SulabhENVIS Newsletter

Women in Urban Slums Steering Innovative Management of Hygiene and Sanitation Issues: A Case Study

Abstract: In 2001, India had sanitation coverage of 36.4 %, urban and rural coverage being 73.7 percent and 21.9 percent respectively1. In fact, the country has been ranked first in the worst places in the world for sanitation as a total number of people lacking sanitation and 20th for sanitation provision as a percentage of population lacking access2. In such a scenario the current case study presents the promising prospect of community sanitation blocks being maintained by women volunteers in Urban Slums of Trichy, a city located in South India. Facilitated by the NGO Gramalaya, these women organised into Self Help Groups and Sanitation & Hygiene Education (SHE) Teams, are managing the community toilets and through the revenue generated they have constructed community halls where hygiene education is provided to community members. It is a case worthy of emulation elsewhere in India and other countries lacking sanitation, whereby women administer sanitation provision for the urban slums and raise revenue for proper maintenance as well as other initiatives for up gradation of the environmental conditions, in effect bettering the quality of life in the slums. Context: This case-study is an attempt to share the experience and lessons learnt from the experiment in the South Indian city of Tiruchirapalli (a.k.a. Trichy) vis-à-vis community sanitation provision in slums. Situated on the banks of the river Cauvery, Trichy is approximately 325 k.m. away from Chennai, the capital of the State of Tamil Nadu. With a population of 7.5 lakhs, Trichy is the fourth largest city in Tamil Nadu. About 25 percent people live in slums.

Urban Slums: Slums have been defined generally as heavily populated urban areas inhabited by poor people and characterized by inferior living conditions, substandard housing and squalor. Though each slum is unique in character, a distinctive feature common to all slums throughout the world is lack of services including water, sanitation, solid waste management, education, healthcare and other essentials for living a decent life. Slums are neglected parts of cities where housing and living conditions are appallingly lacking. Slums range from high density, squalid central city tenements to spontaneous squatter settlements without legal recognition or rights, sprawling at the edge of cities. Some are more than fifty years old; some are land invasions just underway. Slums may be called by various names, Favelas, Kampungs, Tugurios, yet share the same miserable living conditions3. Slums do not have:

• Basic municipal services - water, sanitation, waste collection, storm drainage, street lighting, paved footpaths, roads for emergency access.

• Schools and clinics within reach, safe areas for children to play. • Places for the community to meet and socialize.

Slums are worsening: • As the average age of people in cities is increasing, the average age of slum

dwellers is decreasing, so the youth suffer most from unhealthful conditions. • Visible disparities between slums and better-off neighborhoods increase the

social tensions in poorer areas. • Unplanned growth of settlements makes conventional service provision

complicated. In the Report - The Challenge of Slums – Global Report on Human Settlements, 2003, UN Secretary General Mr. Kofi Annan says that, "Slums represent the worst of urban poverty and inequality4". Sabir Ali gives a comprehensive definition of slums as follows: “Slums can be defined as areas of city, which when studies from the physical standards, appear to be areas with inadequate housing, deficient facilities, over-crowding and congestion and from the sociological perspective are seen as having a way of life and special character which has its own set of norms and values, health practices, deviant behaviour and social isolation and from economic point of view having very low levels of income, low levels of standards of living, lack of education, unemployment, under employment and low paid workers.5”

Sanitation scenario in Trichy: In India, the Urban Local Bodies (ULB’s) are responsible for service provision (water, sanitation, housing etc.) in cities and towns. However, given the huge and rapidly expanding population of the country and proliferating slums and squatter settlements in urban areas, service provision is proving to be a major challenge with each passing day. To overcome this problem, various solutions are emerging, including the Public Private Partnership – PPP model (India is one of the leaders as far as PPP in sanitation provision is concerned – Sulabh International, an NGO provides sanitation to some 10 million people of India; it constructs Community Toilets in collaboration with the respective ULB and maintains them on Pay & Use basis). The case study seeks to describe how a novel sanitation programme is being implemented in Trichy and to draw lessons for further replication in India and abroad. According to the Public Health Department of the Trichy City Corporation there are 335 Public Toilets and 64 Integrated Sanitation complexes (ISP) the details of which are as follows6:

