Community Approach to Total Sanitation (CATS) leading to sustainable ODF villages Experience from Four Districts of Chhattisgarh EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Chhattisgarh & Sanitation initiatives Chhattisgarh is located in the central part of India with a population of 25.5 million.1 The state has 27 districts with the majority of its population (almost 78 per cent) living in rural areas. Prior to the introduction of CATS, the dismal findings of various surveys were an eye-opener for the government of Chhattisgarh. The Figure 5: Sanitation in Chattisgarh prior to CATS Introduction of CATS to Chattisgarh UNICEF has been working in Chhattisgarh in the area of sanitation ever since its creation as a separate state in 2000. In 2012, the state UNICEF office introduced CATS in Chhattisgarh and provided technical support in terms of capacity building of various functionaries of the state Public Health and Engineering Department (PHED) along with field practitioners. Lately, UNICEF decided to showcase the CATS model as a pilot in Chhuriya block of Rajnandgaon district, through support from Knowledge Links Private Limited (KL). In November 2015, the state of Chhattisgarh officially endorsed CATS as a methodology and a letter regarding this was sent to the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (MDWS) in January 2016. Rajnandgaon district Rajnandgaon district is located in the central western part of Chhattisgarh, bound by the states of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra to the west. As per the latest data of the MDWS, 90.13 per cent of households, 94.96 per cent of the schools and 100 per cent of the Anganwadi Centres in the district have a toilet facility. Since 2006, more than 40 GPs have been awarded the Nirmal Gram Puruskar (NGP) and over 150,000 toilets have been built in the district. However, by 2011 most of these toilets became defunct and the Census 2011 revealed that 81.2 per cent of population in rural areas were practicing open defecation.2 1 Chhattisgarh population Census Data, Census of India , 2011; Weblink: http://www.census2011.co.in/census/state/chhattisgarh.html 2 Second monthly progress report by Jankalyan Samajik Sansthan, Figure 6: Sanitation timeline in Rajnanadgaon district of Chattisgarh In May 2013, Knowledge Links Private Limited (KL)3, a consulting firm in the area of water and sanitation, was selected to support UNICEF to implement the pilot intervention. This agency was selected for implementation of this initiative in Chhattisgarh as they exhibited past experience of working in the area of sanitation, especially providing technical support in conducting capacity building workshops for CATS Chhuriya block was selected for the pilot by UNICEF on the basis of its poor statistics on sanitation (84 per cent of HHs practiced OD 4 in 2013), Previous attempts at creating awareness and demand for an open defecation free environment by officers of the PHED (Public Health and Engineering Department) through construction and use of toilets in Chhuriya block had failed to yield the desired results. The conventional ‘construction oriented approach’ left little or almost no scope for a behaviour change initiative to eradicate open defecation and awareness creation for toilet usage. Figure 7: Sanitation situation in Chhuriya before the introduction of CATS 3 Knowledge Links has extensive experience in the area of water and sanitation, especially in implementing community based approaches to sanitation. As a result of their work across India and parts of Asia they possess a sound understanding of both, issues at the policy and institutional level as well as operational and environmental issues in the water supply and sanitation sector. KL has emerged as a pioneer agency in India in providing large scale training and capacity building initiatives in the implementation of Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) to create open defecation free (ODF) communities. They have trained a multitude of stakeholders including government officials, NGO staff, frontline workers and communities across Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Uttarakhand and Odisha. 