02 context attributes

CONTEXT ATTRIBUTESimpacting the quality of sanitation in urban slums

UX Research on Sanitation in Urban India | Quicksand | August 2010

ROLE OF WOMEN

What is the voice of women in creation, administration and management of

sanitation infrastructure for the community?

Women united

For women, by women

Women without a voice1 A

2

What are the obvious and non obvious triggers for people to come together?

Building communities to become self-sufficient

Crises that unite people

Temporality which has left people listless

TRIGGERS FOR COLLECTIVE ACTION H

G

3

What is the modality of maintenance and managing operations at the facility?

Maintainance by a private contractor

Maintainance by a civil society

Maintainance by community

MANAGED SANITATION SERVICES

E

I

D

Is there evidence of the community taking charge of their sanitation infrastructure?

Collective measures which keep things going

To each his own

Shrug it off

ACCOUNTABILITY & OWNERSHIP OF SHARED SANITATION FACILITY

4

Have there been a shifts in the behavior of the community as a whole towards

sanitation?

Out with the old

Indifference to status quo

Fight the new

CHANGEIN BEHAVIOR

5

H

C

What is the sense of permanence that a community has with respect to housing and

tenancy?

We are here to stay

Here today, gone tomorrow

We are waiting for the big shift

PERMANENCE OF SITUATION

6 G

7

SPECIAL USER GROUP

D

ROLE OF WOMENWhat priority is given to special user groups (such as women, children and the elderly) in relation to sanitation?

By the people

For the people

Against the people

ACCESS TO SERVICES

RELATED TO SANITATION

What is the community’s ability to access services on demand (such as cleaning, water, repair etc)?

“The govt. is prompt when we complain”

“What governance??”8

SANITATION DENSITY

C

G

What is the burden of population on existing sanitation facilities?

One to few

One to many

No toilets 9

What is the community’s awareness of sanitation schemes, organizations or interventions?

Everyone identifies with development efforts

A few identify with development efforts

What development efforts?

AWARENESS

10

E

C

What is the degree of heterogeneity or homogeneity of a community?

Highly heterogeneous community

Mixed community

Highly homogenous community

COMPOSITION OF A

COMMUNITY

11

What is the level or ease of access the community has to sanitation facilities?

Embedded within community

Located on the periphery

Have no access to facilities

A

ACCESS TO SANITATION

FACILITIES

12

IJANTA CHAWL,

MUMBAI

JKHODIYAR NAGAR,

AHMEDABAD

DMIRZAPUR,

AHMEDABAD

CPEENYA,

BANGALORE

A PRITAMPURA,

DELHI

BZAMRUDHPUR,

DELHI

EHAPPY COLONY,

PUNE

FRAM TEKDI,

PUNE

GMATHIKERE,

BANGALORE

HGOVANDI,

MUMBAI

This infographic represents Context Attrubutes (1-12) which impact the quality of sanitation in urban slums in India. These attributes were distilled from the synthesis of visit 01 (Location selection). They represent a potential correlation with the state of sanitation in a location. Each attribute is described by way of case studies and the final locations (A-J) represent some of these context attributes.

1 ROLE OF WOMENWhat is the voice of women in creation, administration and management of sanitation infrastructure for the community?

Women united - Parvati, Pune: Women from the Mahila Milan do everything from starting saving groups (Bachat Yojna) to surveying land for making new toilets to building and maintaining them. They believe that by setting examples in different communities all over Pune, they might be able to address the plight that women suffer when they have no access to sanitation facilities.

For women, by women - Kashiwadi, Pune: An older toilet in the Kashiwadi slum that has a single access was converted into an women-only toilet as they didn’t want to share the facility with men. This is one of the only facilities where we found a woman caretaker (from the community) who is responsible for collecting money, buying cleaning supplies, cleaning and maintaining the place.

A Women without a voice - GP Block, Pitampura, Delhi: There is no provision for bathing at the community toilet. While the men bathe in the open there are no covered spaces for women to bathe. There is no women’s organization in the community putting forward proposals to meet the needs or alleviate the plight and poor conditions facing women living in the slum.

2 TRIGGERS FOR COLLECTIVE ACTIONWhat are the obvious and non obvious triggers for people to come together?

H Building communities to become self sufficient - Govandi, Mumbai: SPARC’s ‘modus operandi’ is to engage certain parts of a community and

equip them with the knowledge to make them self sufficient. In Govandi they formed a local Mandal (an administrative division) comprising enthusiastic and challenged community members, who were instrumental in getting a new toilet built and for the subsequent running and maintenance of the toilet facility.

Crises that unite people - Sakalchand Mukhini Chali, Ahmedabad: Residents living next to an unkempt public toilet came together and went to the local district court to compel the Ahmedabad Municipal corporation into maintaining the facility.

