From Gyanendra Mishra, UDAAN, Aligarh

Posted 19 April 2007

Dear Sir/Madam,

I work for an NGO called UDAAN in Aligarh and neighbouring districts. We provide training to Gram Pradhans, motivators, village functionaries and other stakeholders on water and sanitation issues. We also support the Government in the Total Sanitation Campaign in mobilising the community for construction of low cost leach pit toilets at village level. Additionally, we implement force lift handpumps in schools to lift and store water without motor and electricity. This has made many school toilets usable, which had become defunct due to non-availability of water.

From Bhawna Vajpai, The Loomba Trust, New Delhi

Posted 7 July 2008

I work for the UK based Loomba Trust, committed to upgrading and constructing water supply, sanitation and hygiene facilities in schools under its WASH initiatives. We aim to work in 1,000 schools across India (rural areas and small towns) in collaboration with state governments.

From Indira Khurana, WaterAid India, New Delhi

Posted 20 June 2007

You are aware that the Nirmal Gram Puruskar (NGP) has been instituted to “add vigour” to the Total Sanitation Campaign. In 2007, the National Committee on Nirmal Gram Puraskar selected 4,437 Gram Panchayats and Block Panchayats from 22 states for awards under NGP. The number of award winners has risen from 40 in 2005, 769 in 2006 to 4437 in 2007. These awards were given by His Excellency the President of India Shri A P J Abdul Kalam.

From Vimala Ramachandran, ERU Consultants Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi

Posted 16 January 2009

I am Vimala Ramachandran working with the Educational Resource Unit at ERU Consultants Pvt. Ltd.

My colleagues - Bharat K. Patni and Nishi Mehrotra - and I are working on a field-based study to explore the inter-linkages between water, sanitation and school participation, with specific reference to adolescent girls. We are conducting this study for UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia and UNICEF India Office. We plan to commence our fieldwork in Uttar Pradesh in February 2009.

Country Paper Series “School sanitation and hygiene education in India: Investment in building children’s future” has been published by Ministry of Rural Development, Department of Drinking Water Supply for SSHE Global Symposium “Construction is Not Enough” Delft, The Netherlands 8-10 June, 2004, the books were developed in the context of the School Water and Sanitation Towards Health and Hygiene (SWASTHH) programme in India.

The report highlight a 10 day intensive and interactive programme, The International Learning Exchange (ILE) in water, sanitation and hygiene which was designed and conducted by United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) India in cooperation with the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India and Governments of five states that were visited from 13 to 23 November 2006.

With the subject heading “Re: Query: Developing Learning Material on WaSH for School Children –Experiences; Examples” compiled by Nitya Jacob, Ramya Gopalan and Sudakshina Malik in 19 June 2008 and published by Solution Exchange for the Water Community and Education Community in India, United Nations, is a complimenting efforts by the Centre for Environment Education (CEE) to create a workbook and activity manual on school sanitation and hygiene, members felt it is a welcome and timely initiative.

“A Movement Towards Total Sanitation in India” is a ppt photo-essay, about the Total Sanitation Campaign of the Government of India.

“Sanitation for All - Still a Long Way to Go” position paper for the Second South Asia Conference on Sanitation, Pakistan, September 2006 prepared by WaterAid India and Partner NGOs highlights the progress, key issues and challenges and recommendations for improving sanitation coverage with special focus on the poor. It is based on the experience of WaterAid India, other major sector agencies and NGOs and also takes into consideration the programme of state and national governments of India for sanitation promotion.

The study, commissioned in 2008 by WaterAid India, carries an independent qualitative assessment of Government of India’s Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) launched in 1999. The primary qualitative data generated during field visits to 40 GPs in 20 blocks across 10 districts of 5 states (2 each from a state) in India. Study states included Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Karnataka, and Tripura.