Rural Immersion Program-2018

Indian Institute of Management – Indore

In Association with

Department of Panchayatiraj and Rural Development

State Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin),
Government of Madhya Pradesh

Technical Support
UNICEF

Field Visit Report: 8 -12 October 2018

District : Dewas

Submitted by

Group No: 14

Vijay Barange
Ishaan Aggarwal
K Gaurav Pai
Navya Khurana
Shikha Thakur
Srishti
 Study of Sanitation Practices, ODF Validation and Outcome in Rural Madhya Pradesh, October 2018

GP Report with ODF Validation

IDENTIFICATION
Group No: 14 Date of Survey: 08/10/2018 to 12/10/2018
District: Dewas Block: Dewas GP: Bagana

Section A: ODF Status and Validation

1. Basic Information
a) No. of Villages in GP
Under Gram Panchayat - Bagana , there are three villages:
1. Bagana
2. Lohana
3. Silawati
b) No. of HHs in the GP:
483
c) Date of ODF GP declaration:
10/ 02/2018
d) Date of ODF verification by district (if done, Month/ year): 10/02/2018
e) No. of Govt. Schools in GP (Primary, Middle and High School):3
f) No. of Anganwadis in GP:1
g) No. of Community Toilets (CSC):0
2. Status of IHHL
a) Availability and Access, Functional status, gaps in access etc.
As the GP is declared ODF most of the households have toilets and are regularly used by them
members. There are few households for whom the toilets are under-construction and few who don’t
have toilets are engaged in sharing the toilets with their neighbour . Thus very few number of people
still go for OD. Even schools and Anganwadi has toilets for students , teachers, sevikas and are used
by them.
b) Use of toilets
The use of toilets is very frequent. Households with toilets do not go for OD . Households without
toilets share with their neighbours and government school and anganwadi has proper toilets and is
being used regularly.
c) Prevalent Types of HH Toilet found in the GP
For households for which toilets were constructed before 2007 have single leach pit. Otherwise the
newly constructed toilets have septic tank with soak pit.
3. Institutional WASH
 a) Sanitation facility in Schools: Availability, Functional status & usage; O&M system; Way forward
The sanitation facility is average in the school. Students are aware of sanitation and what are the
various process they must adopt to keep themselves hygiene. Even teachers take initiative to teach
children about various hygiene factors and processes. But there are other side too i.e. no availability
of soap etc. that degrades the level of sanitation in the school.
b) Drinking Water facility in Schools: Availability and Functional status, O&M system; Way forward
The drinking water facility is good is school . There are separate points for washing hands and
drinking water . But the quality of water is an issue in the school as it has been reported that
students are falling sick because of drinking water available in school
c) Status of Hand Washing practice with Soap in Schools
Students are aware of the sanitation and hygiene practices and how to use soap and water and when
to use it but there are times when there is no soap in the school and the students has to wash their hands
only with water.

d) Sanitation facility in Anganwadi: Availability, Functional status & use; O&M system; Way forward
Toilets was constructed under the Anganwadi premised for Sevikas and children which is regularly
used and cleaned by Sevikas . As there is no piped water supply in village , the Sevikas has to store
water for toilet purpose in a container from nearby hand pump / borewell .
e) Drinking Water facility in Anganwadi: Availability and Functional status; O&M system; Way forward
Drinking water is proper in Anganwadi and is also stored in a clean and covered container . There is
no complaint on the quality of water from Anganwadi till now
f) Status of Hand Washing practice with Soap in Schools
Students are aware of the sanitation and hygiene practices and how to use soap and water and when
to use it but there are times when there is no soap in the school and the students has to wash their hands
only with water.
4. Status of practice of Hand-washing with soap in HHs
Villagers were aware of the of the practice of washing their hands with soap before meal, handling children
and after using toilets. They also had separate soap to wash their hands after using toilets. In schools and
anganwadi the children and students were taught and educated on how to wash their hands.
5. Status of practices of handling of Child Feces by caregivers/ mothers at HHs
The mother were also aware of the fact and diseases that can affect if they do not wash hand before
handling child feces. As per the survey , most of them used soap and water while handling child feces .
6. Status of Safe disposal of child feces
Disposal of child feces depended upon where the rest of the household waste was disposed. Households
with proper toilets disposed them in the toilet itself otherwise they were disposed in the area outside house
in a kind of landfill where other waste were also disposed.
7. WASH at Public Places: Availability, Functional status & use; O&M system; Way forward
 NA. There were no public toilets in GP
8. Community Sanitary Complexes (CSC): Availability and functional status, O&M, way forward
NA. There were no Community Sanitary Complexes in GP
9. ODF Validation
a) Is the GP found to be ODF (ODF Validation)? (Yes or No)
Yes , the GP found to be ODF as we physically examined each and every household during our survey
and they had toilets . Only in few household , the toilets were either under construction or they
shared toilets with neighbours till the construction. Thus only few people went for OD. Also the
schools and anganwadi had proper toilets and were seem to be in good and usable condition.
b) ODF status of villages of the GP (Breakup table with key ODF indicators)

