WASH Transformation Engineering - FORCE

Volume1 - March 2014 Clean WASH CASE STUDIES – Set 1 w w w. fo rce. o rg. i n

BLUEbank Knowledge Sharing Series

Case Studies in

‘WASH’ TRANSFORMATION ENGINEERING For Raising Standards Of Water, Sanitation And Hygiene In Settlements Of Urban Poor

F O R C E

Compiled by

with support from

Special Thanks to ‘Anete Jekabsone’ for her support in compiling the Case Studies

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INDEX Chapter No.

Title

Page No.

1

Introduction

4

2

Wash Transformation Engineering Process

5

3

Case Study 1 – CTC Monitoring

10

STEP 4 – Gap Analysis

STEP 7 – Follow up, persistence and paperwork

STEP 10 – Policy linkages

4

Case Study 2 – Making a Community Garbage Free

14

STEP 5 – Roadmap for plugging gaps

STEP8 – Positive Reinforcement and planning for sustainability

STEP 9 - Innovation and livelihood linkages

5

Case Study 3 – Water Management in Harijan Basti

22

Step3-Resource mapping – Mapping Factual, Positive and Negative resources 6

Case Study 4 – In-Situ Sewage Treatment – Israel Camp

26

STEP 6 – Creating Win- Win solutions through root cause analysis

STEP 9 –Innovation and livelihood linkages

STEP 7 – Follow up, persistence and paperwork

7

Case Study 5 - Naari Nirmal Awaas Samiti Mahasangh & Women’s ‘WASH’ Self Help Groups

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Step 1 – Identifying The Right Community Leaders

8

Step 2 – Capacity Building & Empowerment

Annexure – About FORCE

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CHAPTER 1

Introduction Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) – A basic need Access to safe water and sanitation is a fundamental human need and therefore basic right and essential to life, health and dignity. According to the UN, around 1,6 million deaths per year can be attributed to the water-borne or sanitation related diseases – far more than lives taken by war, terrorism and mass destruction weapons combined. The World Health Organization has concluded that each dollar spent on the improvement of water, sanitation and waste management, would result in 3 to 34 dollars worth benefits, as water and sanitation issues are very closely linked to good health, access to education, reduction of poverty and strengthened equality within the society.

FORCE – WASH For The Urban Poor FORCE Works on the premise that small investments in a clean, safe source of water and adequate sanitation and waste management services can go a long way to improve the overall environment and well-being of the community. While working on our projects for the urban poor, we have seen how, such investments have not only helped communities live better lives in a healthier environment but also provided additional livelihood and empowerment- especially for women.

However, all this is possible only when WASH projects are implemented such that the required facilities and capacities are made available to communities in a time bound fashion. FORCE has framed a ‘WASH TRANSFORMATION ENGINEERING (WTE) Process’ that enables provision of effective, sustainable and community led WASH solutions.

This Case Studies Compilation examines FORCE’s – WASH TRANSFORMATION ENGINEERING (WTE) process. This is a theoretical framework for Replicable WASH transformation in urban poor Communities, developed by FORCE based on the experiential learning from implementation of WASH projects. Through snippets from projects carried out by FORCE, this Compilation gives insight into the key steps to follow in order to achieve success in WASH transformation, even with small financial contributions.

FORCE continues to strive to understand the complex issues of access to water and sanitation in communities across the country. We strongly believe that knowledge sharing, promotion of new innovative models and joint advocacy can transform society. The current Case Study Compilation for WASH TRANSFORMATION ENGINEERING (WTE) is one step in this direction.

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Developed by FORCE. Copyright applied for.

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CHAPTER 2 WASH TRANSFORMATION ENGINEERING (WTE) Process 10 steps of community water and sanitation transformation process Many international organizations and NGOs have developed a sophisticated terminology to describe the life-cycle of a project, usually consisting of 4-6 parts such as project identification, preparation, appraisal, implementation, operation and evaluation. According to them, each project goes through definite and describable phases, with each phase starting as the next phase ends.

Building upon the existing knowledge bank, FORCE has made a theoretical framework that gives a Step by Step approach to successful, sustainable, time bound WASH. The Framework is the WASH TRANSFORMATION ENGINEERING (WTE) PROCESS. The steps in the WTE Process are as given below:

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STEP 1 - Identifying right community leaders FORCE believes that water and transformation process can only be successful and have sustainable when the community members perceive themselves as the leaders of the project and are involved in its management. Thus, the identification of right community leaders at the initial phases of the project is the key to the success of a project. The pool of choices usually contains already established community leaders and workers with local NGOs and government, elected leaders or in some cases completely new and emerging community activists. FORCE has developed 15 ‘musthaves’ for successful community leader. He or she does not have to be technical expert, but must have comprehensive understanding of people behavior and knowledge of various community mobilizing techniques. Usually, they have credibility and good rapport with the community, have vision and courage to change their surroundings. They must read and write, have willingness to interact with government officials and have no overt political affiliation and are able to travel in-city. Sometimes, all these characteristics can be found in a one person, and sometimes FORCE unites a group of women, each having greater strength in a particular area, thus, ensuring the success of the project. When actively engaged and supported by the FORCE, community leaders or agents of social change can have incredible impact on the project outcomes and overall development of the community.

STEP 2 - Capacity building and empowerment After step 1 - successful identification of the right community leaders, as part of step 2 FORCE carries out 2 distinct sets of Activities – 1) to add to the knowledge base of the community leaders (Capacity Building) and 2) To build their self confidence so that they feel empowered as change agents.

In capacity Building, we educate the community members on water, sanitation and hygiene related issues, their impact on health and education. We also inform them about the structure of local government and departments responsible to ensure water access, waste management and sanitation services.

