Pub Wes en
Pub Wes en
• Introduction 3
• Glossary 18
• Notes 18
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UNICEF/92-0120/Colvey
Having wells and pumps nearby saves hours of time fetching water.
1
Acknowledgements
2
introduction
S ince independence in 1947,
India has been committed to pro-
countries. The Government of
India worked with UNICEF and
viding water and sanitation to its other partners to develop and test
people, making substantial practical solutions to several chal-
progress in water supply begin- lenges: How can WES services
ning in the 1960s, and in best be tailored to the physical,
sanitation and hygiene education social and economic conditions of
starting in the 1980s. This com- each locale and the needs of each
mitment has paid off in some community? How can people
remarkable results: Between 1980 change generations-old behaviours
and 2000, water supply coverage to create demand for services and
nearly tripled, and sanitation then use and maintain them most
progress, though less remarkable, effectively? What roles should the
grew steadily. Largely as a result, government, private industry, non-
India has seen a decline in dis- governmental organizations (NGOs)
eases caused by unsafe water and and other groups play in WES and
poor hygiene. One remarkable how can they best work together?
achievement, the eradication of To capture some of the lessons
guinea worm disease by the mid- UNICEF India photo library
learned in India, UNICEF commis-
1990s, highlights the strength of sioned an independent evaluation
India’s commitment to WES. of its WES programme in India over
India’s water and sanitation the past 30 years. The evaluation,
programme, strongly supported by which took place in 1998 and
UNICEF for nearly three decades, 1999, was conducted by a team of
has provided not only services but independent sector specialists, us-
Drinking water reaches more than 90
also long-term training and tech- per cent of all rural households.
ing literature reviews, interviews,
nical support, especially in the surveys and other methods. The
case of water supply. The pro- conclusions were published in a
promotion of good hygiene and
gramme has also encouraged report. 1
related behaviours. In recent years,
technological innovation and inter- This publication, which pre-
programmes have increasingly
national expertise while at the same sents the team’s findings in a format
encouraged communities to define
time strengthening input from the accessible to a wider audience, ex-
their own needs and participate in
community and local private sector. plores lessons learned that can help
planning and managing WES
The WES programme in India other nations in their efforts to pro-
services. Many pilot projects have
has evolved and expanded to vide universal WES coverage for
been launched. Some became
coincide with changing conditions their citizens.
institutionalized, while others did not
and priorities. In the late 1960s India shares with many other
translate successfully to full-scale
and 1970s, UNICEF, reflecting the developing countries important
implementation. All have been use-
Government’s priorities, devoted a characteristics that affect demand
ful in learning more about what can
significant portion of its efforts in for and supply of WES services.
and cannot work in the field, on a
India to water supply coverage. These include various unfavorable
sustainable basis.
Beginning in the mid-1980s, the conditions in terms of geology and
programme expanded to include remote locales, economic con-
sanitation. In both water and sani- Why look at India? straints, and some long-standing
tation, the emphasis was initially The successes and innovative traditions that affect hygiene and
placed on the development of ways of responding to social and health behaviours and create par-
technical solutions and then turned environmental conditions of the ticular burdens for the very poor and
to quality control, operation and Indian experience yield valuable for girls and women.
maintenance of equipment, and the lessons for other developing The WES programme in India
3
is UNICEF’s longest-supported What UNICEF has learned in 1. Coverage: Access to water
programme in water and sanitation, India has been important to its and sanitation
providing a valuable long-term work in other parts of the world. India almost quadrupled its water
perspective. UNICEF began sup- Partnerships with the private and supply coverage in just three
porting India’s WES programme in public sector, now recognized as decades. Political commitment,
1966 in response to a drought emer- essential in human development, technologically strong experimen-
gency (see Box 1). The programme marked UNICEF’s involvement in tation and long-term support to
subsequently became one of the WES in India from the beginning. training and quality control
organization’s most prominent Technological advances first de- contributed to this remarkable
WES efforts worldwide. veloped in India, such as the progress. The increase in access to
In searching for solutions to Mark II handpump, have been sanitation has been far smaller.