Indicators YES NO

Toilets in every home 0 1

Piped Water supply in toilets 0 1

Water supply for other sources 1 0

Availability of soap in toilet 1 0

Septic tank 1 0

Proper Drainage of liquid 0 1

waste

Covered toilet 0 1
Section B: ODF Process
10. ODF Process
a) Major challenges, and strategy/ approach adopted
One of the major challenges which GP encountered while achieving the ODF status for the village was
changing the mindset of the people living in villages. People where not willing to accept the ides of having
toilet in their homes rather they were adamant in going out. Also the cost involved in the construction of
toilet in home was also a factor which caused major hiccups for the people to adopt to this concept of having
toilet at home.
However, the concerns raised by the people were addressed by doing a baseline survey wherein all the
details of households were recorded and this helped in allocating funds to people to construct the toilet.
People were made aware about the importance of hygiene and ODF, also they were informed about the kind
of prestige it shall bring to the village if it is ODF.
b) Involvement of women, children and youth
Women and children played a major role in bringing about the change in mindset of old people who
had conventional views. Children were made ambassadors of this program in the form of “vanar
sena” to stop people from defecating in open.
c) Punitive norms set by GP
When a gram panchayat achieved an ODF status, special ODF award ceremonies/celebrations were
organised during which stakeholders were felicitated by the district administration in the presence of senior
officials and dignitaries. Further, names of all members of ODF Panchayat Samiti and Gram Panchayats were
displayed on ‘The Wall of Fame’ at the Zilla Parishad office.
GP played an instrumental role in bringing about the change in number of households with toilets.
From being actively involved in the initial survey to helping the people by solving their problem related to
construction.
The members of GP kept a close watch on all the households who were suppose to construct toilet within
their home. Proper usage of toilet was also encouraged with the help of various volunteers within the
village. GP also motivated school children to come out and create awareness in the minds of rest of the
village.
11. Key things that worked/ did not work in making villages ODF
One thing which worked in the favour of villages achieving status of ODF was the support and incentive
provided by the government under” Swachh bharat mission” SBM. Awareness around the country by
prominent personalities helped the local implementers of this program to bring about the change in
people.
Non Availability of water and electricity in many parts of the village did not helped in implementing this
scheme.
People were more reluctant to use water in toilets when they don't even have enough water to do daily
household chores.
 Factors that triggered Collective Behaviour Change in the villages
Open defecation by village women raised concerns such as safety and losing dignity of a women, owing to
these reasons it propelled the decision makers of the home to bring about the change in their thinking and
have toilet inside their home. The feeling of enhanced village reputation when a village is ODF also triggered
many people to adopt to this model.
12. IEC Tools: Key tools proved useful/ effective for community mobilization towards ODF the district
administration with support from a rural development institution called Ramakrishna Mission Lokasiksha
Parishad used different kinds of IEC (Information Education and communication) and IPC (Interpersonal
communication) strategies to generate awareness among the community and they worked well. With the
onset of the SBM-G, focus was given to community participation. Sansad meetings and gram panchayat level
meetings were held with focus on health and hygiene. Even as community led total sanitation (CLTS)
approach was used, several community volunteers committees were formed and they were responsible for
controlling open defecation and spreading awareness about health related issues in their allotted areas.