In Empowerment efforts, we train the leaders on how to interact with government officials and how influence the community to achieve positive changes. FORCE also provides practical information such as land line numbers of relevant officials, information on immediate subordinate and superior of each official, and highlights key job responsibilities of the officials relevant to the community.

As a result of this planned, dual thrust, community leaders become effective change agents both through their knowledge of the issue and through their ability to go through the entire decision making process confidently.

STEP 3 - Resource mapping – Factual, Positive and Negative Resource Mapping Resource mapping is a standard practice in all Community Interventions. FORCE modified the process to make it a richer source of information. In WTE, Resource Mapping is done at three levels: Factual Mapping – Mapping the visible community resources that may have relevance to the objective Positive Resource Mapping – This is an analytical exercise wherein, in consultation with the community, those resources which have the potential to help in achieving the WASH goals, are mapped. Hence, some ‘Factual Resources’ will be marked as Positive Resources. For example, a temple or a school will be a Positive Resource. Additionally, some non-physical resources may also be identified such as: a) b) c) d) e)

Powerful residents of the area Presence of a water or sewage line near the community area Cohesive community group Strong, committed political leaders High visibility area

Mapping of these Positive Resources gives the Planning team a clear idea of the community assets that can be productively used for achieving the project goals.

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BLUEbank Knowledge Sharing Series Negative Resource Mapping – Again, an analytical exercise, where resources (or their absence) which can have a negative impact on any efforts for WASH, are mapped. Here also, some Factual Resources may be marked as Negative Resources such as an open space that is used to throw garbage, an area used for Open Defecation. Other, non physical negative resources may be: f ) Rival community groups within the area g) Bad physical location of area such as in a depression Mapping of these Negative resources gives the Planning team a clear idea of the problems that will need to be overcome in order to achieve our WASH objectives.

Although most of the activities are carried out before the start of the project, it is foreseen to continuously update and review initial mapping results throughout the project during the third step.

STEP 4 - Gap analysis The gap analysis is a simple tool that helps to identify the gap between the current situation and the desired outcome.

In principle, gaps will be of two main types – infrastructural gaps and knowledge gaps i.e. gap between what the community knows and what it should know and what WASH infrastructure the community has and what it should have.

The gap analysis move through has three main stages: h) secondly, analysis of the current state of affairs, which is closely linked to the second step of resource mapping and gathering of information i)

Identification of the desired outcome (objectives of the project) – though targets for the project are set at the inception stage itself, precise targets can only be set after completion of resource mapping and gathering baseline data.

j) and, finally, clarifying the ‘Need Gaps’ between current state and desired outcome. The important point to be noted here is that the ‘NEED’ gap is identified – not the gap in community ‘WANTS’. For example, the gap analysis will show that the current level of Open Defecation is 55% and we need to reach a target of less than 5%. Hence the gap is 50%. This gap gives us a target for creating ‘Contained Defecation’ options ( the community ‘need’). It does not say how many home toilets or how many Community toilet complexes are to be made (a Community ‘Want’).

STEP 5 - Roadmap for plugging gaps This is perhaps, the part of the planning process where meticulous analysis needs to be done. The objective here is find the best route to “build the bridges” between the gaps identified in Step 4. It explores the necessary actions and focuses on dividing them according to their priority and sequence in action. Ideally, roadmaps should be made at two stages.

First in Step 5 - for gaps in each element of the WASH transformation i.e. one Roadmap each for Water, sanitation, toilets and personal hygiene. Second stage roadmaps need to be made in Step 6 for each Solution being recommended.

As a first step towards making the Roadmap, a ‘Priority Pyramid’ is made. In this, for a WASH issue, an analysis is done to prioritize between the Need gaps to covered. For example, in case of Open Defecation, the first priority may be to create a Contained Defecation option for the community (such as a mobile toilet). Second priority may be to do an intensive Ant- Open Defecation campaign so that people are enthused to make their own personal toilets.

In the second step PERT (Programme Evaluation and Review Technique) is used to make an Activity Plan. This activity Plan shows the sequence in which gap filling activities will be done. It also shows which activities will be done in parallel and the approximate timelines for each.

With the PERT Chart and using CPM ( Critical Path Method) it is then possible to calculate the minimum time required to achieve the project objectives.

This, the roadmap focuses on the identification and prioritization of most feasible, time saving and inclusive ways to plug existing gaps.

Developed by FORCE. Copyright applied for.

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STEP 6 - Creating win win solutions through root cause analysis Root cause analysis (hereafter, RCA) is a method of problem solving that attempts to identify and to correct root causes of events, as opposed to simply addressing their symptoms. It helps determine the most effective corrective action for a problem.

FORCE has combined the RCA strategy with approach of Win-Win solutions, which aims to find solution of the conflict that accommodates the views of all stakeholders. The Root Cause Analysis helps to identify the actual reason (which is not always the stated reason) for why the Need Gap exists. For example, Root Cause analysis may show that the reason why people are not building toilets in their homes is not because they do not have enough money but because they do not have enough space. Hence, the focus of our remedial effort has to be to find a solution that addresses this problem.

Facts and Figures • • • •

1544 CTCs in slums in Delhi Owned by various land owning agencies.

Now all being transferrd to DUSIB Mostly poorly maintained

Win Win Solutions ensure sustainability of the solution. They are most needed in cases of conflict or negative atmosphere between involved parties, for example, community and local officials (which is usually the case). The most difficult and essential part of the step 6 is to insist hard enough on the main goal – finding a solution to the root cause by clearly stating goals, offering alternative problem solving ways etc. Steps 7 and step 8 – listed below – play an important part in this.