G Temporality which has left people listless – Matikere, Bangalore: The people who were recently moved to the slum under the flyover by force are not able to band together to approach the MLA (A Member of the Legislative Assembly, elected by the voters) or the slum board to advance their relocation and there have been only sporadic efforts by individual to make somethings happen with little or no effect.

3 MANAGED SANITATION SERVICESWhat is the modality of maintenance and managing operations at the facility?

Maintenance by a private contractor - Babrekar Nagar, Kandivali and Jogeshwari, Mumbai: are 2 of the many toilets that are run completely by a private contractor for profit, such that the caretaker and all expenses for keeping the place running (cleaning, maintenance, electricity and water bills) are paid for by the contractor.

E Maintenance by a civil society - Chouhan Basti, Happy Colony, Karvenagar, Pune: The SPARC toilet in Chouhan Basti has a caretaker that has been hired by the NGO. The money collected by the

monthly pass system goes towards his salary and maintenance costs. SPARC employs these caretakers and gives them a space to live above the community toilet block as an incentive. This is a model used in most of their toilets in Mumbai and Pune.

Maintenance by the community - Bora ka Roza, Ahmedabad: Bora ka Roza is a small community, that lies on the periphery of the railway tracks. The residents of the area have a 4 seat community toilet block (2 -men, 2-women) that is maintained and run by themselves.

4 ACCOUNTABILITY AND OWNERSHIP OF COMMONLY SHARED SANITATION FACILITYIs there evidence of the community taking charge of their sanitation infrastructure?

I Collective measures which keep things going - Janta Chawl, Bandra, Mumbai: There are 2 MHADA (Maharashtra Housing And Development Authority) built toilets in this small Chawl (a type of building found in commonly in Mumbai. They are often 4 to 5 stories with about 10 to 20 tenements) in Bandra that are currently not being maintained by the BMC (Bombay Municipal Corporation). The residents of the area clean the toilet by themselves and keep the booths under lock and key. Every household has a key to the toilet booth, to keep the cleanliness under control.

To each his own - Gosavi Basti, Karvenagar, Pune: Residents of the Basti (A slum, usually congested with high population density) have been against the construction of a new, better pay-and-use toilet in place of the broken down existing PMC (Pune Municipal Corporation) toilet. When the toilet gets really filthy, people clean the toilet for themselves or hire a cleaner and continue using it till conditions worsen again.

CONTEXT ATTRIBUTES AND ASSOCIATED CASE STUDIES


D Shrug it off - Mirzapur, Ahmedabad: The community toilets in Mirzapur were one of the most poorly maintained toilet facilities we witnessed. Children defecate outside the toilet block, while adults tread the feces and go into the dirtier toilets. A major complaint from the community is the lack of basic toilet etiquette by women and their sanitary habits.

5 CHANGE IN BEHAVIORHave there been a shifts in the behavior of the community as a whole towards sanitation?

H Out with the old - Govandi, Gautamnagar, Mumbai: Irritated residents from Govandi who were unhappy with the current state of their community toilet, filed a complaint with the Municipal Corporation and after a year of petitioning got the BMC to rebuild a newer bigger toilet for the expanding community.

C Indifference to status quo - Ashwathpura Slum, Peenya: The residents of the slum, since first settling here 30 years ago, have had open defecation as the only available sanitation option. Recently they have been forced to look for new options as the space is under threat but rather than look for a new and better alternative they are simply looking for new open spaces to defecate in.

Fight the new - Gosavi Basti, Karve Nagar, Pune: The older inhabitants of Gosavi Basti still go to a broken down PMC toilet even though a newer and cleaner community toilet has been constructed in the neighbouring cluster. They prefer not to use the new toilet as they don’t like the residents of that area and continue to suffer.

6 PERMANENCE OF SITUATION What is the sense of permanence that a community has with respect to housing and tenancy?

We are here to stay - Vivekananda Colony & Pucca houses in Timber Layout, Bangalore: These are communities that have ownership over the land on which their houses are built, with the result that they have proper electricity and water meters and can easily avail themselves of government schemes like construction of private toilets & renovation of housing structures upon submission of ownership papers.

Here today, gone tomorrow - Lohiya Nagar, Pune: The residents of Lohiya Nagar have been living in poorly constructed houses for a while. They hope to get relocated to one of the newly constructed Relocation Housing Programs. Since none of them know when it is going to happen (right now only residents from collapsed homes are being relocated) they are living in a state of suspension.

G We are waiting for the big shift – Matikere, Bangalore: The residents have been relocated to accommodations under the the flyover provided by the BBMP, with an assurance that the residents will be given land elsewhere for the construction of permanent houses. Since a loose time frame of 6 months has been defined, the community collectively feels “In-Transit” thus contributing to their apathy.

7 SPECIAL USER GROUPSWhat priority is given to special user groups (such as women, children and the elderly) in relation to sanitation?

By the people - Vivekananda Colony: Since the

public toilets have a total of 8 seats, the women and children of the community use these and the men defecate next to the railway tracks.

