Toilet talk has never been this sexy!

Toilet Talk

Mr. Gates, probably the most identifiable business leader of 21^st century comes with jar of human shit and triggers the world. World notices. When Prime Minister of the largest democracy talks about it. World notices.

And when Matt Damon says…

you got one, I got one…and that’s the reason to celebrate…..World notices.

Indian recently hosted two big events within span of eight weeks- Mahatma Gandhi International Sanitation Convention & World Toilet Day Summit, which have seen participation of representatives from almost all countries of the world- either government delegation, civil society representatives, or corporations.

Bollywood stars, politicians, musicians, and literally everyone talks about toilet. Toilet talk has never been such sexy. Swachh Bharat Mission has been game changer for the world. Toilet is talked in the drawing room, theatre, newspapers, internet and every space possible.

Rims of pages written over toilets- good, bad, ugly. One proposes a number, another contests the number, one proposes toilet being used & other contests those being used for every other purpose other than what they were meant for. Politics divide and toilet unites.

In my professional career, the last time something has gained such space was HIV. Though it was pre-social media days & world was not this connected.

Claims, counter claims, and yet another claim have resurrected issues of toilet in the mainstream. Not every day, it happens that online newspapers/website run series to cover world toilet day. And specially those who were known to strongly pursue views critical of the government of the day. It doesn’t happen every day that government take note of a random report claiming its failure to stop open defecation.

I had been talking to so many practitioner, people on the ground, beneficiaries, and they had thrown interesting insights…that got me thinking.

My Toilet Musing

INR 12,000 toilet answer to all

This sounds almost like street market selling - “herak mal” at certain amount. The positioning of campaign has been such that it sounds like. Toilet is the answer to all issues at hand. Conversations with people helped me to find the following.

- Women’s empowerment.

- Employment

- Health/child survival

- New found meaningful engagement for youths and people in the villages

- Many more…fertilizer, better crop yield, environmental protection

Baseline number

Talking to veterans helped coming to the conclusion that India has not reached this toilet coverage for the first time. Little bit of data digging thrown of interesting number given by the Ministry itself.

In 2010-11, India has reported coverage of 75%. Then the coverage percentage reported to be 38.70% (Oct 2, 2014) which stands to 96.33% as of today. Many people have expressed skepticism over the coverage with history of campaign, processes, and curious case of baseline.

Toilet Coverage in 2010-2011

After census of 2011, the Ministry went back to look into the reported coverage, NSSO survey data, and threw interesting correctional factors that many fever would have to put as we would be reaching to census 2021.

·       Not sure, if we are prepared for 35% downward correction. Downward correction reported then was as high as more than 50% in few states. In fact, sample survey had also thrown higher coverage number than census one, which was done two years later.

·       Some states were smarter in data management than others then. And perhaps we are staring at the similar situation.   

·       Going by the latest contested figure of CAG audit in Gujrat suggested 30% deficit recently.

	NSSO 2008-09	Census 2011	TSC 2010-11	NSSO minus Census	Census 2011 minus TSC
MADHYA Pradesh	14.7	13.6	70.91	1.1	57.31
TAMIL Nadu	26.5	26.7	79.87	-0.2	53.17
UTTAR Pradesh	46.5	22.9	74.61	23.6	51.71
GUJARAT	32.7	34.2	81.74	-1.5	47.54
D& N Haveli	46.8	29.3	70.06	17.5	40.76
CHHATTISGARH	17.7	14.8	54.05	2.9	39.25
Andhra Pradesh	35.7	34.9	71.01	0.8	36.11
JHARKHAND	15.9	8.3	44.03	7.6	35.73
ORISSA	11.8	15.3	50.71	-3.5	35.41
RAJASTHAN	17.9	20.1	54.61	-2.2	34.51
HARYANA	54.7	57.7	91.8	-3	34.1
HIMACHAL Pradesh	53.5	67.5	100	-14	32.5
KARNATAKA	24.8	31.9	63.87	-7.1	31.97
WEST Bengal	58.3	48.7	76	9.6	27.3
MAHARASHTRA	39.3	44.2	70.29	-4.9	26.09
All India	34.8	32.7	68.41	2.1	35.71

That gets me doing a lazy internet research to hit this interesting definition which wiki says used in Pharmacology. It defines

"Baseline describes a person's state of mind or being with the absence of drugs. For example, after an LSD trip, baseline would be the point where the user is completely under control and no longer experiences any effects."