13. Cultural traits, norms/ beliefs and practices regarding sanitation

Our group had covered three villages i.e. Bagana, Lohana and Silawati and a common observation for
all three villages was that residents of those villages were themselves aware and sensitive towards
importance of hygienic environment, sanitation and cleanliness. The key stakeholders such as gram
panchayat, anganwadi sevika, school teachers, students and the common villagers were in support
of ODF and encouraged the construction of toilets across villages, in schools as well as in
anganwadis. Even the old people weren’t ingrained in the orthodox thoughts of not using toilets,
they also supported the construction and usage of toilets to promote health and cleanliness in the
village. Almost all the surveyed households had functional toilets except a few and the households
without toilets had them under construction. The villagers wanted to improve the sanitation
conditions in their respective villages to reduce the incidence of diseases, reduce the fecal odor,
develop cleaner habits in children and increase the prestige of village. Additionally, all the household
premises were very clean depicting the villagers inclination towards cleanliness.
14. Community Leadership: key Champions/ contributors in GP ODF
Community stakeholders such as District Head, Sarpanch, Secretary, Deputy Secretary, school
teachers, anganwadi workers and students were all driven towards contributing to ODF. Each
person was working at his own individual level to give his bit towards the mission. The Sarpanch and
Deputy Secretary were very proactive in delivering their responsibilities. The school teachers were
also very responsible and accountable for their work. For example, the primary school in Bagana
didn’t have proper toilet for girls and the school teacher went out of his way to construct
rudimentary toilet for girls using the government funds disbursed for repair of boys’ toilet and
 designed & got approved the proposal for girls toilet from the sarpanch. The anganwadi sevika were
also motivated towards promoting sanitation and clean habits in children. In totality, all stakeholders
delivered their responsibilities sincerely.
15. Swachhagrahis (Preraks/ Special Preraks/Motivators): How many available and active
Many swachhgrahis who were part of this mission are still very much involved in the implementation and
execution stage. Surpanch, school teachers ,anganwadi incharge who took the responsibility to be
swachhgrahis are still active on the mission so that the target of household in every house is achieved.

16. Strengths and Challenges of village

Strengths:
A. Responsible and proactive gram panchayat and key stakeholders to work towards the
welfare of villagers.
B. Aware and socially responsible villagers who understand the importance of cleanliness and
ODF.
C. Motivated and enthusiastic children driven towards the social welfare, promotion of
sanitation and cleanliness in their surroundings.
D. Maximum number of households with properly constructed and functional toilets which
were used by all the members of the family.
E. Clean and foul odor-free household premises in the village.
Challenges:
A. No piped water supply in Bagana and Silawati.
B. Unavailability of sweepers to clean the toilets constructed in schools and anganvadis.
C. Lack of drainage system to maintain the disposal of solid and liquid waste from the
households.
D. Indiscriminate disposal of household waste (organic kitchen waste, agricultural waste and
little bit of plastic waste).
E. Usage of cloth during periods in place of sanitary napkins because of high price of sanitary
napkins.

Section C: ODF Sustainability and Way Forward

17. ODF Sustainability: Innovative models/ strategies adopted in the GP
A multitude of techniques and models have been adopted by the residents to eradicate OD given the
quantum of resources they have. Firstly, in Lohana, regular inspections are conducted by the children and
staff at appropriate time of the day to keep check on any probable existence of OD. Secondly, each school in
the villages has a 'Baal Sabha’ that spreads awareness among children and their families for sanitation. Next,
in case there exists a water supply issue or unavailability of washrooms in the premises, they have mutual
arrangements to use washrooms in other households and hence, maintain relationships for ensuring the
 proper defecation. Also, in schools, funding arrangements are at times made by the teachers for
maintenance of toilets. They also involve students in cleaning and upkeep of the premises. Also, in Bagana, in
case of temporary-work labourers, the toilets at the household of the hirer are used. Together with that,
water is arranged from other households in case of shortage to maintain smooth functioning of the toilets.