STEP 7 - Follow up, persistence and paperwork Though it seems to be an obvious requirement, this step is where most social works falter. An important part of FORCE activities include paperwork, follow-up activities and persistence and focus on a positive project outcome, which often demands various set of activities, for example, continuous interaction with local government, moderating between opposing fractions within the community, monitoring activities of the progress of the project, submitting letters, reports etc. Not only does FORCE do these, we also train our Community leaders to follow the same processes.

STEP 8 - Positive reinforcement and planning for sustainability The long term sustainability of the project is one of FORCE top priorities, with positive reinforcement activities playing important role in ensuring it. FORCE defines sustainability as the ability of the project of a project to maintain its operations, services and benefits during its projected lifetime. Thus, before and throughout the project FORCE analyses the project according to several principles such as relevancy (is it a priority of local government etc.), acceptability (are local leaders and community supporting and participating in the project etc.), environmental sustainability and financial viability (are there any alternative financial sources or will project activities be paid for after the end of the project etc.).

The positive reinforcement activities play along with step 9 – innovation and livelihood linkages play important role to ensure the sustainability of the project, for example, by encouraging and publicly recognizing the importance of work by care takers of community toilet complexes (CTCs) as part of project activities will most likely have long-term positive effect on the maintenance of the CTCs. By encouraging people to take pride in their work or acknowledging the importance of local government and community leaders, the project encourages positive attitudes and creates more win-win situations, thus, ensuring sustainability of the project.

STEP 9 – Innovation and livelihood linkages In order to ensure success of the project, FORCE has adopted flexible and supportive approach regarding introduction of innovative project activities and it often strives to link such activities with income and job opportunities within the community. For example, by creating a waste management system in the community, FORCE has ensured small 8

BLUEbank Knowledge Sharing Series livelihoods for several local community members as caretakers of local toilet complexes or waste collectors. Furthermore, several FORCE innovations within the framework of projects such as building compost pits or supporting purchase of bio-gas plants within households have provided various income saving or generating opportunities such as reducing the overall expenses of the household by using bio-gas or earning additional money through sale of the compost.

Furthermore, introducing innovative approaches, may it be simple compost pits or more complex root-zone waste water treatment platforms and linking them to jobs or income possibilities play important role in ensuring community interest in the project and support when facing obstacles such as lack of government support, environmental issues etc. Strong and well developed linkages between project activities and livelihood opportunities are crucial to ensure sustainability of the project and its continuation even after the end of the project cycle.

STEP 10 - Policy influence The ultimate onus of public welfare lies with the government. Hence the ultimate objective of a Social Transformation project should be to get it replicated by the government. Recognizing this fact, throughout the projects, FORCE continuously shares learning and makes plans in consultation with the government. As a result, it has successfully influenced the policy making process at all levels. For example, in case of Community Toilet Complex (CTC) monitoring, the acquired data and analysis of the current state of infrastructure, as well the main issues concerning provisions of the services and subsequent recommendations by FORCE have provided local government with impetus to change their policy for CTCs. By showcasing successful innovative approaches carried out within the framework of FORCE projects and their positive impact on the wellbeing of the whole community, FORCE provides the local government with pilot-cases that do work and are worth implementing on wider scale. FORCE not only provide data about the communities and surrounding infrastructure, raise awareness of linkages between access to clean water, sanitation and waste management to overall health and well-being of the community among the officials, but also provides local government with insights in what development activities work and should be adopted as government policies.

Thus, local administration and government officials avoid risking financial resources and their own political capital in advancing the new innovative ideas. They already have a pilot-case and substantial data base, as well as supportive and educated community that can encourage others to implement the same reforms.

The WASH Transformation Engineering steps are implemented throughout the project cycle and need not necessarily follow each other in a particular order. For example, step 3 – Resource Mapping - can be taken at the same time as Step 1 – Identifying Right Community Leaders. Step 2 – Capacity Building and Empowerment, will need to be repeated throughout the project. Many of the other steps may overlap and some may be repeated depending on the project outcome.

However, the conclusion is that each of the steps are important in sustainability and successful outcome of the project. The case studies in the following Chapters, will show how each step has played a crucial role in different projects.

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CHAPTER 3 CASE STUDY 1 - COMMUNITY TOILET COMPLEX MONITORING Triggers Participative CTC Management Policy Background Context The Community Situation In many slum settlements in New Delhi, the government has built numerous public toilets or Community Toilet Complexes (hereafter, CTCs). MCD and DUSIB have outsourced the day-to-day toilet management and infrastructure maintenance to private companies or NGOs. The current contractual agreement stipulates that in return for advertising rights for the CTC walls and usage charges from users, the service provider will appoint a caretaker to ensure clean, functional toilets with hand wash facilities available to the community 24 hours a day.

Unfortunately, the reality differed, with numerous CTCs closed or in deplorable unhygienic conditions.

Facts and Figures • • • • •

Facts and Figures 1544 CTCs in slums in Delhi Owned by various land owning agencies.

Now all being transferred to DUSIB Mostly poorly maintained

The Problem Statement How to make CTC management agencies improve the functionality and cleanliness levels of Community Toilet Complexes in slum settlements

Voices “kao[- Afsar yah doKnao nahIM Aata ik yaha^M hala @yaa hO . iSakayat kroM tao iksasao kroMÆ” rajavatI – SaaOcaalaya p`yaaoga krnao vaalaI ek maihlaa ”maODma‚ Agar hma [sa ejaoMsaI kao inakala doMgao‚ tao [nakI jagah dUsara kha^M sao Z,UMZ, kr laayaoMgaoÆ” sarkarI AiQakarI The Solution Aimed For A sustainable community responsive solution for Clean, well maintained, functional CTCs made available to all slum dwellers at all times by government inside slum settlements. In this case our priority was to make existing CTCs function better.