4 Baseline report by Knowledge Links. August 2013 Pilot Phase With the support of the PHED officials, the KL team divided the block into six clusters for easy administration of the pilot project – Umarwahi, Nagarkohara, Joshilamati, Khobha, Kumarda and Dharmutola. Mr Rajesh Hirkarne, an Executive Engineer of the PHED was the pioneer to identify villages with a potential for successful implementation of the CATS intervention. Mr Rajesh had extensive experience of working with the local communities. His strong connection and rapport with the community helped the team to target villages wherein results could be achieved without any major challenge. In the process, no systematic process was followed to select villages for this pilot; rather they followed a purposive or convenient selection method. As mentioned in the Handbook on CLTS5, it was realized that one of the success factors lies in the selection of small and remote villages while introducing CATS. As an outcome of the efforts, Ranamatiya, emerged as the first ODF village in the State & was propelled to the limelight & exhibited the success of CATS. After one village became ODF, it created a ripple effect in the area as neighbouring villagers constantly visited Ranamatiya out of curiosity to witness the positive results. Furthermore, within four months, by February 2014, 20 villages in Chhuriya block were able to attain ODF status. This remarkable feat captured the attention of the district administration and they requested UNICEF to upscale the CATS model across the district. The pilot further lead to creation of pool with 30 natural leaders (NL) who were later engaged by the district administration to implement CATS across the district. “CATS can be used as an effective means of Key Features of upscaling CATS in empowering the local PRI representatives. Their Rajnandgaon involvement and conviction is essential for sustained behaviour change.” - Dr M Geetha, Mission Director Swachh Bharat Mission, Chhattisgarh Key Learnings: It’s easier to trigger communities in small areas with small settlements & homogeneous occupational & cultural settings. Proper triggering of communities leads to devising of own local solutions to sanitation. A proper system of rewarding the Natural Leaders is of prime importance. Leveraging the existing SHG federation strengthens & stimulates community lead initiative around sanitation. Critical acknowledgement of women as actual agents of change & relevance of frequent follow ups for sustainability in program initiative. 5 Kar K and Chambers R (2008) Handbook on Community-Led Total Sanitation. Plan International (UK) Surguja district Surguja is the northernmost district of Chhattisgarh which shares its borders with the states of Madhya Pradesh (MP), Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Jharkhand. It is the largest district of Chhattisgarh with an area of 16,030 square kilometres. Furthermore, the Census 2011 reflects that the district is one of the most backward in Chhattisgarh with a literacy rate of 55 per cent; considerably lower than the national average of 74 per cent. Factors like Poor health conditions with a high degree of malnutrition made the Additional Chief Secretary of state to request NICEF to prioritise this district for interventions in 2013. Figure 8: Sanitation timeline in Surguja district of Chattisgarh In 2006, the Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) was introduced in Chhattisgarh. In 2009, the then Collector and District Magistrate of Surguja, Dr Rohit Yadav, and the Deputy Development Commissioner of Surguja, Ms Ritu Sain6, identified TSC as an opportune development programme. They felt that if implemented in convergence with the other line departments, TSC could produce higher outputs impacting multiple facets of life including health, education, safety, women empowerment and rural development7. Eventually, under the TSC, more than 85,000 individual household toilets, 2,703 sanitation complexes in schools, 813 child- friendly anganwadi toilets (both in government and private buildings) were constructed in a short span of time. UNICEF supported the drive with technical advice & as a result lately, 123 GPs were declared ODF and were awarded with the Nirmal Gram Puruskar (NGP). Figure 9: Sanitation scenario in Surguja district of Chattisgarh 6 Ritu Sain, IAS, is the current district collector of Surguja. She took charge in February 2014. 7 Dr Rohit Yadav, R. S. (2010, April ). Improved Health and Sanitation Practices through convergence among district administration, Panchayats, and the Community in district Surguja (C.G). Service Quality, 104. Most of the toilets, constructed by the community under the TSC, were primarily Kutcha or Semi-Pucca in nature8 and thus were heavily impacted in the hostile weather conditions. The change of district collector and district CEO resulted in loss of momentum for the sanitation program in Surguja. Collaboration of UNICEF and KL for CATS started in this district from January 2015. The district collector herself selected the frontline workers to be part of Nirmal Samuhs drawn across pro-active SHG federations, Rozgar Sahayaks (frontline workers of NRLM) and Saksharta Preraks (frontline workers of education). The contract with KL was successful in making 13 villages in Lundra block ODF from January 2015 to May 2015. Following the conclusion of the assignment with KL in May 2015, the district collector asked UNICEF