Looks like this aptly describe, why we are more comfortable at baseline.

People are using toilets

I asked people, what was good about this phase of sanitation campaign. People had very interesting answers from plain cynicism to more nuanced one. I am summarizing below.

- In the earlier version, toilets were built of the sizes where human could not sit. This phase, super structure has dimension of full human size and hence likelihood of use.

- From tea sellers to prime minister everyone was talking about it, tweeting about it, and mostly importantly a certain degree of acceptance of issues came. Campaign had better community focus.

- District Magistrate has never been seen walking on the street deep in the village at 5 AM in the morning.

In general people had opinion that toilets are being used. But, every one said…how a battle worth fighting open defecation free communities were merely reduced to saturating baseline. Baseline interestingly also given interesting tool to defend many of the shortcomings. This is classical case of how a good concept when applied at scale opens up for criticism.

Peddling many a cliché

While there has been remarkable community engagement in the campaign. The campaign has also seen many a cliché being peddled. Women selling their ornaments, a poor family selling their goat/livestock, family begged for alms to build etc. Every village/district and all involved wanted to replicate it. Altruism of poor was peddled in many forms. Some places reported…..compression of demands for incentive which turn out compression of supply itself and resulted into poor construction etc.

Many of those are called out. Govt. issued advisory. But, guess community was hugely romanced in the campaign, which otherwise always had been in development sector. I am yet to find some coming to community in rich neighbourhood for financial contribution or at least a commitment to walk every one in the park before being build. But, this was there 12,000 incentive to toilet to a poor households. Before you jump into per capita cost or something….consider the following.

- A typical toilet are supposed to be used by 5-6 members so that puts incentive 2,000 per capita.

- And government does have maintenance money annually given for park etc. and for toilet its life time one time incentive.

Therefore, better instrument of community engagement could be tried out rather than the cliché of altruism, sacrifice,….to the negative ones---coercion, invasive nudging etc.

And Finally 

https://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/a-mason-in-mp-gets-pms-praise-for-something-he-never-said/

https://indianexpress.com/article/india/money-for-toilets-they-built-never-came-now-they-are-trapped-uttar-pradesh-chhattisgarh-swachh-bharat-abhiyan-4529164/

https://thewire.in/rights/grit-on-world-toilet-day-a-look-at-the-wires-coverage-of-sanitation   

http://www.pib.nic.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=1550887#.W9QI-OYmgMk.whatsapp

https://indianexpress.com/article/india/cag-report-picks-holes-in-gujarats-open-defecation-free-claim-5367438/

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseline_(pharmacology)

Dear Mr. Buddha

Dear Gautam Buddha,

We are writing you from some nondescript place in Gaya. 

You know...we still can't write. Only half of women in your Bihar is literate, we have asked someone to write on our behalf. So, not sure....really if he is writing what we wanted him to write or not.

Trust you are doing great there

somewhere. They were telling me you walked on this land many centuries back. Good that you “walked out” of this place. Nothing much is left here. We have problem of water in summer. We go in the open to defecate. We don't have houses. 

People of different features and sizes comes in large number looking for you. Perhaps they want to learn something......but what they get is our people defecating in the open. They were telling me they capture that in their big cameras….we are not sure why they are interested in someone defecating in open. Looks like, since they don’t find you and nothing much is left so, they capture us. 

Some people came visiting us last night. We had good chat....oo....we got good lecture & verbal thrash on toilet, sanitation, and water. We thought hard on some of the issues. we are sending you this if you have a thought or two as you attained Gyan and perhaps are free from life and death.

Mobile is dear to me: Thank you Mr. Ambani for making available phone again at Rs. 501, we recall your father has done this before making it available at 500 in 2001 or so. You have done a great favour. Now people could not say…that we all have mobile and not toilet at home. 

I have been telling it for sometime that toilet costs more than mobile. And also its unfair comparison, what you call comparing apple vs oranges. We have alternative to toilet as going in the open but unfortunately not having option for mobile. And Mobile perhaps serve a very distinct function which could not be done by any other substitute.