Public Toilets

Details No. of Units No. of Seats Male Female Total

Public Flush out Latrines 303 1,554 1,781 3,335

Pay & Use

Flush out Latrines 32 320 300 620

TOTAL 335 1,974 2,081 3,955

INTEGRATED SANITARY COMPLEXES (Under ISP)

No. of Units No. of Seats (Toilet) No. of Bathrooms

Male Female Children Total Male Female Total

64 620 620 384 1624 192 192 384

Unique initiative: Despite the grim sanitation scenario in India, one can take heart from the fact that pioneering work is being done in the field of awareness and provision of water and sanitation services, albeit on a small scale. Gramalaya: Gramalaya is an NGO established in 1987 working for the amelioration of socially downtrodden people under the integrated development approach. Since, 1987, Gramalaya has been operating in Thottiam and Thathaiengarpet Blocks of Tiruchirappalli District with various development programmes. The mission of the organisation is to encourage oppressed people, especially women and children, to achieve justice, equality and participation in education, health, water and sanitation. Gramalaya's activities involve urban slums health and sanitation improvement programme, health and hygiene education, promotion of Self-help groups among rural and urban women, construction of low-cost house and latrines and micro-credit activities. Other projects include:

o An integrated watershed development programme; o Vermi - composting; o AIDS prevention; o Micro credit and o Housing infrastructure.

Gramalaya works in the slums through a network of WAVE (Women's Action for Village Empowerment) - Federation functioning in the slums of Trichy. The federation is composed of SHE (Sanitation and Hygiene Education) Teams, which themselves are formed by the women self-help groups registered under the Tamil Nadu Corporation for Development of Women. The SHE teams are the main players and the bulk of the responsibility of hygiene and sanitation issues is assigned to them. Besides, they also engage in providing tuitions to slum children for informal education and on solid waste management through the funds collected from the community toilet complexes.

Figure1: Structure for Management of Sanitation in Slums of Trichy

The work of Gramalaya is evenly spread out in urban and rural areas with both being their focus of activities. In urban areas the work concentrates on community sanitation – renovation/ reconstruction of public toilets (connected to sewers) and getting the community involved so that they can manage the toilets independently. Before the sewage treatment system was installed, the public toilets were connected to septic tanks and effluent disposal was entrusted to the Municipal Corporation which due to lack of manpower and vehicles was unable to collect and dispose off the sludge of septic tanks. Around 1995 partial sewerage system was laid in the city and most of the zones were covered. Community toilets were also connected to the sewage system, however the maintenance was still a problem before Gramalaya’s intervention. The idea of community managed public toilets was conceived by Gramalaya in 1999 and implemented in 2001. Till date 37 slums having a population of 35,000 have been declared 100 percent open defecation free slums.

Gramalaya

WAVE Federation 12 Executive members 3 Office bearers

SHE teams

45 teams 3-10 members of SHG

SHGs Trichy city – 300 15-20 members each

Community Centric Approach

Figure2: Gramalaya’s working strategy for sanitation projects

Baseline Survey – Needs Assessment

Group Discussion

Provision of Water & Sanitation

Formation of SHGs + Bank Access

Reconstruction/ provision of additional Sanitation facilities

Corporation installed water supply facilities

Hygiene Practices

Staff Attending SHG Meeting Regularly

Huge involvement & commitment of Gramalaya staff

Hygiene Education: All sanitation projects of Gramalaya incorporate a Hygiene education component. The methodology adopted for hygiene awareness is as follows:

o Door to Door campaigns, o Cultural programmes in slums and schools, o 250 School Health Clubs – where hygiene awareness is provided to children.

