Toilets transforming slums
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Authors
Ananta Prasad
Issue Date
2015-09
Type
Language
en
Keywords
Water and Sanitation
Alternative Title
Abstract
Three slums, three women and their amazing work has made them agents of change. Coming under ward number 22 of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, this slum had some serious problems. Most of the male residents, who work as daily wage workers and females work as servants in nearby smarter areas, used to face the common problem of defecating in the open every single day. When it comes to women and young girls, avoiding male eyes was the most awkward task and they struggled every morning to find a space. They had to go either before sunrise or after sunset to hide in order to defecate. It was a matter of shame until the women group got united and fought for a solution. The local sanitation group led by Ms Ranjulata Mohapatra, united the women in the community and despite many hurdles they mobilised around 26,000 and gathered more support from organisations like Practical Action and the European Commission and built a community toilet with facilities for both men and women. For more than two years those toilets have served their communities. Looking at this gesture the local authority also constructed another community toilet at a nearby community which is also serving the people. Talking about the management of the toilet, Ranjulata adds, “We have a sanitation committee which takes care of the daily operation of the toilet. Every family has been given two duplicate keys (one for male and one for female members) and any point of time anyone from our community can use the toilet using their keys. We are collecting 20 rupees per house per month from each of the families. The collected amount covers our expenses for electricity, fees for the regular cleaner, other maintenance and rest we keep for contingencies. The toilet is connected with piped water which lessens the burden on people to carry buckets of water. Hence, it has been of immense help for women, children and senior citizens of the community. We are aware of other slums who are still defecating in open, but all it needs is strong determination and cooperation to make life easier which we did and we are thankful for Practical Action, who supported us financially as well as advocating our fight for a respectful life.” It is noted that this project was a collaboration of Practical Action and the European Commission who provided the financial assistance for the developmental works. Similarly, in a slum like Dumduma Satya Nagar, a highly populated area with few individual toilets, it was saddening that people were not using the existing community toilet and were still defecating in open. With much persuasion the local women from Amar Sanchaya Samiti have taken a lead and now successfully run the community toilet which is serving hundreds of people every morning. It is noted, that the community toilet has been there for the last 6 years, but it was defunct and unused for a considerable period. Since they have taken charge, they have made their best efforts to run it for the people. However, it has also been self-sustaining by meeting its regular needs as in electricity and cleaner fees as well as the regular maintainance. Two women of the 14 member sanitation group take care of the regular opening of the toilet and collection of users’ fee 4 rupees per person and this happens on a rotational basis. Every two months new members take charge. Every day they deposit the collected amount and reinvest the same by giving loans to members which generate interest and additional return for the group. However, they admit that still people are defecating in open, but they are continuing their efforts to mobilise them by letting them know the perils of open defecation. This community toilet was tranformed in management and operation under the guidance of Practical Action who has set up a solar panel to light the toilet and basic support to revamp the defunct one with social mobilisation. Another group of women under the banner of slum committee led by a community leader Swayamprabha Sahoo in Satya Kali Slum who has been an agent of change by bringing safe drinking water to the doorstep. She has lessened the burden of many women from fetching water from a distance and using water from well for cooking. Located centrally in Bhubaneswar, the capital city of Odisha, the people of Satyakali Basti live in the shadow of urbanization. The slum had 13 personal wells and one stand post provided by the Municipal Corporation for water supply. Now with the installation of two overhead tanks being run by the motor boring which runs through electricity, there are 30 stand posts catering to around 300 houses. Practical Action in collaboration with the European Commission has supported the community to build these water points. When inaugurated, there were only 21 stand posts which now the community have installed 9 more with their own efforts and resources. While remembering the past, Swayamprabha says, we used to depend on wells mostly for the water, and we have water at our doorstep now. They have formed a committee ‘Satyakali Sangathana’ and collect 20 rupees per household per month. The committee collects the amount and takes care of the proper running of the water system. Apart from the caretaker’s salary and electricity bill and regular maintenance, the committee also saved money from the users’ fee to spend in other developmental activities. Blog link - http://practicalaction.org/blog/where-we-work/india/community_governance/
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All Rights Reserved
All rights reserved
All rights reserved