Women doesn't have all power in the world: After session for an hour or so..some of us really wanted to take rest. Wanted to lie down on the same mat as we have been listening to them. Some of us did try stretching a bit…..but the voice from dias and behind…..stopped us. They didn't realize we had been awake since wee hours of the morning. 

You know…..we have something to share……why women should be instrument of all changes that they want to bring…….…women should go and picket illegal liquor shop……govt. have been saying women should come forward and try bringing reform of all kinds in society.

we pained with this proposition and we are dead tired….you know what….I work 18 hours a day…..taking care of house, children, cattle and what not…..and then they come….they ask us

- to form SHG for thrift…

- to take bank loans.

- to run enterprises

- fight against child marriage

- fight against child labour…

- make nigrani samite to stop open defecation….

Why should it be all women’s job….tomorrow you will say…..climate change…form women’s group…..let us go home and take rest…..I only have limited time as you have……and for God’s sake, we have not created all these problems…why we should be leading the solutions if you really think that’s the solution, which we always think……not a solution and at best bad solution.....solution lies somewhere else......and we are punching bag.....

Our husbands asked to visiting team, they didn’t have land…..they promised land could be arranged….and also went on to say…..it does not require land. ….we asked we didn’t have water for all seasons….

they became really angry…..inquiring if we cleaned our bum that morning……we could not find much relevance to it…….not sure......though if they know…65% households in Bihar have no land. Large number of families are fighting for homestead….or even larger number have only homestead at best that is also very small often not much larger than the recommended toilet size……..

We can't enforce prohibition: You know what...we have prohibition enforced by the present govt. but our men still drink. And when they drink, they ask really good questions…..some of them asked really good questions last night as well….they asked about the technology……asked if leach pit contaminate our water sources…….. and visitors given some arguments.....

Some came visiting our hamlets …..the following morning and they found….there was water.....seepages... in the pit which was barely 4 feet deep……we get scared….of piling all our shit there in the pit…...we were sure team was also convinced there was issue.....

Visiting team asked our husbands ......if they could talk to them….when they were not drunk…….some of them suggested if we could…..stop giving them food at home……they would think of building toilet for us……we told them…..we were not ready to be beaten by our husbands…..we had already enough problems…..not having a toilet would be lesser problem than being beaten by husbands.....

You know what….we had issues with drinking specially with our menfolk and that’s why we took our fight to the government…..& govt. enforced prohibition….it was very curious…..why they were still wanting us to enforce the law…when they were all powerful to do so…..it was interesting to see.....they were only interested in toilets...and not folks who were drunk......

They "hoped" at the end of the meeting that we would all built toilet......

Confide with me: You know sir....we also want toilet.....and we also don't want to go in the open...but we want someone to come and talk with us. If the same visiting team is responsible for water.....and instead of getting me water....only talks of having a toilet......sir, we will not build....if they want....let them build it.....we will not use it. 

P.S. if possible visit sometime.......perhaps you could do something.

First ODF district in Bihar: the travel so far and the journey that begins

Introduction: In one of many lectures that I attended across various discipline of social sciences taught me interesting phrase for any achievement in sector. All achievement is always “in the Being” and not “Been”. And so open defecation free status must also been taken into that spirit of being and not been.

It has been a tremendous travel for Bihar and Sitamarhi and
there is this whole journey starts to keep the district ODF. This blog outlines what I know about the district, its campaign leaders- two District Magistrates and the campaign insights from the ground.

Demographics: Sitamarhi is among top 100 districts in India in terms of population with 3.5 Million people (Census 2011) with 3,89,592 households to be covered out of total 5,11,987 households at baseline. The district has rivers crisscrossing its geographies all over with perennial floods from water flowing from Nepal.

Leadership: Sector has interesting anecdotes on implementation of CLTS which is often called Collector Led Total Sanitation opposed it its actual connotation of Community Led Total Sanitation. Campaign in Sitamarhi given another evidence to strengthen this hypothesis.

The campaign leadership at the district level shown tremendous commitments of governments engagement with the community. Mr. Rajiv Raushan led the team form front. He has many feathers in his cap- led first ODF Gram Panchayat in Khagaria under Swachh Bharat Mission, given first ODF Sub Division in Sitamarhi.