Message transfer take place from:

• Child to child • Child to parent • Parent to community

Micro-finance for WATSAN: Gramalaya provides micro-credit to rural households for water connection and construction of, individual toilets. A revolving fund of Rs. 51 Lakhs has been released so far benefiting 920 families through micro-credit in rural areas. Village Water & Sanitation Committees (VWSC) are formed in consultation with the villagers. VWSC members are trained by Gramalaya in composting, hand-pump maintenance, hygiene education and exposure through interaction with other communities and visits to 100 percent sanitised villages. The VSWC is responsible for inviting applications from households for water connections and construction of toilets, scanning the applications and disbursement of funds. Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) Meetings are held regularly where Gramalaya staff is also present and the village folk assess their needs and availability of funds and accordingly decide on how to go forward. For the villagers on-site household toilets cost Rs. 2,500 one-time with no recurring costs; water connections cost Rs. 2,000, one-time (Rs.1000/- as deposited with Panchayat) followed by monthly charges of Rs. 30 per household post connection. For either of these, repayment of credit is done in 12 monthly instalments, and for both water connection and toilet construction, 18 monthly instalments interest @12 percent over and above the principal amount. However in waterlogged areas, toilet construction cost is slightly higher at Rs. 3,500 per toilet. 12 villages with a population of over 9,000 people have been provided sanitation coverage through micro-credit scheme since it was started in 2001. Realizing that household toilets are not revenue generating, the NGO is treading slowing before starting the same in urban areas.

Process for Construction of Water and Sanitation Infrastructure through Micro-Credit.

Discussion with community

Review of existing assets/ resources including

watsan infrastructure. Visit to sites of open

defecation

Enabling environment where villagers are open

to change. Awareness on problems

of open defecation.

Community motivation.

Raising the Question - who is willing to construct toilets.

Applications invited from individual households

Scanning/ processing of applications by VWSC.

Reaching a consensus - based on findings.

VWSC disburses funds to worthy applicants.

To ensure that there is all-round development of women in both rural as well as urban areas; Gramalaya provides skill training to women Self-help Groups in collaboration with the Tamil Nadu Corporation for Development of Women.

Handicrafts

Making Soft toys & Baby beds

Idol making

Catering

Phenyl & Bleaching Powder

Masala

powders

Sanitary napkin

production

Milk

products

Foot-mat Making

Beautician Training

Gem

Cutting

Skill Training to

SHGs

SHE Teams SHE (Sanitation and Hygiene Education) Teams formed by Gramalaya from existing members of the Self Help groups take upon the responsibility of the slum sanitation and hygiene particularly through management of community toilets on pay & use basis, maintaining account books, disbursing salaries to the cleaners and watchman and putting the earnings to beneficial use viz. provision of asbestos roofs, gates or a water sump in the community toilet, furniture in the caretaker’s room (table, chair, fan, almirah) and construction of community halls etc. SHE team members are basically responsible for upkeep of the community toilet through collection of user charge, which is generally 50 Paise (0.01 US$ approx) per toilet use. The SHE teams were formed first in 1999 by Gramalaya and have since been active in implementation of hygiene and sanitation programmes including the Healthy Slums Healthy City Project. At the end of every month, the SHE-Team and Women Self-Help Group convene a meeting and to tell members the income and expenditure for each particular community toilet. The balance - after meeting various expenses such as salaries and cleaning material like bleaching powder, soaps and phenol etc. is kept in the bank. The surplus is put into a common fund towards health and sanitation related activities in the slum, providing such things as street taps, domestic drains, garbage bins and street lights7. Healthy Slums Healthy City Project This project is about Gramalaya’s scheme to make the city of Trichy 100 percent sanitised by the year 2008. Beginning in March 2005 this 3-year project envisages providing full sanitation coverage in 186 recognised slums of the city which have a population of roughly 1.65 lakhs. The project is funded by WaterAid. It is an exceptional scheme being tried for the first time in India and probably the entire developing world. Gramalaya believes it’s an achievable target. The NGO is soliciting requisite support from the City Corporation for provision/ appropriate renovation of public toilet facilities. Gramalaya already has the IEC material for supporting the project and would soon start the micro-credit loan scheme. The SHE teams would play the role of motivating people to use toilets and advocate the cause for achievement of the target. Once 100 percent sanitation coverage is achieved in slums of Trichy through the Healthy Slums Healthy City Project, Gramalaya would move on to neighbouring districts of Thanjavur and Madurai.

