Discussion Guest Moderator: A. K. Singh, Sulabh International, New Delhi

Posted 20 June 2007

I am pleased to be invited to seek the help of the Water Community for my chosen task. At the Visioning Workshop of the Water Community in March 2007, I volunteered to act as a "convener" for engaging the Community in addressing this important topic. This e-discussion continues the conversations on the topic from the workshop towards a possible action group assignment for the Community on Strategies for Scaling up Rural Sanitation Coverage.

This paper presents an analysis of the baseline surveys of 12 UNICEF-DFID-Assisted districts under the Child’s Environment Project in 2001. The selected districts were in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. The key parameters considered were the use of toilets within households, communication strategies used and improved hygiene practices at home.

“Community-designed, built and managed toilet blocks in Indian cities", is an article by Sundar Burra, Sheela Patel and Thomas Kerr, published in the Environment & Urbanization Vol 15 No 2 on October 2003. This paper describes the ten-year programme of community-designed, -built and -managed toilet blocks undertaken by urban poor federations and women's cooperatives, with support from the Indian NGO SPARC.

“Community involvement makes waste water management a success story in a Maharashtra village” has been written Dr. S V Mapuskar in India Infrastructure Report, published in 2007 by United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). The case study presents the Dhamner village in Satara district of Maharashtra is an example of a success story to undertake measures to manage individual and community waste water with the goal of a cleaner and healthier village.