Consultation on Sustainable Sanitation

1. Consultation on Sustainable Sanitation 9th September 2009 Bangalore

2. TSC: Experiences & Recommendations

3. TSC …. key objectives… • Bring about an improvement in the general quality of life • Accelerate sanitation coverage …access to toilets to all by 2012. • Motivate communities and PRIs promoting sustainable sanitation facilities through awareness creation and health education. • ….cover schools by March 2008 and Anganwadis by March 2009, with sanitation facilities and promote hygiene education and sanitary habits... • Encourage cost effective and appropriate technologies for ecologically safe and sustainable sanitation. • Develop community managed environmental sanitation systems focusing on solid & liquid waste management.

4. Delhi Declaration vis-à-vis TSC guidelines Delhi Declaration • Water and sanitation as rights • Preserve dignity of sanitation workers • Focus on excluded communities including people with special needs • Gender friendly sanitation including menstrual hygiene • Monitoring of outcome and impact • TSC Guideline • TSC guidelines do not recognize this right • No mention in TSC guidelines • Limited financial support for toilet construction for the disabled, nothing on technology • No mention of menstrual hygiene • Current monitoring based on expenditure and construction

5. KEY ISSUES /CHALLENGES Issues • Impressive progress in coverage- however around 50% of the target achieved • Old BLS: The base figure are from 2001-03 against which progress and achievement are measured Challenges • How to sustain momentum while ensuring quality of construction and sustained use? • Strike a balance between community processes and project time frame.

6. KEY ISSUES /CHALLENGES Issues • Sanitation still a low priority for community – hence low effective demand • There is no proportionate plan of demand creation & supply chain Challenges • Focus on effective demand as a precursor to construction of facilities • What arrangements to be made for effective/efficient supply of low cost inputs?

7. KEY ISSUES /CHALLENGES Issues • Structure/mechanism for raising effective demand Challenges • Innovative partnership with NGOs rather than vertical contracts/ monitored by INGOs? SHGs/ CBOs? Frontline functionaries team? Role of PRI?

8. KEY ISSUES /CHALLENGES Issues • Limited human resource support to emphasis on change in behaviour than construction • J.E., RWSS/ DWSD section in the block is over loaded with rural water supply programme and its maintenance. Sanitation is a low/no priority Challenges • Provision of admin & overhead support for district & block coordinators to expedite the progress does not exist in Budget

9. KEY ISSUES /CHALLENGES Issues • Coercive implementation strategy in certain cases leading to poor or un-sustainable use of facilities Challenges • Ensure sustained use and maintenance: can we look at legal provisions like PRIs exercising their right to enforce penalty?

10. KEY ISSUES /CHALLENGES Issues • Programme largely shaped by the subsidy component: impacts on effective demand creation/ use/maintenance Challenges • Evolve innovative and effective use of subsidies; how to ensure that equity issues are not compromised within a subsidy regime? • How to promote support as an incentive mode than subsidy?

11. KEY ISSUES /CHALLENGES Issues • Menstrual hygiene and specific needs of women and girl child yet to be adequately focused in programme strategy Challenges • To develop a sensitive awareness and education package at the community and school level. • How to sensitize / build capacities of implementing agencies for the same?

12. KEY ISSUES /CHALLENGES Issues • Inadequate technical monitoring-implications for sustainability of structures/quality of ground water source /house hold awareness about maintenance. • Community is not aware about the pit maintenance & pit emptying process • Single model of one/twin leach pit is emphasized in TSC program Challenges • Who should be responsible for monitoring during construction??? • How to ensure area specific designs in different geological (Sub-surface) condition :flood/ Sandy/ rocky/water logged areas • How & who will make provision for the people with special needs like disabled, PLWHA?

13. KEY ISSUES /CHALLENGES Issues • Lack of linkage with health & hygiene/ acceptance of toilets largely as a convenience or privacy factor does not lead to whole-household use or round -the- year use. • Connection between sanitation and health is not emphasized • The burden is on the woman to carry extra water for the toilet who then discourages the household to build toilets Challenges • The challenge is to change sanitation related behaviors of the whole household; the challenge is also to develop and integrate a usage- monitoring system • Educating public on relation between sanitation & health • Linkage between water availability & usage of toilets

14. KEY ISSUES /CHALLENGES Issues • TSC has become target (construction) driven and largely focused on latrinization. Solid & Liquid Waste Management is completely neglected. Challenges • Efficient use & monitoring of the 10% of Project cost allocated  for   SOLID AND LIQUID WASTE MANAGEMENT.

15. KEY ISSUES /CHALLENGES Issues • NGP is seen as an end to achieve an award and not as a process to achieve Total Sanitation Challenges • How to maintain Gram Panchayat status as Nirmal and how to reduce the percentage of slippage?

16. EMERGING RECOMMENDATIONS Programme approach/management • Strategize to implement ‘TOTAL SANITATION’ (not only toilet construction) • Focus on key outcome indicators to measure progress (a) effective demand; (b) whole- household usage/whole- year usage; (c) maintenance plan; (d) status of ground water quality; (d) use and maintenance in schools /anganwadis/ institutions (e) health benefits (f) behaviour change • Outcome monitoring could be done by complementing on line TSC monitoring system with periodic field based reviews and community monitoring systems, other than the annual NGP verification carried out by Government of India • Include menstrual hygiene as a component of the campaign • Timely release of funds and effective monitoring of utilization (not disbursement) of funds

17. EMERGING RECOMMENDATIONS • Ensure adequate technical supervision/establish a system of ground water quality monitoring / explore community based surveillance systems( link with NRDWQM&SP) • Alternative (community based & led) delivery and maintenance mechanism • Providing water supply to NGPs and ensuring that G.Ps where toilet construction is done  and attained the status of NirmalGrampanchayat get the facility of pipe water supply on priority • Department can integrate water and sanitation program to achieve TSC objective in totality • Facilitate development of district specific strategies; establish a system of concurrent documentation/ assessment of experiences/ sharing of lessons. • Prohibiting Open defecation, legally / making provision for punishment for open defecation

18. EMERGING RECOMMENDATIONS Institutional arrangements/ capacity building • Mechanism for convergence of departments at district /GP level • Build capacities of stakeholders (sarpanch / panchayat secretary/front line functionaries/ etc.) • There is a need for key resource centre for WASH at state level with multi disciplinary team (Engineers, Sociologist, Documentation & Publication Expert and M&E person). The expected roles of key resource centre can be • Support in enhancing the capacities of all the stake holders. • Provide technical support in implementation of TSC. • Provide quality feedback on construction and improvement. • Review TSC  Implementation in all the districts. And help the district administration in developing district sanitation plan and strategy • Regular review meet of SWSM & DWSM

19. EMERGING RECOMMENDATIONS Partnerships • Establish partnership with Support Organizations for delivery of goods and services/ technical supervision/ effective demand creation/ management of NGOs / capacity building

20. EMERGING RECOMMENDATIONS Need for • Rural Sanitation Policy • States 5 year Programme Plan

21. THANK YOU