shashikant Kumar, Green Eminent, Vadodara

This response is as per the PDF documents provided in the query and inputs asked by the moderator.

Mission of the department

• To enable the state governments to effectively implement the National Drinking Water Mission (NDWM) goals.
• To support states in ensuring availability and supply of safe drinking water through technical, managerial and financial arrangements.
• Ensure use of protected sources of water and quality testing of water at all levels of water supply.
• Encourage participatory involvement of local community in the source selection and operation of the water supply system.
• To support state in formulating transparent and efficient water supply management systems implemented at the all levels of services.

Core Purpose and objective of Department

• Ensure all households of the country to have at least one source of drinking water available or with in accessible distance.
• Ensure water security of the households by encouraging sustainable use of groundwater and surface water by using appropriate water harvesting techniques.
• Monitoring the groundwater and surface water availability and quality scenarios in country with the support from the state government through its own or state institutions.
• Preparing the water resource utilization and future scenarios at the district level and advisory for the respective administrations. (this to ensure sustainability)

In our opinion, objectives should address broad delivery mechanism of the department. Mentioned objectives are broad and have scope of further expansion. Rest of the points mentioned in the document is all right except it has become too specific like ‘ensuring all government schools and anganwadis have functional toilets, urinals and safe drinking water..’ statement like this not required why leave the other schools, monitoring availability and safety of water supply should be ensured at all levels of organisations and institutions. It does not matter whether its government or private. This would be true of similar points being made in the objectives.

Functions of Department

• Funding and technical evaluation of Drinking Water Projects at all levels in rural areas as per the prescribed guidelines developed and supplied to the state governments.
• Monitoring and Evaluation of NRDWPs at periodic interval with review of performance of the projects and state level SRDWM (State Rural Drinking Water Mission).
• Developing Project Guidelines, Project Manuals and Operations & Management Manual for the NRDWP.
• Ensure emergency provision of water supply at all levels of the disaster management plans through active participation in such plans.
• Enable public-private partnerships, agreements, funding arrangement etc for the state level Drinking Water Missions.

These are very broad points which cover whole range of functions provided in the document. We are limiting our response to this section only.

Puran Singh Yadav, Haryana Institute of Rural Development & Department of Development and Panchayats, Karnal

Central Rural Sanitation Programme (CRSP) was launched by Government of India in the year 1986. The programme was heavily subsidized. All those households who were convinced to have toilet were given subsidy for construction of the same. Rightly so. During those days there was no taker of the idea of having a toilet inside the house in rural areas. It appeared to be a wishful thought to have a toilet in the house premises, when a lot of community land/ private fields were available for open defecation. Moreover, a toilet in the house was considered bad as it smelt badly.
The hardware was purchased in bulk by the implementing agencies and kept at the district/ block head quarters. The people in the engineering department used to convince the Village Sarpanches to lift some rural pans, bricks from a designated place, cement bags, pit covers, vent pipes, iron doors and roof sheet. Very few people came forward i.e., literate ones to construct toilets. Maximum such structures were erected forcefully to show the achievement of fixed targets. The poor used the super structures for different purposes except that of toilet.

Then came the idea of having a demand based programme and named as Total sanitation Campaign, which in addition to household sanitation coverage includes school, angwanwadi sanitation, community sanitary complexes and solid and liquid waste management with emphasis on IEC. From the nomenclature, it appears as if the programme was to be implemented in a campaign mode. The TSC was called community led, people centred and demand driven programme but experience tells that except at few places the programme remained more or less supply and individual driven. This is clear from the fact that the incentive money is given to a BPL family for construction of IHHL, which was to be given after construction of the toilet and verification of the usage. Secondly, the BPL families are approached in isolation to have a toilet offending the others.

Almost 10 years have passed since the programme was launched. Signification progress appears to have been made. Individual household rural sanitation coverage has gone up to 65%.