technological, social and behav- widely applied elsewhere in the
ioural challenges, UNICEF has world. 2. Technology: Adapting to local
Technology:
variously served as an innovator, And as important as these conditions through innovation
capacity-builder, advocate and practical applications proved to The WES programme has been
mobilizer. It has maximized its be, the programme in India also successful in adapting drilling rigs,
limited financial contribution to contributed to UNICEF’s recogni- handpumps and latrines to local
India’s overall WES budget tion that water and environmental conditions. Moreover, local manu-
through various means, including sanitation are an integral part of facturing capacity has grown to the
a focus on pilot projects and tech- its mandate to secure children’s point where Indian companies not
nical innovations, many of which rights. WES is a fundamental part only supply domestic rigs and
were later applied on a much larg- of the right of the child to “the handpumps but have also built up
er scale. enjoyment of the highest attain- a sizeable export market.
By recognizing where it could able standard of health” as ex-
best complement others’ activities pressed in article 24 of the Con- 3. Behavioural Change: Improving
(including those of the Govern- vention on the Rights of the WES-related practices
ment, private sector, and NGOs), Child. Attention has been shifting to
UNICEF widened its impact and This publication looks at four balancing the supply of ‘pumps and
strengthened its credibility and areas that are key to water and pipes’ and other hardware with efforts
reputation, and in turn, worked sanitation programmes in India to understand and change the way
more effectively in other sectors. and worldwide: people use and manage services.
Strategies are now more community-
Box 1 UNICEFs support to Indias WES programme based and gender-responsive, built
on the recognition that disseminating
The UNICEF-supported WES programme in India is UNICEFs information alone rarely leads to a
longest running and one of its most prominent WES efforts change in practices and behaviours.
worldwide. UNICEF first worked with the Government of India in The WES programme in India
1966 by importing rigs to drill for water in drought-stricken,
hardrock areas of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh states. The programme
pioneered ‘intersectoral con-
then extended drilling to other areas while promoting local vergence’ by establishing links with
adaptation and manufacture of the technology. Beginning in the other facets of development – such
1980s, programme focus expanded to include sanitation and as health and income-generating
hygiene awareness. skills – long before UNICEF adopted
With the input of UNICEF and other partners, the governments an integrative human rights-based
priorities have changed over the years to place greater emphasis programming approach.
on hygiene promotion and behavioural change. To illustrate some
of these priorities in the WES sector, UNICEFs current Master Plan 4. Par tnerships: W
Partnerships: orking with
Working
of Operations (1998-2002) states: others to maximize results
In extending support to the countrys efforts to assure every child the Partnerships are key to maximizing
right to safe water and a clean environment, UNICEF will adopt the
following strategies:
resources to provide WES services
to a growing population. Through
Promote education for behavioural change
more than 30 years of collabora-
Improve quality and sustainability tion as an innovator and capacity-
Enhance community participation builder, UNICEF has forged
Encourage innovation and scaling-up particularly strong partnerships
with India’s national and state
Promote intersectoral cooperation
governments and public and
private sector groups.
4
coverage:
Access to water and sanitation
S
support for the operators and
urface water in India is scarce sponded by airlifting 11 borehole- engineers; and standardization of
and groundwater is deep and drilling rigs into the country from the drilling specifications.
difficult to reach. Traditionally, United Kingdom. These rigs could Until 1998, when the respon-
most villagers used water from any drill far below the earth’s surface to sibility for water well drilling was
source available to them, such as tap into groundwater that was transferred to state agencies,
ponds, rivers, springs and wells. otherwise unavailable. In addition UNICEF provided spare parts and
Water quantity greatly depended on to meeting the short-term need, the service on the rigs. UNICEF also
the season, and water quality was effort showed the potential of what provided training over the years to
generally poor. As late as 1980, less are known as down-the-hole drilling operators and engineers.
than a third of the population (31 hammer drilling rigs to reach water This support reduced the down
per cent) had ‘full coverage’ 2 of under India’s hardrock areas. time for rigs. Thus, they performed
clean drinking water, and virtually The Government of India consistently over the long term,
no rural households had access to subsequently made the provision of drilling an estimated five to eight
sanitation facilities. Access to water clean, safe drinking water a boreholes a month.