Methodology: Self-Help Groups: The Tamil Nadu Corporation for Development of Women (TNCDW) has devised a facilitative approach through Self Help groups which endeavours to:

• Build capacity of NGOs for supporting entreneurship amongst women • Training in business management for women. • Skill upgradation for women.

The mission of the TNCDW is to build capacity of poor and disadvantaged women in order that they are enabled to cross all social and economic barriers, thereby facilitating their full development into empowered citizens8. In Trichy district, some 2,000 SHGs have been formed since 1990 when the first groups were formed in rural areas of the district followed by SHG formation in urban areas in 1999. Strategy for Poor Women & SHGs9:

• Development of strong, cohesive, Self-help Women Groups, through inculcation of the spirit of Mutual Help, Self-help and team spirit.

• Reduced vulnerability to crisis by inculcating habit of regular savings. • Getting out of money-lender’s clutches, by regular savings & internal rotation

of savings. • Increased asset-base and income, through access to inexpensive and timely

credit. • Improved access to vital credit for economic activities by making SHGs credit

worthy and bankable. • Making SHGs credit worthy by making SHGs adopt principles of financial

discipline (of timely savings and prompt loan repayments). • Financial self sufficiency and sustainability by building up of SHG corpus and

building ability to meet SHGs costs on their own, over a period of time. • Increased access and control over resources at household level through income-

generating activities and access to credit. • Increased access to financial resources through linking and encouraging need-

based tapping of alternate credit delivery systems - like NGO funds, HDFC housing loans, etc.

• Improved access of SHG members to various governmental, development schemes and bank credit, by forging sustainable linkages of SHGs with banks, Govt. departments, etc.

• Self-confidence building and improved communication skills through training, increased mobility, exposure & collective action.

• • •

•

• Increasing Social Awareness, through motivation, intermingling, networking,

exposure and participation in Social Action/Reformation Programmes. • Improved Status of women in the family and society, through access to credit,

increased control over resources, improved skills and collective action. • Bringing out hidden talents by constant motivation and providing opportunities • Improved opportunities for self development by breaking social & cultural

barriers and inhibitions; • Improvement in Health and Family Welfare, through awareness, training and

exposure. • Improved Functional Literacy through training, exposure and practice. • Awareness of Legal rights and legal aid access, through networking & training. • Overall leadership development, through exposure to SHG management by

conscious rotation of responsibilities. • Change from worker status to worker-manager status, by motivating them to

assume control over their lives. • Development of business competence, through enterpreneurship training,

facilitating participation in exhibitions, collective negotiation/bargaining, facilitate emergence of structures like marketing unions and dissemination of information on markets.

• Enable access the power of collective action through formation of Womens’ Federations at various levels.

• High degree of self-reliance through building of capacity of women to handle administration of SHG affairs on their own.

• Greater participation and decision-making in local democratic institutions like Panchayats through participation in Graama Sabhas initially and perhaps by some becoming elected representatives later.