WASH TRANSFORMATION ENGINEERING (WTE) Steps that made the difference FORCE achieved significant success in this effort. The methodology used by FORCE to improve the CTC situation especially highlights three WTE steps: STEP 4 – Gap Analysis STEP 7 – Follow up, persistence and paperwork STEP 10 – Policy linkages

FIELD ACTIVITIES SUMMARY With Special Reference To Highlighted Steps Since our objective was to make the existing CTCs function as per guidelines, we first tried to find out where the gaps in service delivery lay.

Step 4 – Gap Analysis Our first task was to find out the real reason for the uniform trend of badly maintained and dirty CTCs in all slums. For this, we undertook Gap Analysis in which we studied: 10

BLUEbank Knowledge Sharing Series 1) The Contractual Agreement under which the government had outsourced the CTC management to private partners 2) The typical problems in toilets 3) The Human Resource Tiers in CTC Management and their relation to toilet problems The study showed that: 1) The Contractual Agreement was clear about user service deliverables, revenue generation options and the responsible parties for these. It included all those factors that are necessary to ensure functionality and 24X7 availability of the toilet.

2) However, users had no say in CTC Management and their feedback was not taken for evaluation of service providers’ performance.

3) The typical problems in CTCs were blockages in toilets, lack of cleanliness, being kept locked for major portion of day, lack of water, privacy and hand washing facilities.

4) The root of these typical problems was in : n. Design and availability gaps in infrastructure o. Poor maintenance by caretaker p. Poor usage practices by users.

5) On ground, the CTC Management is a tiered system with the daily maintenance responsibility solely with the caretaker. The caretaker is also the point person for collection of usage charges. The higher staff was involved only in larger scale repairs / maintenance such as of doors, fixtures, whitewash etc. The

Hence the Gaps identified were: 1) 2) 3)

Gap in enforcement of Contract clauses including service delivery Gap in Contract terms vis a vis clauses for community engagement Gap in understanding: a. Community’s understanding of reasonable expectation from CTC agency and own responsibility b. Between the caretaker and the users – they were always in a state of conflict.

Step 7 – Follow up, persistence and paperwork Based on the Gaps identified, FORCE made a 5 step plan, with overall focus on capacity building and empowerment of the local community to ensure long term effects.

To fill the Gap in understanding of the Community vis a vis its rights and responsibilities and also its understanding of the limitations of the caretaker, the following actions were taken: Action 1 was to carry out a House to House contact program within the community to make people aware about the deliverables of the CTC Monitoring Agency and the user fee terms.

Not only were people told about what they could expect, but they were also given a handout containing the easy to understand and relevant clauses of the terms of contract. During this phase, the FORCE team also identified users (preferably women) with good communication skills who, in teams of 2, would be the Vigilante group – The CTC Monitoring Team - for the CTC. Action 2 was to develop CTC Monitoring forms, based on Terms of Agreement between MCD and service provider. These forms were in the local language (Hindi) and contained easily observable service deliverables such as usage fee, cleanness, number of hours when it is open to the public etc. The observations would then be recorded every 15 days by the CTC Monitoring Group and shared with FORCE. Training sessions for the CTC monitoring groups were also organised to help streamline this system.

To fill the gap in enforcement of the Contract clauses related to service delivery and usage charges, the CTC Monitoring system and awareness created above was leveraged to lead to improvement of service delivery. This comprised of several activities: Action 3 - Sending consolidated CTC status as reflected by the CTC Monitoring team reports, to the relevant government officials Action 4 - Ensuring regular meetings between community, service provider and MCD officials based on the same reports 11

BLUEbank Knowledge Sharing Series The above two actions, put pressure on the government and the service provider, to become answerable for the state of the toilets. It also sent a clear signal to the local politicians and the administrative heads that sanitation services was an important parameter on which they were being watched and judged by the community.

Action 5 - Fostering understanding on the most common reasons for dysfunction such as sheer apathy of service provider, misuse of CTCs by the community itself or larger infrastructural misalignment issues; Action 6 - Based on Action 5, addressing these issues through various strategies, for example, in cases of misuse by the community, FORCE conducted “How to use CTC” sessions, including info on disposal of menstrual waste, using water after defecation.

In cases of delays in delivery, regular meetings with community and stakeholders and public questioning hastened the improvement in service delivery and improvement of maintenance and,

Facts and Figures • • • •

75 CTCs monitored 125, 000 beneficiaries 12 zones of Delhi Working since 2009

Action 7 - Finally, applying strategy of positive reinforcement, for example, rewarding caretakers for improvements in CTCs and awarding women for setting community standards of cleanliness.

All the above actions led to the filling up of the gap in understanding and gap in contract enforcement as identified in the Gap Analysis

Step 10 – Policy linkages to cover – ‘Gap in Contract Terms for participative Governance’.

The ultimate objective of any successful NGO intervention is to ensure that it finds place in Policy decisions of the Government. This is the best way for a limited intervention to become a mass intervention thus leading to true social transformation.

FORCE also planned for this from the very inception of the project. That is why we did both -“Top-Down” and “Bottom-Up” Advocacy. In “BottomUp’ advocacy, our team leaders interacted with the supervisory staff of the management agency, the junior administrative personnel in government to bridge the gap in understanding between them and the community. By highlighting their good work and helping them resolve chronic problems, we made them appreciate the benefits of having such a participative governance system. For “Top Down” Advocacy, we sent consolidated reports of the CTC status to the administrative heads of relevant government departments and city zones. In some cases we were asked to make presentations to them. In each report or presentation, we also shared the improvement in the CTC status that has happened as a result of the CTC Monitoring being done.

