Providing environmentally-safe sanitation to millions of people is a significant challenge, especially in the world’s second most populated country. The task is doubly difficult in a country where the introduction of new technologies can challenge people’s traditions and beliefs.
This discussion paper examines the current state of sanitation services in India in relation to two goals—Goal 7 of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which calls on countries to halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without improved sanitation facilities (from 1990 levels); and India’s more ambitious goal of providing “Sanitation for All” by 2012, established under its Total Sanitation Campaign.
The paper has provided a number of recommendations to help future sanitation programs forge a new path to provide sanitation for India’s urban and rural poor. The six main recommendations it offers are: scaling up pro-poor sanitation programs, customizing investments, exploring cost effective options, applying proper planning and sequencing, adopting community-based solutions, and forging innovative partnerships.
It has shown that the sanitation programs must involve more than just constructing new facilities for a given number of people. They must also include efforts to build momentum behind sanitation and hygienic behavior by mobilizing consumer demand in different settings.
Sanitation programs must also use a menu of different approaches, such as financing at the household level and a range of affordable sanitation options for potential consumers. This may require working with a range of new partners, including public health officials, grassroots organizations, and private sector, something that should not be seen as a deterrent.
Download the discussion paper here -