was a prerequisite to the later cornerstone of its rural develop- Standardizing norms for drilling
introduction of latrines in both ment programme and strengthened also helped widen coverage by
rural and urban areas. its collaboration with UNICEF to increasing the number of boreholes
In 1966-1967, severe drought provide these services. By 1976, drilled. Standards set on the depth
hit the states of Bihar and Uttar almost 300 rigs were in use, with and diameter of drilled boreholes
Pradesh in northern India. The the Government of India and provided operators working inde-
Government requested emergency UNICEF each supplying about half pendently throughout the country
help from UNICEF, which re- the total. with simple, measurable indicators.
5
Clear goal. Beginning in 1973, holes drilled per year, quality was
Box 2 More water, the Government set specific targets. compromised in some cases, for
better hygiene Although these were refined over example, in cleaning out the drilled
the years and have not been borehole or in measuring yield
In focus group interviews held
entirely attained, they clearly before moving on to the next site.
in Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu
established a national priority to UNICEF worked with the Gov-
as part of the evaluation of
the India WES programme,
which the Government and its ernment in exploring ways to
women and men described partners could respond. improve or ‘rejuvenate’ the output
the improvements they had of low-performing boreholes.
seen in their villages in a Role as an innovator
innovator.. UNICEF, Beyond the drilling pro-
generation. Many noted that as an external partner to the gramme, India faced other water
more water is available and Government of India, has had the quantity and quality issues. Over
that people now use more flexibility to take risks, to undertake the years, the water table dropped,
water for washing and other in-depth study to aid in decision- primarily because of irrigation.
hygiene practices. Although making and to test new equipment. This increased the risks of
anecdotal, this example depletion of the water supply for
shows how rural people see Long-term support. UNICEF domestic use.
the effect that expanded maintained support, such as Water quality was also threat-
water supply coverage has training of borehole drillers, ened. In some cases, this was
had on their lives. service and provision of spare because of poor practices in
parts, for 10 years after supplying maintaining cleanliness around the
each rig. Standardizing the borehole source. In other cases, the
Standards were set for minimum
drilling specifications also helped water became contaminated from
yield for a handpump, minimum
ensure consistent results over the natural or human-caused pollutants
surface casing and the surface
long term. such as arsenic, excess iron,
sealing necessary to protect the
fluoride and other substances that
borehole from the entry of polluted
degraded the water in some areas.
water. In some cases, conditions Challenges UNICEF has been involved in
did not require the boreholes to be In trying to extend coverage to so these issues through efforts in
drilled as deeply as specified. many people over such a large advocacy as well as research and
However, the standards encom- area, inevitable tensions and trade- development, particularly dealing
passed the different situations that offs arose. One of the most with fluoride concentrations and
hydrogeologists and engineers significant trade-offs related to the water conservation. In maintaining
might encounter, thus saving the delicate balance between meeting gains in coverage, sustainability of
time and expense that would have coverage goals and maintaining the groundwater resource must be
been spent in setting specifications quality. With so many new bore- addressed.
for each site.
UNICEF/00-0630/Lemoyne
failed. UNICEF, as an external
agency, was in a better position
than the Government to take such
a risk. Once hydraulic-powered
drills were proven suitable in India,
drilling equipment was further
The India Mark II Deepwell handpump has revolutionized life in rural India.
adapted to suit Indian conditions.
C ommunity management of
WES services and the adoption of
good hygiene practices are critical
to achieving sustainable im-
provements in people’s lives.
Encouraging health-promoting
attitudes and behaviours plays a
major role in these efforts. At the
community level, for example,
people’s willingness to take on new
responsibilities and costs will make
it more likely that communities will
manage their water systems and not
depend solely on outside assistance.
Within the household, clean water
may be available, but if hand-
washing and other practices are not
routinely followed, the promised
UNICEF/00-0665/Lemoyne
health benefits do not materialize.
Likewise, access to latrines does not
ensure that people will use and
maintain them.