Benefits for Community and Village - through ripple effect:

• Spread of the spirit of self-help and team spirit among all other villagers. • Higher Social Capital - due to increased and active participation of women in

local development through collective action. • Model effect, wherein other poor women begin to form similar groups seeing

the success of the older SHGs. • Improved health and family welfare, through better awareness. • Better Education for children and Literacy due to increased awareness. • Knowledge of various welfare programmes of Government and banks in villages. • Voicing and acting against social injustices and violence against women and

children. • Economic development due to better economic status of families. • Environment consciousness and conservation of natural resources through

increased awareness. • Communal harmony, caste harmony through formation of mixed caste SHGs. • Eradication of evils of alcohol and dowry, through community action mobilised

by SHGs.

View of the Child-friendly Toilets

Maintenance & Management Most of the community toilet complexes in slums had been constructed by the Trichy City Corporation in the 1970’s and 80’s. These were in a dilapidated state, left unused before the intervention of Gramalaya in 1999. The community preferred to go out for defecation in the open instead of using the complexes because of the lack of maintenance. This scenario is common throughout India in public toilets located near slums, that don’t levy a user charge for maintenance. Introduced in 1974 by Sulabh International, in Patna – the ‘Pay for Use’ concept has become extremely popular with Urban Local Bodies in India. Gramalaya has used the pay for use concept though, modifying the management aspect – such that it is in the hands of the SHE teams formed from within the slum community. Gramalaya, through its SHE teams has demonstrated successfully that implementation of slum sanitation and hygiene can be done by the community members; also it has the distinction of leading the campaign which has made many slums in Trichy achieve 100% sanitation coverage. Kalmandhai in Trichy was the first slum in India declared completely free of open defecation.

Successful Cases: Kalmandhai: On 11th June’ 2002, Kalmandhai was officially declared the first 100% sanitised slum of the country by Tiruchirapalli City Corporation Commissioner. Pre 1999, three-fourth of the slum dwellers used to defecate in the open. In 1999 Gramalaya started work in this slum and organised formation of SHE teams. Mrs. Elangiam, the President of the WAVE Federation belongs to this slum. She along with Ms. Parvathi, another resident of this slum came forward to maintain the complex and have been instrumental in motivating other residents to pay and use the complex. Parvathi is presently a co-signatory of the SHE team account along with Elangiam, President, WAVE Federation. The user charges of 50 Paise per use, was decided by the SHGs during community meetings. The old, infirm and people with disabilities are allowed to use the facilities for free. The Kalmandhai slum toilet complex is open 24 hours a day, manned by 2 caretakers working 12-hour shifts. The caretaker is paid a sum of Rs. 40 per day (revised from the earlier Rs. 30 per day). All members of the SHG take turns working as the caretaker on the complex.

Kalmandhai Slum Public Toilet

Male Female Fee/ Charge per use

Construction Cost borne by

Comments

Toilet Seats 17 10 50 Paisa WaterAid

Bathing Cubicles

5 5 3 Rs. WaterAid

Urinal 1 1 Free SHE team

SHE team funds used for renovation. Community centre being constructed by SHE team funds (Cost - Rs. 1.2 lakh approx.)

CFT* 5 (Boys) 5 (Girls) Free WaterAid

SHE team paid for tiling of CFTs*

* Child Friendly Toilet

Some 1200 users are serviced by the public toilet, which makes it economically viable. The greater number of users is due to the vegetable and banana markets near the slum. Only 20 - 30 people bathe daily in the toilet complex, that too if water is available, with the available water being first used to clean the toilets. Of late the savings from the complex have come down because the community has to foot the electricity bill which was earlier paid by the Municipal Corporation. Social Issues: Dry toilets were in use in the slum till 1998-99 and these were manually cleaned by scavengers which resulted in unhygienic conditions. The residents decided to renovate the existing public toilet realizing that it would be cheaper and more hygienic. It was a community initiative and the male members were generally supportive of the idea. The community members feel that sanitation and healthcare are two urgent priorities in urban slums. Impact: The community members believe that if the cost of construction can be paid for by the Municipal Corporation or some other funding agency, the public toilet can be viable through the nominal charge levied per use. The community is also willing to repay micro-credit for water and sanitation services. They are further motivating their relatives in adjacent slums and rural areas to build and use sanitation facilities. The residents of Kalmandhai have observed the improvement in health conditions post-2000, when they started using the community toilet. Viragupettai: The public toilet in Viragupettai, another 100 percent sanitised slum is dotted with trees and plants which give it a green look. The slum is home to some 77 families with a population of 500. A community hall costing approximately Rs. 2.0 lakh has been constructed (in 2002) within the toilet premises by the SHE team funds. The community hall is used to impart training on solid waste management to the SHE team members.