Dr. Ranjit Singh, who had to his credit leading campaign for

first ODF district in Gujarat led coverage of last miles under his leaderhip and repeated his Gujarat success quite literly. He repeated his success and made district achieve distinction of first ODF district in Bihar.

Process and milestones:  Open defecation is mediated through many layers and social processes in society. Poverty, if not social acceptance of open defecation there is no outright social condemnation of the same, majority religion which has very strong sense of purity and pollution, and inability of previous campaign to reach out to them left this practice being prevalent out there. 

Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (SBM) didn’t have great start to start with in Bihar. The Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) was the implementing department and the history of sanitation campaign led by PHED was not great in Bihar. In the middle of 2016, Govt. of Bihar decided to transfer the implementation to the Rural Development Department (RDD) which has more legs on ground to implement the campaign. Sitamarhi was the first district to systematically plan, implement, and monitor huge mobilization. 

Planning & Implementation: District Water and

Sanitation Committee organised planning workshop under the leadership of DM on 20th May 2016, deliberated, and come up with ODEP to achieve ODF by 2nd October 2017.

A three-day Refresher training on CLTS for the trained motivators was organized by District Administration, Sitamarhi between 27th and 29th June 2016. This was the beginning of second big leap in the massive campaign towards ODF Sitamarhi. This is to highlight State has already trainer 800 motivators before and they were not being effectively utilized then. 

From there on district never looked back and marched step by step

achieving open defecation free status for its villages, gram panchayats and  by the end of 2016, they were able to achieve Belsand sub division ODF. By the middle of 2017, they were on the verge of declaring the entire district ODF and then flood hit the district hard. It halted the community process and lot of damage done to the structure.

Post flood, the campaign again started albeit at slow pace and picked momentum at the start of 2018 and been able to achieve the final milestone this month.

How did campaign progress:

The graph below indicates the steep increase in coverage during 2016-17 and 2017-2018. The district mobilized entire district machinery to go all out and mobilize community to eliminate this practice of open defecation.

This is to highlight here, Bihar has been able to successfully implement disbursement of incentives only when community level outcomes are achievement. Till March 2018, beneficiaries were not eligible to receive incentive money if their Ward was not declared ODF. Currently also 50% ward level coverage is must for incentive payment. Incentive is given to beneficiaries and beneficiaries themselves construct the toilets. The achievement of the district clearly indicates strength of the campaign where over 500 thousand households constructed their individual toilets without upfront incentive payment.

Milestones:

1. Produced first ODF subdivision in the state- Belsand.
2. Created Limca Book of Records for highest number of Soak Pit Built in a day -2168
3. National Record for highest number of incentive payment in a day- Rs. 113 Crore & 94556 beneficiaries.
4. State record for record number of MIS updating in a day
5. District Achieved ODF

What imade it to succeed:

- Extra ordinary leaderships by district magistrates and second line
- Concentration of administrative and financial resources by development partners- UNICEF and Tata Trust and district administration.
- Innovations in community organization- leaving no one behind.
- Determination to overcome fear of finishing things declaring ODF. Clearly identifying need to continuously working on sustain the gain.

Personal anecdotes: 

- Mr. Rajiv Raushan managed has been able to garner support of Sima Suraksha Bal in triggering the community eliminating the practice in addition to other stakeholders. He is basically a people’s person. Easygoing, open door policy, constantly thinks how he can serve the community, explorer – never afraid of situation. 

I remember seeing him surrounded by at least 1,000 people in Khagaria, when I went to meet for the first time. This was very unusual site. No one can imagine a DM talking to such a large crowd to resolve a dispute. In Sitamarhi too he was seen addressing the community late evenings on several occasions. He may be one of the most travelled DMs with in the district; I am sure he must have visited all 273 Gram Panchayats during his tenure. Very patient listener and open to ideas. If any great idea strikes to him, he will not sleep until he has realized it – take the example of constructing 2,168 soak pits in a day. 

Very engaging person – On several occasions, our interactions would end beyond – 12:00 mid-night – strategizing on new approaches to scale up and reaching the poorest!  

