India, Uttar Pradesh: sense and sanitation – a model village in the Total Sanitation Campaign

A small Muslim village in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh has served as a model for others to achieve total sanitation by empowering women.

In 2006, the village of Shahpur Jot Yusuf (2,300 inhabitants) in Bahraich district received a President’s Award for achieving 100% sanitation. The campaign and motivation techniques were replicated in 16 other villages in Bahraich. In 2009, all 16 villages were also awarded a President’s Award.

It all began with one woman in the village and one civil society organisation, the Baraich-based Development Association for Human Development (DEHAT), a UN Millennium Campaign partner. Recalls Jitendra Chaturvedi, Chief Executive, DEHAT, “I was shocked to see that the distance between the makeshift dry latrines that were in most homes earlier and the kitchen hearths was just three feet apart. What was worse, the excreta was disposed manually, with no proper sewage or plumbing. Sweepers had to perform this demeaning task. The filth was dumped in a nearby pond, which was just 30 feet deep and the dirty water inevitably seeped into drinking water sources, contaminating them as well.”

Even the village women observed “purdah” (segregation from men), Chaturvedi and his colleagues “were convinced that if Shahpur Jot had to be transformed, the women had to play a pivotal role”. DEHAT founds its champion in the pradhan, or village head, Shakila Bano (45), who realised that she and the other women would had to give up her ‘burqa’ if they wanted to improve their living conditions.

Once the idea that they could make a difference caught on, Shakila and her band of women were eager to do everything they possibly could to transform their living environs. The situation was indeed dismal. The open drains were full of blood and refuse from local slaughter houses and the pond was overflowing with faecal matter.

Slowly, the urge to see this village of 2,500 people clean and healthy became everybody’s goal. Shahpur Jot’s 300 homes all have a toilet today. In fact, one family which has a physically challenged daughter has built a special toilet with handles so that the child would have no problem in using it. The sewage system is similar to the flush toilets in urban homes, with septic tanks to collect the waste.

The impact of this initiative on the local administration was quite considerable. The authorities were taken aback when DEHAT informed the officers who came to inspect the sanitation facilities that it had cost a paltry Rs 500 to construct one toilet per home.

“The DM could not believe that it could be done so cheap. We assured him that it could even be done totally free. In a village that thrives on farming vegetables and fruits, each household contributed Rs 3,000-4,000 (US$1=Rs 46.8) for the toilets. We also received support from the government under the Samagra Gram Vikas Yojna (a state-funded scheme that gave grants to villages through the local MLAs) so that our campaign could carry on undeterred. A sum of Rs 10,00,000 was allocated for this purpose,” says Chaturvedi.

Better hygiene and sanitary facilities improved children’s and women’s health: medical bills came down and women suffered less from gynaecological problems because they could relieve themselves whenever they wanted in privacy.

Eight Self Help Groups were created and women were informed about child care, personal hygiene, and how to help keep their surroundings clean. Discussions on these issues figured in the monthly meetings held in the village and a Health Day was observed in the local school, together with projects on the importance of proper sanitation

One of the first problems tackled was the slaughtering of animals in the lanes of the village. Open slaughter was banned and the open drains were covered.

Change always brings in more change. Today, every girl in Shahpur Jot attends school. In order to encourage girls to study further, bicycles were bought and the girls trained to ride them. Many of the older girls now cycle together in groups to attend high school in an adjoining village. Interestingly, they have also taken a pledge not to marry into homes that don’t have their own toilets!

Contact: Jitendra Chaturvedi, DEHAT, Bahraich, Uttar Pradesh, e-mail: dehatvo@gmail.com

Source: Anjali Singh,Womens Feature Service / News Blaze, 14 Jul 2010 ; Jitendra Chaturvedi, UNews / UN Millennium Campaign, 05 Mar 2010

Viet Nam: VND54 trillion for rural water supply programme

More than VND54 trillion [US$ 2.77 billion] will be allocated for the national target programme o­n rural water supply and environmental sanitation from 2011 to 2015 to improve locals’ living conditions, according to the Standing Office of the National Target Programme for Rural Water Supply and Sanitation.

Of the total, VND21.8 trillion [US$ 1.12 billion] will be earmarked for water supply and VND25.6 trillion [US$ 1.32 billion] for hygiene in households and schools.

The programme aims to improve water supply services, raise people’s awareness and change the community’s behaviour regarding environmental protection. Priority will be given to remote, island, drought-stricken and polluted areas to benefit poor and ethnic minority people.

Vietnam has set a goal of supplying running water to 83 percent of the rural population by the end of 2010. A programme official says the goal would be [surpassed] this year, with 85 percent of the people accessing safe water. However, o­nly 63 percent of rural households would have [hygienic] latrines, 7 percent less than the goal.

Related web site: Viet Nam – Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Partnership (RWSSP)

Source: Hanoi Times, 12 Jul 2010 ; Nhan Dan 12 Jul 2010

Philippines: school sanitation sparks ‘Bayanihan’ spirit in small village

The Filipino spirit of communal unity, ‘Bayanihan’, prevented school toilets provided by UNICEF going unused because of a lack of water. Parents contributed money for the purchase of containers of water in each toilet every school day.