Behaviours related to sanitation
are particularly difficult to both
understand and change. The Children learn to wash their hands at a pre-school centre.
private nature of sanitation un- in teaching people new concepts community participation
doubtedly accounts for some of this and practices, which are then gender considerations
difficulty, as does the fact that reinforced through person-to- intersectoral convergence, such
sanitary control and disposal of person contacts and other means as linking sanitation with broader
excreta may not be viewed as a of communication (see Box 6). health and economic concerns.
problem in villages surrounded by To help people learn and adopt These three elements merge in
substantial open space. What is new ideas and behaviours related new strategies and approaches. For
more, UNICEF support to sanitation to water and sanitation, WES example, if community members
efforts in India, begun only two projects have trained local are to participate productively in
decades ago, first focused almost motivators to visit families. These programmes, they must first
entirely on latrine construction. person-to-person visits help change understand how gender consider-
UNICEF has long supported a behaviour, but evaluations from the ations affect their roles and
programme entitled Information, mid-1990s indicate that three or responsibilities. Likewise, linking
Education and Communication four visits are required for every sanitation with everyday concerns,
(IEC) to promote hygiene among installed latrine. So while the visits such as diarrhoeal disease
India’s large and diverse popu- pay off and clearly have a place in control, can increase community
lation. IEC materials include a a comprehensive behaviour-change involvement.
variety of booklets, pamphlets, strategy, person-to-person contact UNICEF has long been aware of
posters, videos and manuals in is costly, slow and labour-intensive. the need for changes in the social
several national languages. In recent years, UNICEF and its and behavioural aspects of WES
UNICEF recognizes that the IEC partners have experimented with services. In 1987, guidelines
materials alone, no matter how new ways to engage people in on community participation
widely disseminated, rarely lead to planning for, using and maintaining and hygiene education stated,
behavioural change. Their value is WES services, which encompass: “[Providing] safe drinking water to
10
the community [is] a very complex Rajasthan, the Total Sanitation WES programmes, which in turn
task… This…involves not only the Concept was a seven-component serve as good entry points for
change of existing facilities but also package that included the introducing beneficial hygiene
the network of behaviour and provision of latrines, soakpits for practices and behaviour into the
beliefs which is developed around drainage and other facilities. community. By learning latrine use,
the ownership and use of water and Although the Total Sanitation hand washing and other hygienic
which involves every person.” Concept did not take hold in a behaviours at school and then
broader context, the pilot projects practising them at home, children
Community participation. Con- advanced the WES programme can be strong agents of change, and
certed efforts to involve com- because they broadened the they are likely to continue these
munities in the WES programme technological and cost options good practices later in life.
in India date back to the early available to communities and Several factors account for
1980s, when community members brought in NGOs as new partners. successful school sanitation
first helped ensure that boreholes These projects also helped change programmes: The programmes are
were drilled to specifications. the emphasis from fully subsidized based on community demand for
After a borehole was drilled, a sanitary facilities to those involving services, with schools and parents
village leader signed a completion cost-sharing with communities, contributing to the cost of the
certificate on behalf of the which at the same time became facilities; there are adequate ratios
community. This established an more involved in determining what of separate latrines to the number
early system of accountability. In best suited their needs. of girl and boy students as well as
the 1980s, well-siting involved Over time, it became clear that to female and male teachers; and
consultations with a larger group community participation is also the teachers and students accept
of villagers, usually men. How- crucial to the success of school responsibility for the way the
ever, these consultations were not
mandatory and depended largely Box 6 IEC: One ingredient of a robust programme
on the decision of the engineer
assigned to the project. In add- Resource materials on relevant topics, including text and visuals
ition, the consultations generally easily understood by the intended audience, form an important
excluded women, thereby ig- part of WES. These materials include booklets, pamphlets, posters,
noring the views of the system’s videos and training manuals. A review of more than 200 such
main users. materials produced at the national level showed that:
Since then, efforts have been One quarter are written and three quarters are visual or
institutionalized to encourage audiovisual.