- Mr. Ranjit Singh, the current DM of the district brought a very different flavor and energy to the campaign. He had shown tremendous strength to finish what was left to be done to achieve ODF. He has successfully led a very successful ODF campaign in Gujarat. He was the District Development Officer of Narmada, which was the first ODF district in Gujarat.

The day, he joined office in Sitamarhi. He called our team and seek our support to finish last mile coverage. He was racing against time to achieve the milestone and led from front. He has also reiterated his resolve to keep invested and engaged to help the community sustain this honour and give a healthy start to the children of the district. The great quality that he exhibits in plenty is that he doesn’t fear finishing things.  

Way forward:  The district has clearly identified its next frontier of sustaining the gain. The ground report indicates district administration is working every day through one or other events and engagements reminding the community to honour what they achieved and sustaining it. After declaration the district has observed mass hand washing all over the district led by the DM from front. 

Collaborative Author: UNICEF has been the technical assistance partners and I invited Mr. Pravin More, the outgoing WASH Specialist to collaborate for this blog. I started as outsider to participate in the planning workshop in early 2016 in Sitamarhi, as I was working with Unilever then. And had good fortune to collaborate with the district in their last mile campaign as UNICEF associate.  

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Narmada-set-to-become-Gujarats-1st-open-defecation-free-district/articleshow/53628426.cms
https://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/bihar-set-to-declare-two-districts-odf-soon-117063001053_1.html

Art & Science of Technical Assistance

Technical Assistance (TA)

I had been working in social development sector for more than a decade and had good fortune of continuing in the sector or rather "surviving". Barring few assignments, I had been part of the group involved in TA mostly.

For the first time, I got hang of this term was year 2006. I was two year old in the field then and before that, I mostly worked on grassroots projects, where you engage with community through recruiting low paid not so educated community youths. Typically some donors pay for the events mostly on predefined activities agreed before hand for a year-money flowing on quarterly basis.

We were part of the team helping government of India and state governments in organizing their urban component of Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) Programme. This project was supported by USAID. This is where, I got introduced to the team of professionals doing technical assistance. TA team was most sought after and perhaps most "glamorous" unit. This was sort of enigmatic approach of working with the government for me then. To be this is still enigma and I am still picking up treads.   

Defining technical assistance

Before I entered into TA business, I always thought engineering & medicine and some others were perhaps two stream which was technical. This was the same sense, what we got first time during my  under graduate studies, when there was whole lecture dedicated to "Discussing Sociology as Science" and later I realized all disciplines were science and now perhaps everything is technical. 

Before this, all others were just disciplines or subject. I worked in RCH, nutrition, education, and livelihood and practically everything was categorized as technical. So, let me also try doing little bit of mathematics and try describing technical assistance. Here goes my hypothesis

Technical Assistance= 5% (Technical) + 95% (Assistance)

Traversing across many sectors, I came across the understanding in TA business- 5% is technical if we decide to say so. And the rest 95% is assistance.

Science of Technical 

Source of science for TA comes typically from national guidelines/technical guidelines which is written far off from where the action happens by well known experts coming from Govt. or non government. Programme changes and it is remodeled by the same expert perhaps or some new "technical" expert joining them. 

Art of Assistance

Art of assistance is most exciting continuum. During the TA track tenure.....I found interesting anecdotes- a map in DM's office- produced by Maps of India, a certain plastic bucket and mug in police station...., a trip hosted by TA providing agencies......a personal help which does many other or perhaps most other stuffs rather than work related to stated "Technical" objective to really strategic support which shaped and given direction to the programme.

In the following paragraphs I am trying to summarize my interface with TA

1. Never ending chase of identifying champion

One of the idealized step in TA business is doing a scoping visit to the districts mostly as district happens to be the place where most action happens. Scoping is not the case for community actions projects. Its predefined and not linked to champion.

Some of the preparation that is done has the following alogarithm.

- Get as much info as possible about the DM- his/her batch, his/her friends, his/her interested, past records etc etc

- Try looking for some of the previously identified champions....whom you could possibly refer in your conversation with him or her.

- Engage with him/her in the conversation and withstand with talk...which may not be necessarily interesting....or possibly downright boring.....at times....then wait for that "Johari" window game to start.....you perhaps hit blind, facade, arena, and unknown......