Viragupettai Slum Public Toilet

Male Female Fee/ Charge per use

Construction Cost borne by

Comments

Toilet Seats 15 10 50 Paisa WaterAid

Bathing Cubicles

5 - 3 Rs. WaterAid

Urinal - - Free SHE team

SHE team funds used for

renovation. Community

centre being constructed by SHE team funds (Cost - Rs. 1.2 lakh approx.)

CFT* 5 (Boys) 5 (Girls) Free WaterAid

SHE team paid for tiling of

CFTs* * Child Friendly Toilet The Community toilet in Viragupettai was constructed in 2001 January with support from WaterAID after demolishing the existing structure. It is used by some 900 people daily. Two cleaners have been employed to keep the toilets clean and they are paid Rs. 40 per day. Training on solid waste management – comprising lessons on segregation of biodegradable and non-biodegradable components, recycling and reuse and composting to produce manure, is imparted to the SHE team members by Gramalaya staff. Classes on environmental impacts of proper solid waste management are accompanied by essentials of hygiene practices to avoid contracting diseases while handling waste. Mrs. Asha, secretary of the WAVE Federation recounts the difficulties faced initially. No one came forward to contribute in construction/ maintenance of the toilet despite sincere efforts of Gramalaya staff. Door to door education led to 1 SHG becoming active and with its involvement through persistent motivation and hygiene awareness, the construction of the toilet could be commenced. In the consequent six month period other groups were formed and they soon became actively involved in the movement.

Social Issues: Viragupettai used to be as unhygienic a place as any other slum in Trichy. Women being the worst sufferers of the appalling conditions were interested in the Gramalaya scheme of community managed sanitation. The men were initially unconvinced and opposed to the scheme particularly since the City Commissioner has issued the directive that, only women SHG’s would maintain the community toilets. The users also comprised mostly women in the initial phase post construction of the toilet and the men followed later seeing the well maintained and clean toilets. Impact: Today the toilet is a verdant community centre. The male dominated mindset caused opposition from the young men to pay charge for using the toilet with reluctant change setting in later due to space constraint for defecation in the open. Regular meetings for discussions on accounting the funds and using the balance for slum welfare activities in concurrence with the sanitation & hygiene promotion activities of the SHE teams have induced 28 families to install household toilets with WaterAID support. The cost of individual toilets comes to about Rs. 3,500 with connection of the sewer line being Rs. 2,000 which is deposited with the City Corporation; another Rs. 1,000 is given by Gramalaya as subsidy which covers the construction costs and Rs. 300 has to be paid to the city administration as a one-time tax. Kamala Nehru Nagar: The public toilet in the Kamala Nehru Nagar slum is an Integrated Sanitary Complexes (under ISP) constructed with the aid of Tamil Nadu Urban Development Ministry and World Bank support. Five hundred families inhabit the slum which has a population of over 2,000. Number of users of the ISP varies between 400 to 500 daily. This is due to the fact that half of the slum dwellers have individual toilets in their homes. The earnings from the slum are used to pay two cleaners one male and female each, a remuneration of Rs. 1,200 per month besides the Rs. 40 per day paid to the caretaker. A watchman whose salary is Rs. 500 per month has also been appointed to prevent loss of fixtures (both through theft and breakages) installed in the ISP.