As a result of this approach, we were able to introduce the concept of Participative Management of CTC to all layers of the government. In parallel, the community engaged with all levels of government and key stakeholders - Municipal Commissioner, Deputy Commissioners, Zonal Sanitation Heads, Chief Engineers, Area Sanitation inspectors, Supervisors and Caretakers of CTC Management Agencies, and politicians at all levels such as the Municipal Councilor, the MLA. Hence, when the idea was probably discussed in the administration, it was accepted by all.

It is worth mentioning that each of these activities were sub-divided to reach various goals. Some carried out in parallel with each other and some continuously throughout the whole project, thus ensuring greater flexibility and creating opportunities for various approaches, for example, step 4 or focus on flanking advocacy throughout the project significantly contributed to the step 5 – integration of the new model in government system via changes to contract agreements. However, it also allowed to experiment with various accountability tools such as online reporting system at the step 3.

IMPACT The WTE approach had a positive impact in three ways: 1) Improvement in service delivery by CTCs 2) Improvement in Stakeholders’ relationships with each other. They were able to understand each others’ limitations better and so more Win-Win situations were created.

3) Policy change – Long term changes in legal terms of the Contract for outsourcing management of CTCs and also in enshrining Participative Management and Community Monitoring within the Policy framework.

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BLUEbank Knowledge Sharing Series For the communities FORCE activities resulted in significant improvement in CTC services provided (open up to 18 hrs per day, cleaned twice daily, repairs of the broken doors and toilet seats, decrease of charges). It also raised awareness about the importance of CTCs for community hygiene and health, increased understanding of the CTCs management chain, as well as services community is legitimately entitled to.

As regards government institutions and officials, FORCE activities fostered understanding of the positive impact of Community monitoring, resulting in regular consultations between Sanitation inspectors and CTC Monitoring teams. The community monitoring gave government access to precise, unbiased and real-time picture of the CTC services, as well as proof of financial irregularities if any, resulting in increased accountability of service provider.

Pic: CTCs after FORCE involvement

Surprisingly, FORCE activities have also brought positive changes in relations between service provider and the community due to increased awareness of the responsibilities by the community and the caretaker, as well as positive reward system and public appreciation of caretaker in case of improved services. It has actually led to savings and stress free management for the service provider.

When Delhi Government appointed DUSIB as the nodal agency for slum improvement works, many CTCs were handed over to DUSIB. Over the years, through a continuous engagement process with DUSIB, changes in Terms of Agreement for Outsourcing CTC Management services were introduced by DUSIB. Many clauses of Community Participation in management were included. Self Monitoring by the agency and verification by Community Monitors was also included.

Also increased accountability of service provider and stress on grievance redressal. This has set a precedent and may encourages similar changes to PPP Management contracts in general.

The biggest breakthrough was that Participative Management of CTCs was accepted as the best way to ensure good service provision. Hence, DUSIB is now actively considering a policy to hand over all CTCs in slum settlements to women’s self help groups for management.

CONCLUSION WTE Activities – Contribution to the success of the intervention A close scrutiny of the case study will show that had it not been for the systematic approach followed to first identify the Need Gaps, then to Follow up – not through rhetoric, but through continuous, quiet engagement – verbal and written – with the authorities, the improvement in CTCs could not have happened. Also, the leap from this being merely a ‘box item activity’ of an NGO to a larger transformational act of the government came about because of the continuous escalation to policy makers and through understanding of their norms, ensuring that a mutually acceptable way was found to enshrine Participative management and monitoring in the policy framework

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CHAPTER 4 CASE STUDY 2 - MAKING A COMMUNITY GARBAGE FREE With House To House Garbage Collection & Kitchen Waste Based Bio-Gas Background Context The Community Situation Madanpur Khadar, B-2 bock, is a resettlement colony in South East Delhi. Although just 30 years ago Madanpur Khadar was just a small village, cultivating wheat and pulses, the speedy urbanization, acquisition of the land by the Delhi Development Authority and subsequent construction of apartments and flats contributed to quick descent of Madanpur Khadar into slum-like conditions. It had very limited sewerage facilities, open-defecation practices and piles of garbage all around.

The Problem Statement This case study focuses on finding a holistic solution to making the lanes of Madanpur Khadar ‘Garbage Free’.

Voices “yah

tao pUra kUD,aGar hO . isaf- baI2 ka nahIM bailk Aasa pasa ko saba jagahaoM ka kUDa BaI yahIM Aata hO. Aba tao esaI gaMdgaI maoM rhnao kI Aadt hao gayaI hO. primaMdr kaOr – eiryaa inavaasaI The Solution Aimed For The aim of the activity was to ensure that there is no garbage lying around on the streets or in the drains. Also that the system created should be independently sustainable

WASH TRANSFORMATION ENGINEERING (WTE) Steps that made the difference FORCE achieved significant success in this effort. The methodology used by FORCE to improve the CTC situation especially highlights three WTE steps: STEP 5 – Roadmap for plugging gaps STEP 8 – Positive Reinforcement and planning for sustainability STEP 9 - Innovation and livelihood linkages

FIELD ACTIVITIES SUMMARY With Special Reference To Highlighted Steps The first time we visited Madanpur Khadar B 2 block about two and a half years back, it was depressing to see the condition there. Not that conditions here were any different from most slums. The difference was that, this being a resettlement colony, with planned households, roads, drainage, waste disposal sites etc, should not have been in such a bad condition. At the entrance to the block itself, there is a government garbage disposal site. It was always overflowing with more than 3 times the garbage it was designed to hold. There was no regular cleaning schedule, it was cleaned out sporadically in response to repeated complaints of residents.

Living in the shadow of this garbage hill, the residents of Madanpur Khadar B2 block just did not see any point in keeping their lanes and drains garbage free. It was a sight they were used to and even if they tried to keep their surroundings clean, the stink, flies and pests from the garbage hill would still impact them.