- With some you play in the facade space, for others in different and so on. Some remains in the blind and unknown.....and that's where bring to the next questions..

2. Are champions born or can they be created? 

Many a times in our business, we chase champions rather than creating one. and my tentative hypothesis is champions can't be created. So, we prefer chasing them from one district to another. Difficulty occurs when champions get transferred to other departments specially in case of TA at Directorate. We get to "Johari" window exercise again.

If can't be created.... can be have a way to select champions at all levels.....I guess, nature weigh over nurture in producing champions.

3. Whether you help someone master how to catch the fish or give them fish

This paraphrased Chinese proverb has interesting reference with TA and often reminds of this activities vs output vs outcome debate. It all depends where you are in the scheme of things. In Hindi..."Janha se app dekh rahe hain".

In Assistance part of TA, I found....giving bucket and mug to "well resourced department" is considered TA & same provisioning for community considered short term arrangement and rather profane. Depending on our positioning in the system we advise the same to folks working with us. Therefore, no universal working definition of mere "Assistance" and TA type of Assistance.

4. Art of not telling the truth & categorizing "Assistance" in the realm of "Technical"

This is pre-requisite of turning out a great TA professional. If you have flare to write, and speak assistance as technical, you are game for it. I know some of very successful TA professionals who have this unparalleled capacity.

This still can be developed. But the first one is hard to master. Not telling the truth to the stakeholders or coating it in such fashion that person before you takes it as OK if not everything great. This perpetuate the status quo and in some ways restrict scope of "technical"....space for assistance expand and in all directions.

In our madness to make everything "technical" also restrict many otherwise qualified folks suited for the job not fit and out of ambit.

5. Art of prepared draft minute of the meeting 

We operate amidst fast gadgets whereas the one whom we providing TA still lags by many years. So, timely preparation of minutes of the meeting often take weeks. One of the seasoned TA professional given word of wisdom almost a decade back.

"go to meeting with prepared draft of the minutes of the meeting.......pick up some words which the presiding officer utters.....include those in the minute and get those signed immediately, if not possible get this put up on the table in the file"

6. Learning visits

The last but not the least....art of facilitating learning visits to sites of the liking of participants or the chair...

Many more years of engagements will bring many more wisdom. And I am keeping my window open.


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. 

Swachhta Doot 2.0: Notes from the sidelines of Satyagraha to Swachhgraha

Bihar has witnessed unprecedented congregation at East Champaran yesterday. 20, 000 Swachhgrahis coming from various states of India and Bihar worked across villages in Bihar for a week during 2-9th and then reached Motihari for the commemoration ceremony. Experts working in sanitation for many decades lauded the efforts of the govt. to bring swachhgrahis out of MIS and registers on the ground.

The sector anecdotes are replete with stories of non existent swachhgrahis terming them Swachhta Boot (Swachhta Ghost) like many other voluteering efforts across many walks of life in India. Under SBM, Swachhta Doot was loosely rechristened as Swachhgrahis and listed.

Everyone talked about them being utilized for sanitation campaingn, but few ever got them going on the ground. The general template for implantation was enrolling, training and getting motivators from among the community with promised incentives, which was tied with toile construction. Interesting contrast- while swachhagarhis were ideally enrolled for changing behaviour their services were utilizsed for accelerating constructions and once construction completed project imagination ends.

“Satyagrah se Swachhgrah” for the first time compelled the system to make those faceless, coded names in website and registers resurrect and walk on the earth with flesh and blood in action. It took a lot of efforts from all state governments to actually see them visiting government offices and rebooting them before they were ready to march to Bihar and in case of Bihar on the ground.

And that also brought the biggest fear which establishment always had have with enrolling any front line workers. Would the worker eventually protest and demand for contractual services or be made permanent? They raised slogans for making their services permanent. If not all, a large section did and their voices could be heard loud from the front row.

PM did not buzz or stop addressing the group despite the demand growing louder and louder. His speech was as inspirational as possible, but left many questions unanswered. Could sanitation would have front line workers as entrenched as we have for ICDS and Health? Could government doesn’t fear the protests of these workers as they have not been for many protests in this country?

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.