This is the right time that GoI has woken up to take the stock of the situation and has decided to develop a strategic plan for sanitation up to 2022. Because sanitation is more an aspect of behaviour changes than construction of toilets. Behaviour change cannot take place over night. It takes years to evolve behaviour.

Goals and aspirations:

• The goals and aspirations as spelt out in the position paper can fulfill the sanitation needs of the country. Sustained change in collective community behaviour for accelerated household sanitation coverage, usage and sustainability are the aspirations of the sanitation.
• Transferring the responsibility of sanitation to the Gram Panchayats in public private partnership mode.
• Continuous Research and Development for suitability of technological options for safe disposal of human excreta.
• Financing of Individual Household Toilets construction.
• Adoption of Sulabh model for usage and maintenance of Community Sanitary Complexes. It should be mandatory for the Gram Panchayat to give an undertaking for running of the CSC on Sulabh pattern before grants are released for construction of CSC. State level discussions prelude to finalization of the strategy: All states should be approached individually by the DDWS. The ground situation should be assessed. The potential constraints being faced in coverage and sustainability should be identified and dealt with squarely. The strategy should be state specific under the overall central umbrella.

Strategy for Sanitation 2010-2022.

To achieve the objective of Nirmal Bharat/ ODF rural India , a multipronged strategy covering all aspects of the programme should be formulated as under:

Fresh Base line Survey: In view of the increase in population and division of households, an all India rapid Base line survey pertaining to sanitation coverage should be got conducted immediately to identify the actual gaps in coverage because Census-2011 results will not be available before March 2012. It will help re-strategising the whole issue.

Strengthening Coordination: Sanitation is not an issue to be dealt with in isolation? It needs all partners to work in tandem, which requires perfect coordination between different ministries and departments at the Central, State, District, Block and Village level. First of the Ministry of Rural Development should coordinate with the Department of Elementary Education, Schools Education in the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Health and Ministry of Urban Development and Department of Rural Development in the MoRD. It will not only promote School and Anganwadi Sanitation but will also help avoid duplicity of efforts and maintenance of sanitation facilities in Schools and Anganwadis (availability of financial resources for maintenance of School and Anganwadi toilets). It should be responsibility of School teacher/ Anganwadi Worker to maintain the toilets.

Strengthening Institutional Arrangements for Implementation of Total Sanitation Campaign: There should be minimum institutional arrangements to sustain sanitation behaviour. There should be system structures at State, Divisional, District, Block and Gram Panchayat level. Say for example there should be a:

• Sanitation Cell at the State level,
• Separate District level programme coordinator and supportive staff,
• Block level Sanitation Facilitator and
• One Swacchta Sahayak at cluster level (10 GPs).

The above staff structure should be funded by GoI. Pool of Resource Persons/ Experts/ Practitioners: DDWS has identified some eminent person in the field of sanitation to guide and advise the Ministry. These persons are limited in number. More Practitioners having gained experiences in implementation of TSC should be identified and put in the panel. In addition to the above, eminent persons having practical experience in Solid and Liquid Waste Management, School and Anganwadi Sanitation and expert in community mobilization and IEC activities should be identified and empanelled for frequent interaction with different stakeholders.

Information, Education and Communication: In addition to the IEC activities carried out at the State and district level, these activities should be done from Central level also by DDWS as is being done under other rural development programmes including MGNREGA. It should focus on communication to the people about the hazards of open defecation and personal hygienic practices like hand washing, MHM. There should be intensive IEC from all levels targeting behavioural change because Sanitation is not an issue of construction, as it is more an issue of behavioural change. In place of conventional IEC, at district level focus should be on inter-personal communication.

Capacity Building and training: There is strong and urgent need for development of right kind of Human Resource for sustaining behavioural change. To achieve this objective, well structured capacity building and training programmes should be designed for all categories of stakeholders. The training and sensitization programmes should be designed for the following categories of stakeholders.

