As in collective reckoning, a sanitation project can’t be single-aim specific – essentially, it has to be social campaign as well, to broaden its boundaries. The community participation plays pivotal role in determining the outcomes of any such initiative, this because the citizens happen to be the end practitioners.

Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) is a national campaign by the Government of India, covering 4,041 statutory towns, to clean the streets, roads and infrastructure of the country and to eradicate open defecation in the country. This campaign was officially launched on 2 October 2014 at national level. Gomati District also launched this mission in October 2014 (shifting from earlier ‘Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan’). For the year 2015-16, a target of 84 Gram Panchayat (GP)/Village Councils (VCs) have been fixed for declaring as Open Defecation Free (ODF) out of 165 GP/VCs.

Challenges

• Low awareness about the utility of toilets among the people, who didn’t have access to toilets.
• A good number of ST/SC families were not interested to construct toilets.
• Insufficient number of active NGOs under Gomati District.
• Insufficient masons to produce sanitation goods.
• Insufficient involvement of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) representatives on sanitation issues.
• Lack of proper implementation technique.

Solution

• Adopted motivation programme for beneficiaries at Block Level.
• Adopted convergence with MGNREGS.
• Adopted implementation for directly transferring the project money to beneficiaries’ account.
• Ensure to provide IHHL to the IAY beneficiaries.
• Ensure proper supervision and monitoring through PRI representatives in addition to Government Officials.
• Provide accessibilities of sanitary materials at all GPs/VCs through establishment of production centres run by Self Help Groups (SHGs)

Outcomes

• Decrease of water prone diseases: After identification of the families without toilet during the year 2012 through 1st baseline survey (re survey 2014) in this district; IHHL (APL & BPL) toilet projects have been taken at habitations where water prone diseases were commonly found.
• Women empowerment: During course of implementation of IHHL, numbers of women got involved, being part of SHGs or in other roles. They particularly helped in creating awareness among the potential beneficiaries of IHHL.
• Inspiration for civic duties: The SBM inspires the idea of ‘healthy & hygienic lifestyle’ amongst the habitants of a particular habitation. The social and behavioral change has triggered and now the people think that the sanitation is required not only for a few, but for all.
• The mission is to be executed on war footing with the involvement of each of 165 Gram Panchayats & ADC Villages in Gomati District, besides roping in large sections of rural population and school teachers and students in this endeavor.
• The BPL and APL families covered as sanctioned for the year 2013-14, 2014-15 – and remaining people will be covered in 2016-17.