Kamala Nehru Nagar Slum Public Toilet

Male Female Fee/ Charge per

use

Construction Cost borne by

Comments

Toilet Seats 20 16 50 Paisa World Bank and TNUDP

Bathing Cubicles

9 6 3 Rs. World Bank and TNUDP

Urinal - - Free World Bank

Washing (clothes) Stones

3

3

Free

World Bank

SHE team funds used providing asbestos roof, gate, water

sump,

2 persons appointed for sweeping the

streets @ Rs. 1,200 p.m.

Bimonthly electricity charges of Rs. 7,000 paid by SHE funds.

Caretakers Room

1

- World Bank furniture for the caretakers room –

chair, table, fan and almirah bought by

SHE funds. CFT* 3 (Boys) 3 (Girls) Free World Bank

* Child Friendly Toilet Social issues: The relatively low number of users of this public toilet has stimulated the residents of this slum to think in terms of the future when the number of users would further decrease as more and more households get toilets constructed in their homes. For income generation in future when resources from the ISP usage plummet, the women have decided to put up small shops selling milk, cosmetics, toiletries and other consumables. The Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board has taken an initiative in this regard by providing small metal booths from which these petty shops can be run.

Impact: The ISP provided for a cleaner neighbourhood and it led a number of households to make toilets in their homes. User charge from the ISP was used to cover expenses for sweeping of the streets. The innate capacity of the hitherto marginalised slum women to maintain the ISP, earn a sustainable profit and make provision for alternative sources of income in future was enabled by the interaction of these slum residents with the Gramalaya team and also the hard work of the SHE teams.

Child Friendly Toilets (CFTs): Child friendly toilets have been innovated by Gramalaya for easy usage by children upto the age of 6 years. The children squat on open holes which are connected to a sewer through a drain. Children sit adjacent to each other either facing one another or in a line. The boundary walls of the CFTs are covered in drawings/ illustrations which are colourful and convey messages of hygiene and cleanliness in the local language. Boy's and girl's sections are separate and have independent entrances. A water tub for flushing the excreta and a washbasin with soap is provided for washing hands. Use of the CFT is free of cost with soap and other cleaning materials being purchased from the earnings. The CFT can be seen as an effective strategy to put an end to roadside defecation by children in urban slums. Also the idea of using a proper toilet and washing hands with soap after defecation instils in children from the beginning a sense of personal hygiene and they can be expected to strive to construct individual toilets in their homes once they grow up and become earning members of the family. This would also solve the problem of pigs, mosquitoes, flies and other insects which can be found in abundance in places where open defecation is the norm.

Achievements: The project is distinctive in terms of it’s:

• Gender sensitive approach: women are managing all aspects of sanitation provision from toilet maintenance to financial supervision and reuse of earnings for slum welfare activities. Cooperative action and financial independence has given women confidence and decision making power within the community and their homes. On the whole, the project has led to empowerment of slum women.

• Management through SHE teams: management of public toilets is being done

entirely by the SHE teams which comprise of slum women. Gramalaya’s role is only of a facilitator in the entire process enabling the community to manage the funds, keep the toilets running and training them in various vocations. It is for the first time such an initiative has been successfully tried with promising results.

• Overall community involvement: since the users in the two public toilets in

Kalmandhai and Viragupettai are greater than the population of these slums, it can be safely assumed that almost the entire community is using the public toilets. Besides the residents of the slum, hawkers and vendors from vegetable and fruit markets in the vicinity also use the toilets. The large number of toilet users indicates that the community is a willing partner in the project.

• Focus on hygiene education: central to all projects taken up by Gramalaya on

water and sanitation is the focus on hygiene education, the Healthy Slums Healthy City project is no exception.

• Child Friendly Toilets: keeping in mind the special needs of children, squatting

holes in a row (with a low separating wall between girls and boys section) directly connected to sewer have been provided by Gramalaya. Developed to promote toilet habits among children at an early age, these toilets are open to sky with colourful pictures and illustrations drawn on the side walls.

