'Need for Behaviour Change and Community Engagement for sustaining ODF’

Swachh Bharat Mission launched on October 2, 2014, saw its completion of Open Defecation Free India status on October 2, 2019. The mission constructed over 100 million of toilet across India, to not only eliminate the open defecation, but also included eradication of manual scavenging, conversion of insanitary toilets to pour flush toilets, 100% collection and scientific processing/disposal reuse/recycle of waste, generate awareness among the citizens about sanitation and its linkages with public health, strengthening of urban local bodies to design, execute and operate systems, to create enabling environment for private sector participation in Capital Expenditure and Operation & Maintenance (O&M) costs and to bring about a behavioral change in people regarding healthy sanitation practices.

As SBM moved on a mission mode and focused only on the construction of toilets, other aspects of the Total Sanitation Scheme lost their way to the non-functional toilets, non-inclusive sanitation practices, poor sewage & drainage system, lack of water, unsafe emptying with poor conveyance, treatment and disposal of waste generated.  

Behaviour Change Communication (BCC) is very critical for maintaining the ODF status which has been achieved by toilet construction across India. People are still forced to go for open defecation as the toilets constructed 5 – 10 years back have their pits full and no mechanism is at disposal to empty the pits, similarly community toilets are rendered non-functional because of no facility of O&M has been set up for them. Most of the public toilets lack inclusivity, either not suitable for disabled people or being run by man, where women and girls get restricted to use them, caste and manual scavenging is another problem of non-inclusivity.

Maintaining ODF sustainability has few components such as; Capacity building, advocacy, behaviour change communication, community collective action, appropriate technology for Faecal Sludge and Septage Management (FSSM)/ Faecal Sludge Treatment Plants (FSTP), sustainable monitoring and financing sustainability. All these components are interlinked, where BCC and advocacy more persuasive approaches to sustain ODF status and to bring in the inclusivity in the Total Sanitation Scheme. 

Could Behavior Change Communication be the solution?

Now that the toilets have been constructed in order to make a sustained ODF status Behavior Change Communication (BCC) is the key to improve the capacity of the community and of change agent to implement behavior change communication activities at scale in their area, leading to improved sanitation practices through robust IEC, empowerment and social unlearning and re-education, capacity building of change agents and advocacy of government.

IEC as it was usually practised focused on delivering information to the group, with an inherent assumption that after delivering accurate information, people would reduce damaging/harmful behaviours and thus, adopt desired positive behaviours. BCC acknowledged that information is necessary but not sufficient in most cases. BCC uses context-specific formative research to determine the motivators, barriers and facilitators to behaviour change and responds with a variety of techniques designed to incite the individual to change his or her behaviour.

Faecal Sludge and Septage Management: SBM led the construction of toilets, which have on-site sanitation system, there are significantly less awareness and knowledge about emptying and treatment technologies, inadequate facilities for emptying and transportation and inadequate availability of end treatment technologies further creates barriers in maintaining ODF sustainability. An approach to explicitly recognizing the importance safe FSSM, timely emptying and transportation of Faecal Sludge, constructing soak pits for open drainages through robust IEC and SBCC is a must, else the challenge to ineffective FSSM is way more fatal for the environment.

Inclusive Sanitation: A radical shift in mindsets and practices is needed in sanitation and urban development. As long we keep ignoring the need of disabled-friendly, women-friendly, baby and child-friendly sanitation facilities, all the approaches to sanitation improvement that encompass long-term planning, technical innovation, institutional reforms and financial mobilization will fail.

O&M of Sanitation facilities: As we live in where we can’t predict floods, we need to be more vigilant when phasing out the location for FSSM plants and STP plants, that they do not get shut down during floods. Similarly laying down sewerage network is not an easy task, thus the system for on-site sanitation for emptying, transporting and treatment is on the onus of the system, which should be advocated and policy and operational guidelines are strongly recommended. In absence of a designated disposal site, the vacuum tankers used to suck faecal sludge out of OSS, discharge the collected sludge in open drains, fields, empty plots etc. polluting the environment which is more harmful than defecating in open.

BCC is not only about the correctness and quality of its design process, but instead, it is also how it is perceived and applied in practice. SBCC process is influenced by several key factors that include the capacity of the main gate-keepers (who will work on the field) & stakeholders of the programme (beneficiaries), line-agencies & implementers, and the skills & preferences of the facilitators. Sanitation sector has some inherent and non-negotiable elements which, when put all together in addressing overall health & sanitation, shall constitute a holistic approach to sustain the ODF status.

#ODF #SanitationForAll #ExcretaMatters #SustainableGoals #SDGs