Salag Elementary School, which stands along the highway of the sprawling Siaton town in Negros Oriental, a province in the Central Visayas islands of the Philippines, has long had a problem with a lack of adequate toilets. The school only had two comfort rooms, one for the boys and one for the girls, which are not enough to accommodate a student population of more than 100.

Pupils were often forced to use the nearest bushes and tended to loiter around, missing part of their lessons.

But things changed when Unicef stepped in to address the school’s problem. Teacher Sheila still remembers the day when officials from Unicef came to their school to deliver free goods as well as the good news. “They gave us books and notepads for the students and told us that they will give us comfort rooms. We were so happy when we heard that,” she recalled.

In 2009 all seven classrooms in Salag Elementary School got new toilets.

The provision of toilets is one of the many projects carried out by Unicef in elementary schools belonging to disparity villages in the province to promote school sanitation and hygiene. One of the requirements cited in Unicef’s Child-Friendly School System is for the school to be “healthy” with adequate sanitation and toilet facilities. To date, six elementary schools in disparity villages across the province are now enjoying the sanitation, and privacy, provided by clean comfort rooms courtesy of Unicef which supplied the toilet facilities. The local government units, in return, shouldered the cost of construction.

A grade schooler washes her hands using the water bought with funds from the parents, an initiative inspired by Unicef's health and sanitation campaign in schools. Photo: PIA

However, after the toilets were completed at the Salag Elementary School, it faced a dilemma because it had no piped water supply.

Although the village has a water source, the supply is not sufficient to address the water needs of the village residents. But this did not stop Principal Millard who was determined not to let the toilets go to waste. So he called for a meeting with the teachers and together they came up with an idea to solve the lack of water in the toilets. However, the solution they thought of can only be done with the support from the parents of the students.

So in the next Parent-Teacher Homeroom meeting, Principal Millard presented the solution before the parents- for each parent to contribute money for the purchase of containers of water in each toilet every school day. The principal was not sure if he could convince the parents. With Salag tagged as a disparity area, life in the village is hard and water is scarce and expensive.

But to the principal’s surprise, the parents readily said yes. Now, with the parents chipping in the funds, each classroom’s toilet has up to five gallons of water, enough to address the sanitation needs of around 60 students in each class. All this made possible by the bayanihan spirit among the Salag villagers.

Principal Millard thinks he knows why the parents chipped in.

“This would not have been possible had Unicef not provided the toilets. I don’t think the parents would have agreed to shelling out the money that quickly. They were inspired by what Unicef has done for the school”.

Related web sites:

• IRC – WASH in Schools
• UNICEF – WASH in Schools

Source: Rachelle M. Nessia, PIA, 13 Jul 2010

Nepal: famous comedians star in tele-serial on community-led total sanitation

The famous Nepali comic duo Madan Krishna Shrestha and Haribansha Acharya aka Maha Jodi are starring in ‘Sugandhapur’, a tele-serial with a message motivating people not to defecate in the open.

Sugandhapur poster

The premiere show of the tele-film was organised at the Russian Cultural Centre, Kamalpokhari on 30 June 2010. Jointly produced by Mahasanchar and Plan Nepal, it will be broadcast in two episodes on television channels. The film centres around a community led total sanitation approach, which focuses on ending open defecation. It also conveys a message of changing the hygiene behaviour of people. The shooting of entire film was done in a rural area of Biratnagar.

In the telefilm, Haribansa plays a mulish character named ‘Hari Lal’ and Madan Krishna plays the role of a Chief District Officer (CDO). In the telefilm, all the households in the village have toilets but Hari Lal refuses to construct one saying that this will destroys crops, which turns the entire village into ‘Durghandapur’ (stinking village). The CDO advises him, the members of Child Club take out a rally against him but it could not change the mindset of Hari Lal. Later, Hari Lal understands the importance of toilets when he himself gets sick due to open defecation and thereafter the village changes into ‘Sugandhapur’ (good smelling village).

Sharing his experience during the shooting Acharya said, “Many people from that area were motivated to make toilets in their homes just watching the shooting.” Revealing the present situation of Nepal, Donal Keane, country director of Plan Nepal stated, “Ten million people in Nepal defecate in the open and every year 10,000 children here die due to diarrhoeal diseases.” Plan Nepal has started community led total sanitation programmes since 2004 in different communities of Nepal. “We hope this tele-serial will be one of the effective mediums to motivate communities to maintain sanitation,” Keane added. A total of 70 communities have been declared open defecation area by Plan Nepal.

“Only 43 per cent people in Nepal have access to toilet. So we are moving ahead to improve this situation to meet the national target of sanitation for all by 2017,” expressed Binod Chandra Jha, Deputy Director General, Department of Water Supply and Sewerage.

Related web sites:

• MaHa Sanchar – official site of Madan Krishna Shrestha and Hari Bamsha Acharya
• Plan Nepal
• Community-led total sanitation – Nepal

Source: The Himalayan Times / NGO Forum, 02 Jul 2010 ; Kantipur / NGO Forum, 01 Jul 010