• Chief Ministers of the States
• Parliamentarians
• Legislator
• State’s Secretary in Charge Sanitation
• Directors in the Sanitation Department
• District Collectors
• District Officers
• Block level stakeholders
• Village level motivators
• Elected representatives of Panchayati Raj

Community Mobilization: Some community led approach to sanitation should be evolved and adopted for mobilizing communities for demand generation of sanitation facilities. Instead of approaching the individuals, communities should be approached for collective behaviour change. 
Institutional Sanitation: School, Anganwadi and Community Buildings like Panchayat Ghars/ Chaupals: The Strategy should be as under:

• To get the projects revised to sanction toilets for schools in accordance with norms prescribed by DDWS for boys and girls. DICE data appears to be not based on reality. Provisions of funds made under SSA and RMSA should be specifically earmarked for maintenance of School toilets. School Sanitation and Hygiene Education should be included in the training curriculum of teachers under SSA.
• Maintenance of Anganwadi toilets and hygiene education to children should be made part of the job profile of the Anganwadi Workers.
• All community buildings should be equipped with sanitation facilities and maintained properly.
• Prioritization of Issues: Issues should be prioritized and issues like MHM should be kept at low priority.
• Sanitation facilities at Road side Dhabas and religious places: The strategy should be as under:
• It should be made mandatory for the owners of the road side Dhabas to make proper arrangements for clean toilets at the sites.
• Though , it is mandatory for all petrol service pump owners to make arrangement for sanitation facilities at the service stations, all oil companies be asked to issue strict directions to all pump owners for maintaining the toilets clean and there should be provision of penalty on the offenders.
• It should be made mandatory for all the trusts/managements/organizations managing the religious places, where congregations/melas are held at regular intervals to ensure the adequate sanitary facilities and their maintenance. District administration/TSC implementing agency at the district level should identify such places within 6 months and make a plan for coverage.

Solid and Liquid Waste Management: The approach should be as under:

• Segregation of bio-degradable and bio non-degradable solid waste at household level and at community level, transportation, recycling and reuse in public-private partnership mode. Zero waste management through vermin composting technology and recycling.
• Institutions and Commercial establishments should be made to manage at their own level.
• Management of grey water at source or community level through cost effective and easy to use technologies.

Research and Development: There is strong need for continuous research and development on the technological options like suitability of pits etc in different topographical conditions.

Monitoring: In addition to existing parameters fixed for online monitoring of the programme, additional indicators like number of ODF GPs at a particular point of time, GPs having coverage upto 25%, between 26%-50%, between 51%-75%, between 76% -100% and 100%. iramal Gram Puraskar: Nirmal Gram Puraskar has played a catalytic role in promoting Sanitation in the country. But over the time, it has been increasingly observed that more and Panchayats are slipping. It ill be in the fitness of things that continuance of NGP in the current format should be reviewed. The award should be given to one best Gram Panchayat per block in a year. But such a Gram Panchayat should not relapse. Recent studies corroborate the fact that NGP GPs are slipping back. If the NGP award is to be continued in the present format there should be minimum Rs.10000/- refundable fee for application, which should stand be forfeited in case the Gram Panchayat fails to make the grade.

Dinesh Kumar, Institute for Resource Analysis and Policy, Hyderabad

The position paper has got some very valuable insights into the issue of sanitation. But, the document throws some disturbing facts, the implications of which do not seem to have been captured in designing the strategies for total sanitation:

The Table in section on Construction of individual latrines shows that the BPL households stand ahead of the APL households in terms of adoption of individual toilets in many backward states (West Bengal, Goa , Assam , Bihar , Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh and Nagaland). This essentially means that the adoption of toilet is very much a function of the subsidies provided there. In these states, the overall adoption of toilets by APL households is quite low. This is quite disturbing. The willingness to invest in sanitation seems to be quite low in these backward states. It seems that once the subsidy is withdrawn, the sanitation programme would collapse, except in states which are economically prosperous.