Hence, not only was the task at hand difficult, it was rendered impossible by the lack of public will to do something about this. However, we started following the WTE steps to see if we could find a solution. Our first breakthrough came at:

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BLUEbank Knowledge Sharing Series STEP 5 – Roadmap for plugging gaps Once the Gap Analysis had been done, we spent a lot of time on making a good roadmap for plugging these gaps. We first listed down priorities. The following ‘Priority Pyramid’ was made to list the issues we had to tackle (first priority at the base, last on top):

Priority Pyramid2 Our first priority was to get the people ‘Un-used’ to the idea of living with garbage. It was important to make people experience the pleasure of living in a clean, garbage free area.

Our next priority was to make people intolerant of garbage. Currently they were too used to it and hence had become desensitized to the bad sights and smells of garbage. Our next priority therefore, was to create revulsion among people at the sight of garbage being thrown in open areas .

Then, our task would be to ensure that garbage once removed does not come back again and / or that regular throwing in the streets is stopped.

Last, but certainly not the least, would be to build sustainability into the plans. Infact, though listed as the last priority, sustainability planning has to be the base on which the project plan is to be made.

Using the ‘Priority Pyramid’ as a guiding tool, we conducted many public meetings to identify the most acceptable and relevant activities that would help us achieve those priorities.

Having made the list of activities, we made a PERT Chart. As a part of this process, we listed down the following: 1) Activities and their linkages with each other. For example, the one time cleaning of the garbage dump was a ‘Stand-Alone activity’ i.e. it was not linked to any other. However, one time removal of garbage had to be done before we took steps to ensure that the garbage hills did not reappear again.

2) Based on the above analysis, we listed down those activities that could be done in parallel with each other (at the same time) and those that had to be done sequentially.

3) Given the project timelines, we also made a rough estimation of the time (in months) that it would take to get each activity done. This included time from start of activity discussions with community, government and other stakeholders to completion of the activity. Based on the above we made the following Activity (PERT) Chart. This chart showed the sequence in which activities could be done and activities that could be done simultaneously. It also allowed us to arrive at an estimated minimum time it would take for us to achieve the objective of a largely garbage free B2 block.

Developed by FORCE. Copyright applied for.

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PERT Chart

Critical Path Method

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BLUEbank Knowledge Sharing Series Hence the minimum time needed to transform Madanpur Khadar B2 block from a High Garbage to Minimal garbage area (as calculated from Critical path method – sum total of underlined bold timelines) is 35 weeks i.e. approximately 9 months.

BIO GAS – Sustainability Through Innovation.

After the area has been made largely garbage free, innovative methods of productive utilization of waste were tried.

One such method was Kitchen Waste Based Bio-Gas. In this, household wet kitchen waste is decomposed and the methane gas released is used as cooking gas. The objective of this experiment was to take the ‘Garbage free locality’ concept to its next logical level i.e. ‘Garbage Free Households’ .

An additional 6 months were used before the first five Bio Gas units were set up in the area. In this time, awareness was created about the benefits of Bio Gas, five households who would adopt Bio Gas were identified and then, the Bo Gas units were designed and installed by the FORCE team.

As illustrated above in STEP 5 – Roadmap for plugging gaps, through the tools of ‘Priority Pyramid3, PERT chart for activity mapping and CPM for calculating minimum time requirement to achieve target, we were able to create a clear plan with timelines to achieve our objective of a Garbage Free Madanpur Khadar B2 block.

STEP 8 – Positive Reinforcement and planning for sustainability The case study is also a good example of how reinforcement of positive messages has a greater transformational impact than those of negative messages. Also that sustainability planning has to be done at the project conceptualization stage itself.

The first priority activities of removal of accumulated garbage and of ‘safai abhiyaan to completely clean the area helped break the community’s habit of seeing garbage all around. It also created a demonstrable backdrop against which positive messages of a clean, healthy, dignified life could be shared with the community. As a strategy, we used ‘Positive Reinforcement’ at several levels: a) Positive Reinforcement of the visible advantages of Clean surroundings to create a momentum for encouraging people to make cleanliness a habit. b) Creating a feeling of pride among house owners for the clean locality they were living in. In this context, it is important to remember that, since residents here have tenurial rights. Hence, they felt a greater sense of ownership over their houses and the neighbourhood they were living in. As bona fide residents of Delhi now, they aspired for better living conditions than they accepted as residents of the slums they came from.

In this framework, it was easy to leverage the feeling of pride that they felt on seeing the clean areas. c) Positive Reinforcement for government - Perhaps the greatest contribution in the huge ‘Safai Abhiyaan’ was that of the government. The political leaders, the municipal officers, the Municpal ‘ Safai Karamcharis’ – had all made an investment in terms of their time, money and effort. FORCE organized several public meetings in which all these were applauded and thanked. In this context it is important to mention, that, the government staff is not really used to appreciation from the public. Usually the public is quick to criticize and show anger for things not done, but does not acknowledge a job well done. Hence, the positive reinforcement they got in the public meetings organized by FORCE made them even more supportive of our future plans to maintain the cleanliness status of the area.

Thus, the motivated community and government became major contributors towards the sustainability of the effort.

The community became more responsible in its garbage disposal habits. The government became more responsive to community requests for cleaning. Also the government staff performed their routine maintenance jobs with more commitment and hence efficiency.

Livelihood Planning During the planning phase, we had mapped the roles of key stakeholders in keeping an area garbage free. We found that: 1) Role of Municipality is to clean the garbage dumps and common areas. Picking up household garbage from areas was not part of their mandate 2) Disposing of household garbage in the municipal bin was the responsibility of the household.