• Replication Factors: the Gramalaya approach of community based organisations

taking charge of sanitation issues of their neighbourhood is easily replicable in other places as is being done by the organisation first within the city of Trichy and then expanding to nearby cities once Trichy achieves 100 percent coverage. Involvement of the community leads to the slum residents in turn motivating their relatives in other slums/ nearby villages to adopt hygienic sanitation practices. Word to mouth spreading of messages is a strong medium for motivation to inculcate toilet culture among the hitherto un-served masses. Community right to manage funds and transparency in handling of money leads to a sense of camaraderie and team spirit which augers well for long term harmony and prosperity within the community.

Lessons Learnt:

• Sanitation in slums is achievable: One of the main reasons for inadequate sanitation facilities in urban slums is the inability of the ULB’s to engage people in the virtuous cycle of – community interaction – reduced social tensions – women empowerment – better environment through improved sanitation – better quality of life. Financial resources available with the Municipalities cannot cater to the haphazardly located burgeoning slum populations.

The achievement of 100 percent sanitation in a number of slums of Trichy and the target of covering all 186 recognised slums in the city by 2008, is an ambitious target Gramalaya has set for itself. Nevertheless, the SHE team volunteer’s fully sanitised slums were confident of achieving the target. Starting from Kalmandhai in June 2002, the approach of having women in charge of the community sanitation and hygiene issues has been found to be replicable and sustainable. The role of Gramalaya and the State Government is also commendable, and the same methodology can be applied for slum sanitation in other areas which have committed NGO’s like Gramalaya with the backing of a proactive State/ Local Government.

• Women’s participation essential for success: since women suffer the most as a

consequence of lack of services, they are relatively more enthusiastic than men, to participate in service provision programmes. Given proper support, education, impetus and direction they can be good managers not only of the tasks assigned to them, but also judging the prevailing conditions to decide the future course of action. In Kamala Nehru Nagar slum, the women gauged that with more money in their pockets the majority of residents of their slum would own toilets in the near future. To compensate the loss of revenue from toilet usage, they intend to start small shops for generating additional resources.

• Public toilets not a bad idea after all: The Draft National Slum Policy of the

Government of India advocates provision of communal toilets for few adjacent households while shunning public toilets. The Draft Policy states, “ULBs should avoid constructing community latrines within slum/informal settlements as these quickly degenerate on account of poor operations and maintenance (O&M) thus becoming counter productive to public health. Where there is insufficient space for individual sanitation options (mostly where on-site disposal systems have to be adopted) group or cluster latrines with clearly demarcated and agreed household responsibility for O & M may be a suitable alternative option.” The Gramalaya experience proves that adequate involvement of community and training in maintenance of public toilets and

earning from user charge is a sustainable idea. It also generates tremendous confidence among women to partake in slum welfare and day-to-day decision making.

Fieldwork: Findings based on interviews and site visit by SulabhENVIS during December 15-16, 2005. Interviews:

Gramalaya: 1. Mrs. J. Geetha, Executive Director, Gramalaya 2. Mr. Paul Sathianathan, Project Officer

Urban Slums: Kalmandhai, Viragupettai, Kamala Nehru Nagar:

1. Mrs. Elangiam, President , WAVE Federation 2. Mrs. Asha, Secretary, WAVE Federation 3. Mrs. Parvathi, SHE team leader 4. Mrs. Eshwari, SHE team member 5. Mrs. Shanmugavalli, SHE team member 6. Mrs. Panchavarnam, SHE team member

ENVIS Centre on Hygiene, Sanitation, Sewage Treatment Systems & Technology.

Website: www.sulabhenvis.in, www.sulabhenvis.nic.in

Editors: Vikram Rajola, Sr. Programme Officer Kumar Rajnish, Information Scientist Bharat Bhushan Gupta, Web Administrator Madhu Sharma, Data Entry Operator

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