communities to define their needs About 60 per cent are for use at the community level; about 35
and take part in the planning, per cent are designed for government departments and NGOs;
operation and maintenance of their and a small percentage are for the donor community.
water systems. In some villages, About half are in Hindi, one third are in other local languages
water and sanitation committees and one fifth are in English.
have been charged with making
The greatest focus of the materials is on health and hygiene
decisions about handpump man-
(25 per cent of the materials reviewed), followed by water and
agement and have also promoted sanitation technology (18 and 12 per cent respectively).
messages about hygiene and
Many IEC materials are produced by UNICEFs field offices
sanitation. together with partners at the state and district levels. In recent
Community involvement in- years, community members have increasingly helped design and
creased to some degree as a result develop messages. With local capacity to produce materials well
of an approach developed in the established in much of the country, the evaluation of the WES
1980s called the Total Sanitation programme suggested devoting more resources to pre-testing the
Concept. Initially applied in the messages used.
states of Tamil Nadu and
11
latrines are used and maintained.
Box 7 Training for gender sensitivity
Gender
Gender.. Women are key to the UNICEF has worked to make its own staff and its partners aware
success of WES programmes, as of the gender-related implications of WES programmes. A UNICEF
they are more likely than men to training session in Rajasthan used the following questions as a
take care of household duties such framework to make WES services more responsive to the needs of
as collecting water for their both women and men:
families, washing clothes and Does the project lead to improving access to safe drinking water
dishes, cooking and handling food, and sanitation?
Do women have a say in planning, implementation and
and ensuring that children wash
management of water resources?
their hands and bathe. Collecting
Have training programmes included time for women to analyse
water can take up to four hours a
their position in society, the burden associated with water collection
day when water sources are not
and its implications on girls education?
nearby. Because of these factors,
Is the community aware of the injustice of the burden?
women play a central role in efforts
Have families encouraged their sons to share responsibility with
to create hygienic conditions in the
their daughters?
home and halt the transmission of Have men gained a greater sense of sharing responsibility?
disease. Is the technology woman-friendly, in that women easily have
In many societies, discrimination access to and use of it?
and traditional practices relating to Can women maintain water systems?
WES have undermined women’s Are there any sustainable mechanisms/organizations to maintain
health and well-being. For instance, the system once the project is over?
where sanitary facilities do not exist, Is the community involved in planning and implementation?
are of poor quality or are not in Has the project explored the potential of promoting gender-
working order, women in many sensitization of service providers and the community?
societies habitually wait until
nightfall to relieve themselves, a benefits they could have enjoyed if ensuring access to quality social
practice that can cause ill health and the women had done other work. services – health care, education,
discomfort. Lack of sanitation Paying the women for their work water and sanitation – that are
facilities, especially separate ones and/or providing literacy or other linked to greatest impact.
for girls, is also one of many barriers skills training has been a way to Long before this whole-child and
to girls attending school. deal with these concerns. rights-based programming ap-
For these and other reasons, the The issues concerning gender proach was fully developed, the
WES programme has increasingly are large ones, with important Indian WES programme had
incorporated a gender perspective: implications for every community. already adopted practices of
looking at the roles of women and They boil down to who in the ‘intersectoral convergence’, in
men as users and managers of water community – women, men or both which development issues are
and sanitary facilities at the – does the physical work, makes the considered to be inter-related and
community and household level and decisions and not only receives but inter-dependent rather than
making adjustments to suit their also controls the benefits of separated by sector. The following
needs (see Box 7). improved services. examples illustrate this approach:
This can pose challenges,
however. For example, when women Bringing the sectors together
together.. Control of diarrhoeal diseases:
first became involved in the During the 1990s, UNICEF adopted This effort is increasingly linked
maintenance and repair of hand- an approach to children’s deve- with efforts to promote sanitation
pumps, it was considered quite a lopment and well-being that and health education. For example,
revolutionary step. Such respon- considered the ‘whole child’. The the Control of Diarrhoeal Diseases
sibilities can lead to new skills and concept is based on the principle, – Water and Sanitation Strategy,
enhanced standing in the com- emphasized in the Convention on carried out in one district in each
munity. They can also increase the Rights of the Child, that a state in India, helps provide
women’s influence over how WES child’s rights are multiple, communities with improved water
services are delivered. But since the indivisible and interdependent. and sanitation facilities. At the
women in many of these community The approach stresses the same time it supports health ed-
programmes were asked to vol- importance of a caring environment ucation, oral rehydration therapy
unteer their time, they and their for children through the efforts of (ORT) and improved diarrhoeal
families lost the income or other families and communities, and case management at public health
12
facilities. An impact evaluation in ‘scouts’ tracked new patients. The logy, the challenges associated with
1999 showed slightly but con- project organized village infor- behavioural change and improv-
sistently better disposal of excreta mation campaigns,, trained women ed hygiene would not even arise.