Based on these, we deduced that for sustainability of the garbage removal in B2 Madanpur Khadar, a dual effort would be necessary – a) To create a community led method by which all garbage from the area goes directly from households to garbage dump. b) To enable a government led effort to empty out the garbage dump regularly. Together, these two would ensure that both stakeholders completed their responsibility towards making their area garbage free.

Developed by FORCE. Copyright applied for.

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Getting households to throw garbage in the municipal dump Our first effort was to build awareness among people to take their garbage to the municipal dump and throw it there themselves. However, we found that, though some people responded to this effort, for a majority, it was physically a difficult task since the current garbage dumping site is situated far from the community. The distance also made it a time consuming task which was not acceptable to most people.

The improvement of waste management system in Madanpur Khadar started with rather simple introduction of effective house-to-house garbage collection system in the community. This scheme gave a service that provided the link from household to garbage dump. For people who found it difficult to take their garbage to the dump, this scheme would solve their problem.

To ensure that this scheme did not become dependent on the presence of FORCE, this was conceptualized as a Self funding scheme which was to be owned and managed by the community. To set up this scheme FORCE followed the following process: a) Identified a community member who showed interest in taking this up as an entrepreneurial effort. We finally selected two people - for the scheme b) Conducted a house to house contact program to share the news of the launch of this scheme with residents.

Also, a survey was done to see how many people would be willing to join the house to house garbage scheme at the average price point i.e Rs 30 per month. c) Based on the survey, a calculation was made about the expected number of households. Keeping a minimal monthly earning in mind, it was decided that a tariff of Rs 20 per household was sufficient. Infact we estimated that the number of users at this rate would be higher than those at the earlier tariff of Rs 30/-. d) From the project funds, a rickshaw was purchased for the entrepreneurs. This was used by the entrepreneurs to carry solid waste collected from households upto the garbage dump. e) Also, in a parallel activity we did a house to house drive to convince people to start using dustbins. The dustbins were a critical link because they got households used to the idea of controlled disposal of garbage and because it made it easier for people to f ) For many months, the FORCE team supported the entrepreneurs by helping in tariff collection, resolving disputes managing accounts and route planning so that in minimum trips maximum garbage could be taken to the dump. Also we made a lot of effort to bring discipline into the system – the entrepreneurs were made to pick up garbage everyday so that people became used to the system.

Because of all the above efforts, this scheme has become successful. It has been operational now for almost 2 years now. The scheme started with just sixteen households. Today there are approximately 250 households who are part of the scheme. There are two entrepreneurs who take approximately 2-3 hours everyday to pick up the garbage. Each earns approx Rs 3000/- per month in this time. Since the time spent on this activity is low, he is able to supplement this income further with other income generating activities in the day.

The scheme generates a respectable income and hence, will be sustained willingly by the entrepreneur. Also, now the community has got used to their garbage being picked up regularly and their streets remaining clean through the day.

Thus, both demand and supply side willingness for continuation of the scheme has been created by FORCE. This, we hope, will make the scheme sustainable even after our exit from the area.

Getting the Government to clean the Garbage Dump regularly To ensure that garbage brought from households to the garbage dump did not remain there, functionaries at all levels of the government were approached. The Naari Nirmal Awaas Samiti leaders (Women’s Water and Sanitation Group leaders) and FORCE discussed the garbage removal process with the Municipal authorities to try and understand the reasons why the garbage was not removed at regular intervals as required. We identified two main reasons for the lapse a) Too much garbage from surrounding areas was being dumped there. Hence the actual garbage accumulation was far more than the locality itself was generating.

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BLUEbank Knowledge Sharing Series b) Underestimation of the amount of garbage by the civic authorities. The route planning for the pick – up truck was done on the basis of estimation of quantum of garbage at a location. Since the estimate was much lower than actual, the garbage truck made much fewer trips than were necessary leading to mountains of garbage all over.

These lapses were discussed with the authorities. As a first step, the extra garbage being brought to the area was stopped. Only B 2 block’s garbage was to be thrown there. In the second step, a new schedule was made wherein the pickup was timed for once every two days. Together these two ensured that the garbage never spilled out of the limits of the dump. The Garbage Collection entrepreneurs were also trained to throw garbage systematically so that it did not spill out on to the road.

STEP 9 - Innovation Level 1 sustainability planning was done through Livelihood linkages. However, we felt that true sustainability in garbage management comes when we graduate from Zero Garbage localities to zero garbage households. This transition can only happen through adoption of innovative technologies.

From prior experience with trying adoption of such methods, we had deduced that the Critical Success Factors for mass adoption are: 1) The gain should be personal. Mere statement of a larger social benefit is usually not enough of a inducement for ordinary people to adopt something. A visibly significant personal benefit has to be there.

2) Preferably the gain should be in monetary terms. People should be able to quantify the gain in terms of Rupees they will earn or save per day / per month.

3) Initial investment should be low. People with limited incomes do not usually calculate payback periods. For them, the calculation is based on the quantum of the initial investment and maintenance required.

4) Effort and time required for running and maintaining the system should be low.

5) System should not occupy too much space or demand major infrastructural changes.

6) System should not demand major changes in usage behaviours.

With the above factors in mind we analysed various options for in-house treatment / utilization of garbage. The analysis showed that the probability of high adoption would be highest for Bio-Gas using kitchen waste.

In a typical low income household, the garbage comprises mostly of green waste. Recyclable plastics, paper etc are segregated and are sold to ‘kabadi wala. Only non-recyclable kitchen waste that has no utility is thrown out. This makes the garbage ideal for use in a Kitchen Waste Bio Gas plant.

The Bio Gas installation effort in Madanpur Khadar started with an awareness drive. Meetings with community women were held to educate them about Bio Gas and its advantages.