Hence, two things are important. First: better education and changing the attitudes of the people towards cleanliness and hygiene as the long and medium term measure to increase the willingness of the people to invest in sanitation. But in the short term, the factors that drive community towards ending open defecation by creating emotional responses from the community, such as shame, disgust, prestige, status, etc should be given precedence over conventionally applied logic of health in these backward regions.

The technical feasibility and environmental sustainability of eco sanitation for different physical (geo-hydrological, climatic, rainfall) settings should be studied, rather than replicating limited experience from one region. For this, experience from different regions with Eco San should be thoroughly studied.

The idea of Community Sanitation Complex; and creating institutional mechanism for Solid and Liquid Waste management are quite useful. While the Gram Panchayat is expected to take the responsibility for maintaining the Community Sanitation Complex and running the SLWM systems, the incentive structures are not talked about. Shouldn’t the people, who use these toilets, be asked to pay for the services like in Sulabh complex? That said, unless the penalty for resorting to open defecation is high (disincentive) and the “watch and ward” mechanism (monitoring systems) is strong, the willingness to use the “pay & use” services would be low. Colleting solid and liquid waste is not easy. What method of collection of liquid waste (grey water) is envisaged (centralized or decentralized)? If centralized, it would call for building infrastructure. Who would bear the capital costs?

Kanupriya Harish, Jal Bhagirathi Foundation, Jodhpur

The initiative of developing a strategy plan for sanitation with a wide consultation through Solution Exchange is indeed a commendable initiative of the Department of Drinking Water Supply. I would like to share our learning from our projects on sanitation and hygiene implemented in the villages in the Marwar region of western Rajasthan with the support of Wells for India and Princes Charities.  As mentioned in the discussion paper itself, our project area, being a desert, is one of the difficult areas in terms of attaining sanitation goals. In this mail I am sharing experiences and learning relating to the particular goals and aspirations of ‘total sanitation’, ‘individual household sanitation’ and ‘hygiene behavior’ as mentioned in the discussion paper.

Considering the existing community values in the rural villages of the Marwar region, we have developed a strategy to address individual household sanitation in a collective manner leading to total sanitation of a village. The Jal Sabhas, community level water users associations, play a central role in the implementation of the project. They hold meetings to inform the community about sanitation and hygiene practices and encouraged their members to build toilets in their homes. A 50% grant is given for the construction of each toilet and the Jal Sabha administers and monitors the implementation process. Each beneficiary constructs their own toilet, while the 50% grant will be available only after all the households in the group completed the construction of toilets. The construction toilets are undertaken as group micro-projects, whereby a fixed number of households (generally ten) apply as a group to the Jal Sabha. Financial reimbursements were approved by the Jal Sabha only when all the toilets in a group micro-project are complete. This approach was adopted to create peer pressure, and also to encourage the community to make a collective effort to work together for their own wellbeing. Peer pressure has proved to be an effective tool. The project showed that when toilets are constructed in a group, acceptance of their regular use is also greater.

To promote hygiene behavior among women we have initiated a campaign through ‘Change Agents’, who were selected and trained from each community itself. Having familiar women as public faces of the sanitation campaign created a non-threatening atmosphere for other women to attend training sessions and openly discuss their concerns around sanitation. Furthermore, developing leadership in change agents initiated a process of women’s empowerment by expanding women’s role in community activities, increasing knowledge, education and creating female role models. After attending meetings led by change agents, women in Janadesar (Jodhpur district), where the sanitation project is being implemented, were able to return home and communicate the need for a toilet to their husbands, along with teaching and practicing proper hygiene practices in household activities such as cooking, cleaning and bathing.

In short, the following strategies that worked very well in our project area can be included in the strategy plan.

1. Employing community based institutions for monitoring construction of toilets for a group of households, which is considered as a single micro project of the CBO, with a maximum of 50% grant of the total cost. This strategy results in peer pressure leading to total sanitation of a village.
2. IEC activities through capacitated Change Agents, who are selected from the same communities itself, are found effective not only for bringing positive behavior changes for better hygiene but also for empowering weaker sections in the community.

Many thanks to all who contributed to this query!

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