and better hand-washing practices to filter water, and installed new
in communities covered by the handpumps and wells. The debil- Experimentation is needed.
programme compared with other itating disease was eliminated in Some of India’s experiments have
communities. The evaluation also India by 1997. been less successful than others,
showed increased use of ORT. but all have been instructive in
Community health and de- pointing the way for future efforts.
Eradication of guinea worm velopment: Five years after the
disease: In Rajasthan – the state official end of the SWACH project, Gender analysis plays a crucial
most affected by this water-borne an NGO called SWACH continues r ole. Women’s active participation
disease – the Sanitation, Water and the effort to combine community in the programme is an important
Community Health (SWACH) health with nutrition, immuniza- first step, but making services more
project funded by the Swedish tion, the development of income- responsive to the needs of both
International Development Co- generating skills and other inter- women and men requires a gender-
operation Agency (SIDA), oversaw ventions. Female health workers sensitive examination of the
the promotion of safe water use and trained through the project still situation and potential solutions.
hygiene by health workers while work with SWACH or with other
NGOs to promote family welfare, Challenges
immunization, improved iron in-
Changing behaviours takes time
Box 8 New approaches to take, tuberculosis control and
and resources. Behaviours that
behavioural change general hygiene promotion. Among
have evolved over generations
the many reasons cited for SWACH’s
In the coming years, UNICEF rarely change overnight. Develop-
success is the training and pay-
will be able to report on ing methods to measure the cost-
several new approaches that
ment of female health promoters
effectiveness of different ap-
it is piloting or developing. and pump mechanics.
proaches to behavioural change
These include: would help programme planners
Employment generation and
Social marketing, in which determine how best to allocate
credit: Self-financing of latrines,
marketing techniques are scarce resources.
introduced for the first time in a
used to focus on a few key With the TPPF and with other
project in West Bengal in 1990, em-
behaviours that can be sanitation initiatives, the tempta-
measurably changed. To
phasized promoting local employ-
tion to ‘solve the problem’ has led
help determine the cost- ment through the training of
to going to scale too quickly with-
effectiveness of behaviour masons, and credit was provided to
out adequate monitoring and
change, behaviours are the poor to purchase a latrine. More
evaluation. A project that works in
carefully chosen and inter- than 350,000 latrines have been
a test situation or in a particular
ventions closely monitored. built in Mednipore, and they are still
area might not have success in
used and well maintained.
Community management, wider applications. Because of this,
in which a local organization UNICEF has learned the im-
assesses a community s Elements of success portance of monitoring and
needs and then works on What has UNICEF learned about evaluation to ascertain which
improvements that are top behavioural change in water and approaches work best over the long
priority, using mainly local environmental sanitation that may term and on a larger scale.
resources. The external be of use in other countries? Although UNICEF has strongly
agency acts as facilitator and advocated a gender-sensitive
trainer. A balance must be maintained programming approach, there still
Convergent Community b e t w e e n t e c h n o l o g y a n d t h e remains a need to better under-
Action (CCA), in which social aspects of WES services. stand the complexity of gender
representatives from the As important as behavioural ap- relationships, including who has
community and the state proaches are, technology must access to and control over services,
form an intersectoral, remain a strong element, especial- who benefits from improvements in
multidisciplinary team to ly in areas where WES services are water and sanitation, and how
explicitly link interventions, just being introduced. In other responsibilities can be shared
including WES. words, without appropriate techno- equitably between women and men.
