Report: Water & Sanitation & Beyond for 96 Villages (MANTRA 2009-12) funded by Christian Aid and ICCO

Gram Vikas is implementing MANTRA in 96 villages, with the support of ICCO-CA. The total number of families covered is 5468.

Water and sanitation was identified as the one intervention that could address all of the problems for impoverished villages.

By insisting on 100% inclusion, combined with hygiene and sanitation education, not only does the community become united and able to work together, but also open defecation is eradicated, and people are able to drink safe, clean water. In MANTRA villages, the incidence of water-borne diseases has reduced by 80% on average.

With every household having a piped water supply, the daily burden of water collection is completely removed from women’s lives. They have more time to engage in income-generating activities, or simply have time for themselves. In addition, girl children are also spared this drudgery, and are therefore able to attend school, and obtain an education.

The high quality infrastructure established becomes a symbol of pride for the village, and works to unite the village and motivate them to improve the village in other ways too.

The water and sanitation activities, implemented under MANTRA follow a prescribed methodology;

1. Much work is done to motivate and raise awareness of the importance of good hygiene and sanitation to encourage everybody in the village to get involved and contribute. No construction work will begin until every household has agreed to participate.

2. Every male and female head of every household form a General Body, which is responsible for the general decision-making on village issues. They also elect 12 members; 6 female and 6 male who constitute the Village Executive Committee, which is responsible for the management of the water and sanitation programme. This committee is also registered as a legal society, in order for the village to be able to apply for government funds.

3. Gram Vikas works with the villagers to create and manage a ""village corpus"", a fund that draws cash and in-kind contributions from all families based on ability to pay. On average though Rs.1000 must be collected from every household.

4. Construction on the water supply does not start until every household has completed the brickwork of the toilets and bathing rooms. The water supply acts as a “carrot” for completing the sanitation facilities.

5. In addition to the physical infrastructure, much work is also carried out in terms of capacity building, and hygiene and sanitation education activities

Challenges Gram Vikas have faced over the past year:

• In some parts of Orissa state, there was severe violence between Christian villages and non-Christian villages. This violence spread to Gajapati district, which resulted in many deaths and villages being burnt to the ground. Although none of Gram Vikas’ villages were badly affected, it made movement throughout the district very difficult for some considerable time

• High turnover of staff has proved to be a big challenge this year, and an issue Gram Vikas are trying to resolve

• The slow release of government funds for water projects has resulted in a large backlog of villages waiting for water supply work to be completed, or in many cases started. Gram Vikas have therefore decided to continue with the building of sanitation blocks only in villages where there is a prior commitment. Wherever possible, for this year the focus will be placed on working through the backlog of water supply projects. It is hoped this aim can be achieved with the recent release of large amounts of funding from the government for water supply projects.