For the people - Ahmedabad, Mumbai & Pune: Community toilets provide free access to women and kids whereas the men have to pay-for-use. Although it is a good move to incentivize use for both the user groups, and women do benefit from it, children mostly defecate right outside the homes as their parents feel they are too young to go to the toilet alone.

D Against the people - Mirzapur, Ahmedabad: Children are bullied by hurried morning commuters into defecating outside the toilet block.

8 ACCESS TO SERVICES RELATED TO SANITATIONWhat is the community’s ability to access services on demand (such as cleaning, water, repair etc)?

“The govt. is prompt when we complain” - Chouhan Basti, Karve Nagar, Pune: In Chouhan basti, the PMC toilet is cleaned by a caretaker hired by them. The cleaner is supposed to clean the toilet block everyday but often doesn’t turn up. When the condition of toilets become really bad the residents complain to the local counsellor and within the next 1 or 2 days the issue is taken care of. This has almost become a regular cycle of events for the residents of this community.

“What governance??” - Yamuna Basti, Delhi: This is an illegal settlement on the banks of Yamuna. The government doesn’t provide services such as sewage, electricity etc. The residents also are wary about approaching the authorities and demanding services because of the fear of their illegal settlement getting demolished.



9 SANITATION DENSITYWhat is the burden of population on existing sanitation facilities?

G One to few - Mathikere, Bangalore: In this temporary settlement of 43 houses, the government has made one toilet and bathroom for every eight homes. These toilets are separated from the housing by a street and are completely free to use.

One to many - Sudamapuri, Modinagar, Delhi: Within this slum of 500+ homes, there is only 1 community toilet with 15 stalls that is run operated by a NGO. It is a pay-per-use toilet and does not have a pass system.

C No toilets - Peenya, Bangalore: In this settlement, there are 300+ homes out of which 150+ are brick houses with land registration, electricity meters provided by the government etc. However, there is NO community toilet that caters to this community - government or otherwise.

10 AWARENESS What is the community’s awareness of sanitation schemes, organizations or interventions?

Everyone identifies with development efforts - Ramapir No Tekdo, Ahmedabad: is a large slum which was initially a colony of destitute ragpickers. It was transformed when a Gandhian based community center, Manav Sadhna shifted their location there and started developmental activities to improve living conditions. The community’s sense of confidence seems evident when you speak to the residents there- they proudly show their re-built homes, individual toilets and the school that runs in the heart of the slum.

A few identify with development efforts - Parvati, Pune: When we asked the residents of Parvati, who built the toilet blocks in their community they shrugged it off saying maybe it was the govt. whereas it was built by the Mahila Milan and SPARC. Even though they engage the people while building the toilets, only a handful of the involved members of the community are aware of if.

What development efforts? - Swatantra Nagar, Bangalore: While a toilet was being built by an NGO, WSUP (Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor) on the periphery of the slum, the community was unable to identify or relate with the organisation and effort being made. They were passive observers to the new development.

11 COMPOSITION OF A COMMUNITY What is the degree of heterogeneity or homogeneity of a community?

Highly heterogeneous community - Vatsalatai Nagar, Mumbai: This is a slum that is a mix of commercial establishments (low cost manufacturing, garbage sorting business) and slum housing. A large majority of the residents are new migrants (this slum is sort of a transit base - it is low cost even for Mumbai - and people may move out as they become “settled” in Mumbai). It was noted that the community sanitation facility here does not evoke any sense of responsibility from the residents.

C Mixed community - Happy Colony Slum, Pune: This slum comprises of at least two distinct groups: “old residents” and “new residents”. There is limited mingling between these groups (even though their housing is adjacent). There are two community toilets - 1 each on the periphery of the

housing of these groups. We witnessed people using only the toilets in “their” area.

E Highly homogeneous community - Ashwathpura Slum, Peenya: All the residents in the community are from from one of three districts Gulbarg, Raichur or Yagiri, all of which are in Karnataka.

12 ACCESS TO SANITATION FACILITIES What is the level or ease of access the community has to sanitation facilities?

Embedded within community - Jogeshwari, Mumbai: There are two community toilets (1 by SPARC and another by Janseva) that are right in the middle of the slum. Both of these toilets are relatively well maintained. The community is actively involved in maintaining the toilet and contributes funds on its own for upkeep.

A Located on the periphery - GP Block, Pitampura, Delhi: This slum of 1500+ houses in Delhi has 3 distinct community sanitation facilities all located on the periphery of the slum. People choose the sanitation facility they use based on proximity and the state of maintenance. These facilities are seen as “dirty” places to be and residents take no ownership for the upkeep of these facilities.

Have no access to facility - Yamuna Basti, Delhi: This illegal slum on the banks of the Yamuna river in Delhi, doesn’t have any community sanitation facility (free or paid). Most people defecate in the open on the banks of the river.



02 context attributes

Documents