13
partnerships:
Working with others to maximize results
10.
quality services is rising. The
5. It is crucial to develop
ly has
Going
adverse
to scale too quick-
repercussions.
public sector cannot shoulder the
cost of providing and managing
technology (pumps and other
hardware) suited to local It is tempting to expand on pilot facilities in perpetuity. Involving
conditions, especially where projects that seem successful. communities and other stake-
water is scarce. However, it is better to move holders in the search for solutions
To ensure access to clean drinking slowly to ensure that promising is challenging but essential.
15
a timeline
of WES policy in India
Water supply
1947-1980: Despite formal re-
cognition of the importance of
universal access to water and
sanitation, the central Government
16
under a wider housing programme. approaches to the TPPF. plans, policy announcements and
In 1986, the Technical Advisory political governance agendas.
Group completed its work and 1990-1995: In 1990-1991, the
recommended adoption of locally coverage target of 25 per cent of all 1995-present: In 1996, the Gov-
built twin-pit pour flush (TPPF) rural households was revised ernment issued a guideline on a
latrines as the most cost-effective downwards, as government data variety of toilet/latrine designs,
option for both rural and urban showed coverage at far less than 10 ranging in cost from US $10 to
areas. The Government accepted per cent. A 1992 national-level $100. The guideline also gave
this recommendation as the seminar played a critical role in information on sanitation up-
standardized latrine design for the moving policy away from full grading, encouraging households
country. reliance on the TPPF design and to start with a simple design that
towards an approach that combined could be upgraded later. Very
1986-1990: In 1986, the Gov- other hardware options with recently, the Government of India
ernment approached UNICEF for education and health linkages. The adopted the Restructured Central-
funding support and invited the budgetary allocation for sanitation ly-Sponsored Rural Sanitation
organization to become a full- continued to be small relative to Programme (RCRSP). The policy is
fledged CRSP partner. UNICEF water: India’s Eighth Five-Year Plan a shift from paying high subsidies
launched a series of area-based (1992-1997) allocated Rs 6,742 to no or low subsidies and
micro-projects in rural sanitation million (approximately US$400 generation of demand for services.
in 1986-1987, as an instrument million) for sanitation compared to Women’s self-help groups and small
of advocacy and a way to learn Rs 108,700 million (approximately entrepreneurs help expand sanit-
from the field. As the results began US$6,400 million) for drinking ation delivery; NGOs play a strong
to emerge, informal dialogues water supply. Nonetheless, san- role in mobilizing communities,
continued between UNICEF and the itation finally developed its own promoting demand and managing
Government about alternative identity in state governments’ rural sanitation centres.
17
Glossary
CCA O&M TAG
Convergent Community Action operation and maintenance Technical Advisory Group
UNICEF. Division of Evaluation, Policy and Planning, Learning from Experience: Evaluation of UNICEF’s
Water and Environmental Programme in India, 1966-1998. New York: UNICEF, 2000.
UNICEF. The State of the World’s Children 2000. New York: UNICEF, 1999.
UNICEF. Strategies in Water and Environmental Sanitation. New York: UNICEF, 1995.
Notes
1.
UNICEF, Division of Evaluation, Policy and Planning, Learning from Experience: Evaluation of UNICEF’s
Water and Environmental Sanitation Programme in India, 1966-1998, New York: UNICEF, 2000.
2.
Full coverage of safe drinking water is defined, in non-hilly and non-desert areas, as access to at least 40
litres per capita per day, 250 users per spot source, within 1.6 kilometres or less.
18
Front cover photo: UNICEF/90-0641/Goodsmith
Back cover photo: A 20-ton rig strikes water in southern India. This large rig is used for drilling in deep
aquifers and complex geologic formations and also for motorized pump installations. In the 1980s, smaller,
less costly and more manoeuverable machines were introduced to drill boreholes for the India MK II handpumps.
The smaller rig became the UNICEF standard, although both types continue to be used. UNICEF India photo
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The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), New York