18. SLRM (Solid & Liquid Resource Management): Current status, what villagers want, what needs to be done)
Solid and Liquid Resource Management definitely needs thorough attention and vigilance by the relevant
authorities. Open drainage of water is of primary concern. Water flowed through the lanes and stayed
stagnant in puddles too. This issue persisted in all the villages and continues to be of primary concern to the
localities as well. For solid waste disposal, most households either disposed it at the village periphery or
incinerated it and then disposed it off in a similar way. In some cases, they also performed indiscriminate
disposal by dumping it in the farms. The villagers also want a proper mechanism of waste disposal. ciallynear
schools in Lohana, solid waste is dumped near classrooms thus exposing kids to the mosquitoes that dwell on
such waste. All the schools wanted a boundary to constructed to ensure that improper disposal doesn’t
hamper the well being of the children. Also, villagers to want and definitely need a dumping ground and a
community/govt. run safe disposal process. Also, in our opinion, cues can be taken from low cost and value
generating disposal mechanisms given that most of the waste in Organic in nature.

19. Toilet technology and quality (including Innovations in design and material if any)
Toilets are primarily of standard kind-a single leach pit with an attached soaked pit. In a school in Lohana, the
pot wasn't there. Most of the toilets were clean and well maintained. However, in some cases, problem does
exist in terms of accumulation of flies and mosquitoes.

20. Innovations/ Success Stories from the GP

We met the Sanitation champion in the village Lohana and discussed how a collective effort by motivated
individuals made the village ODF. Firstly, regular awareness sessions were conducted and a morning patrol
was performed to curb the issue at its origin. Also, the Anganwadi and NM in Lohana made sure that the
women were aware of incineration and proper disposal of sanitary napkins after usage. In Bagana, the
success and impact of Swachh Bharat Mission were evident as the authorities discussed the scenario before
ODF. The people are aware and voluntarily want to make a change in how waste is handled. In schools,
teachers are motivated to provide the best of amenities to the children. They also encourage the family
members of the children to build toilets in case they haven't and not practice OD. The different stakeholders
involved did have a bend of mind to plan, build and maintain an effective ODF free status of the village.

21. Impact of ODF/ ODF outcomes (in terms of various aspects of rural life)
The village used to suffer from the smell of excreta lying all over on the roads. With no toilets in the houses,
people had to go out on the roads which caused diseases and disgust. Now, with introduction of toilets and
 awareness, the roads are clean and smell free. The village looks cleaner. A problem of open drainage still
prevails, but it is still better than before.
Schools and Anganwadis have more students coming due to availability of toilets. Children had to earlier go
home in order to use the toilet. Now with the introduction of toilets in school, more children come and
aren’t disturbed by unavailability of toilets.
22. Overall Citizen Feedback on SBM-G Sanitation Campaign (Men, Women and Children, Students)
The sanitation campaign which was rolled out as a part of SBM-G turned out to be really successful in the
Gram Panchayat. The villagers accepted the change with open arms and built toilets and humbly accepted
the importance of an open defecation free environment.
Having a toilet in a house is now seen as a necessity and those who are not able to afford toilets in their
homes go to their neighbour’s homes to use the toilet.
23. Comments/ Quotes from community members/ stakeholders/ Concerned Officers
The Sarpanch and his associates are very active when it comes to creating an ODF environment in the GP.
They quoted how they convinced the people to use toilets. They told people that when humans excrete in
the open, flies sit on that excreta and then sits on their food, they showed numbers and made the villagers
understand how disgusting food they eat in an year. All this helped them in convincing the villagers about
the importance of ODF.
24. Observations and recommendations for ODF Sustainability and ODF+ (SLRM, MHM etc.)
The schools are not able to afford sweepers and cleaners, getting them sweepers should be done faster so
that toilets are maintained.
Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana is working well in the GP. However a proper check needs to maintained on the
flow of money and surveys can be conducted again to check if every poor household is getting the facility.
Public toilets can be built in order to facilitate seasonal workers which come to the farms for some time in
the village.
25. Pictures from the villages/ GP (not more than 10)