Can we do elite modeling of two leach pit toilets in villages?

In last few weeks, I have been traveling to western Uttar Pradesh. Met officials right from the District Magistrates to panchayat secretaries. Have also got chance to interact with villagers in general and elected representatives. Some great young minds recruited through Tata-GoI collaborations. The most recent activity that we did is training masons on two leach pit technology toilets. Have been reflecting on some key questions which people often poses in sanitation.

1. Subsidy has done disservice to the cause of sanitation

This is typical question asked prominently by CLTS practitioners. Officials in higher bureaucracy specially has picked this question and don't miss a chance to ask anyone who interacts with them. I have also been interacting with CLTS practitioners - would rather call them trainers. They have pretty pragmatic take on this whole issue. They clearly highlighted current CLTS has limited imagination and hit dead end at triggering.  Their experience in community mobilization post triggering indicated, people can't sustain their changed new behaviour of stopping open dedication in the absence of proper toilet. Proper toilet costs money.

2. Can community do without subsidy?

Actual community mobilization ought to start once community is triggered. Govt. has huge deficiency there. Govt. has mobilized grass root functionaries with limited success and the entire energy is channelized towards constructing the toilets. Once construction of toilet starts there lies real challenge. Can community be mobilized to construct the toilets at large scale on their own. The answer is emphatic NO with the current engagement arrangements. 5 days of community triggering and thereafter leaving the community one with one messenger mostly a lower rung govt. worker is too much to ask for. They along with Sarpanch/Pradhan ends up facilitating construction mainly of two leach pit toilets. As experiences suggest that is not aspiration toilet for the community and the one they want costs way beyond their financial capacity. Therefore, sporadic engagement only during campaign period and forcing cheap toilet choices is bound to fail.

Recent studies from Bangladesh indicated open defecation free status could only be sustained where there was CLTS approach for brining awareness and subsidy working together. In the community where only CLTS was done without giving them subsidy had no real gain. That gives a compelling evidence, that CLTS+ Subsidy is best option in resource poor setting.

3. Choice of toilets

I have been working in the sector for over a decade. Have closely seen and read the basket of choice for family planning services under RCH programmes. In the name of choices govt. mostly ended promoting terminal tubectomy over all other methods. Choice of toilet technology is mostly guided by classic learning methods known in behavioural psychology - imitation. We initiate our peers and cultural traits are mostly transmitted from upper classes /strata to lower strata. Conceptual framework of westernization and sanskritization are case on point for most of our acquired behavioural traits. So, whom we normally imitate- rural imitates urban, poor imitates rich and we mostly mimic their behavioural traits both material and otherwise.

Predominantly all actors in toilet construction supply chain practice sanitation in very different way. The one who does actual construction (read Masons and labourers) don't have toilet at their home, the one whose house is centre of this great sanitation experiment have aspiration of something very different. The one who is managing the construction have different toilet at home. Therefore, all cues in their environment support a very different aspiration. Common aspirational toilet is spetic tank. Maximum incentive which govt. could leverage for each toilet is Rs.1200. The promise of the same is already under severe strain due to inability of central govt.to fund all toilets. This incentive money doesn't help in constructing toilet of their choice and that seriously undermine their participation in construction and thereafter it's use.

Some direction to move forward

• Modeling of two leach pit toilet use by rural elites

Taking cues from sociology and behavioural psychology, can government think of modeling two leach pit toilets by rural elites. Many districts did establish Sanitation Technology Park somewhat with the objective of showing the visitors live models of various toilet technology. However, it has limited use towards training masons or taking people for exposure.

If rural elites specially those who are involved in the supply chain of entire construction process start constructing and using this toilets, people at large would start using and adopting the technology.

• Using masons as messenger

Masons are the most effective messenger as far as the technology choice go.

Their words of assurance about the sustainability of two leach pit toilet go a long way in ensuring its use. In the recent training out of 20 masons not many were wholeheartedly convinced on the sustenance of this technology. Precise reason was they had never seen this technology working in their neighbourhood. In the semi- finished toilets only two masons- Ahsan and Sah Alam (In the photo) were involved intensely in learning nuances of construction by doing hands on. Other participants did participate but their level of participation was very low.

Engineers were all using different technology for use in their households and looked more like doing their job than having any aspirations for propagating the technology.

• Long term view of community mobilization for sustaining ODF

There needs a long term view of community mobilization for ODF than the currently practiced CLTS cycle. Triggering and follow up needs to be complemented with long term messaging with all possible mediums and contacts. The current ODF sustainability guideline talks about sustaining it for 6 months. However, behavior change demands much large intervention cycle. Evidence from other sectors specially health suggests need for continuous engagement at community level through incentivized volunteer worker like ASHA. There is already a provision for such workers in Sawachh Bharat Mission and their utility needs to be emphasized specially in post ODF sustainability phase.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in blogs are personal and no way represents views of the organizations that I work with or worked with in the past.