Special emphasis was laid on sharing the monetary value of the benefit i.e. a saving of upto Rs 500/-. As a part of the Swatch Delhi Swasth Delhi project, FORCE had done bio-gas installation in slums. Testimonials from those users were also shared in these meetings.

FORCE then asked for 5 volunteer households who were willing to install bio-gas in their homes. 8 volunteers showed interest. A technical assessment was then carried out for the feasibility of bio gas in these households. Factors such as availability of adequate sunshine, space, ease of installation and maintenance and distance of biogas location from the kitchen were evaluated. Based on this 5 households were selected.

We started with installation in one household and slowly by showing the benefits and cost-effective results, and then convincing the families to introduce such plants in their own homes. With an initial investment in a domestic bio-gas plant of Rs.15,000, a 5-member family can produce gas sufficient for two hours of cooking every day, thus, saving 50% of LPG usage. This translates to a saving of upto Rs 500/- per month.

There is no difference in the cooking methods for bio gas vis a vis LPG gas. Hence, the users do not experience any difficulty while using it. The system requires virtually no maintenance. The space required is equal to that taken up by a 1000 litre water tank and it can be installed anywhere where there is adequate sunlight. Rooftops are best for this.

Its only requirement is that garbage should be put in it regularly in a semi solid form. In case, the amount of the waste is not sufficient, family can take it / buy it from garbage collector (already processed and ready for use). Spoilt cooked 19

BLUEbank Knowledge Sharing Series food such as fermented dough and cooked vegetables can also be used. The process is fairly simple – the raw material for the plant is created by mixing domestic kitchen waste and organic waste water, which is then fed into the plant through an inlet chamber. The waste is converted in bio-gas and ready for use as cooking gas.

Based on the positive experience of the first installation, the balance four were also rapidly installed. They have now been fully and continuously functional for more than 9 months now.

Another iteration of Bio Gas was tried. In this, we installed a bio-gas unit in the open lawn of the Community toilet complex. The garbage collected as a part of the house to house garbage collection scheme was to be partially used in these bio gas units. The gas produced was to be used for heating / boiling water – for bathing in winter and drinking in summer. We had visualized this as a supplementary income generation activity for the caretaker of the community toilet complex. It was to be a Win-Win solution.  Win for garbage collecting entrepreneur – The garbage dump is farther off than the toilet complex. Hence he would find it easier to dispose of the garbage here.  Win for the CTC caretaker– He would be able to add to his income through sale of water for bathing or drinking.  Win for the residents – Health and hygiene standards would improve. Avaialbility of warm water in winter would increase the number of people having a bath and availability of boiled water would increase the number of people who remain healthy and disease free through the year.

However, in practice, the outcome, so far, has been that the caretaker sees a greater value in cooking for his family than in commercial activity as above i.e. the savings in cooking gas cost is of higher perceived value than the income from sale. Part of the reason for this could be that subsidized cooking gas is available in limited numbers per family. The non subsidized cooking gas is 4 times as expensive as the subsidized one. Hence there is a high premium on ensuring that the need for buying gas beyond the set limit does not arise. Another reason could be that since many people are illegally taking free electricity, boiling or heating water at home does not hurt their pocket. Hence there is no perceived saving in buying this from the bio gas unit.

However, we believe that this is the likely direction for Bio Gas in the future – when it becomes an agent of WASH transformation.

IMPACT The impact of the planned FORCE intervention for making Madanpur Khadar Garbage free, is there for all to see. Today, Madanpur Khadar B2 block is clean and largely garbage free. Every morning, the garbage collection entrepreneurs go around and collect garbage from more than 250 households. Most of the others go and throw the garbage themselves into the garbage bin. Both the entrepreneurs earn approx Rs. 3000/- per month. The large garbage dump is emptied once every two days and it takes garbage only from B2 block. The area around the dump has been cleaned. Usually no garbage is visible spilling out from the dump. Infact, in this newly cleaned space, a public urinal for ladies has been made by the Municipality.

The roads and drains are clean. Blockage in drains – a very frequent occurrence earlier, is now a rarity. The drains used to get choked with plastics and garbage thrown out by households. Now that this is not happening, the drains remain freely flowing.

The bio Gas plants are working very well. There are 9 plants installed in the area. The owners are very happy with the savings they make. The project has introduced an environmentally friendly and cost-effective alternative to LPG gas cylinders, which will significantly improve the energy self-sufficiency of each particular family and the community as whole. Many of the residents have visited the bio gas owners’ houses to understand how it works. Several of those have approached us with a wish to install this in their houses. However, the initial price of Rs 15,000/- and the social taboo linked to handling garbage (which has to be liquefied & then put in the bio gas) is a deterrent. Despite this, interest in it is high. FORCE is also working on improving the technology.

More than the visible impact, it is the impact on the mindset of the people that is remarkable. Now people are used to seeing cleanliness around. Not only are they clean themselves, they also demand the same from their neighbors, from the government service providers and all vendors. This demand ensures that they get better service from all and hence the improvement in living standards just keeps building on itself.

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CONCLUSION WTE Activities – Contribution to the success of the intervention The case study is an example of how a logically charted, community priorities based, time bound intervention can be done. STEP 5 – Roadmap for plugging gaps – was done after analyzing the Community Priority Pyramid and using Production management techniques – PERT and CPM. The roadmap for activities created this way ensured that there was no fallback from the achievements made and that each activity was integrated with the other. This planned approach also helped us estimate a time frame within which the activities could be completed and our target of a Garbage free block achieved.

The case study also illustrates how Step 8 – Positive Reinforcement and Sustainability planning have to be conceptualized at the planning stage itself. It is important to create ‘Victories’ or ‘Visible Positive impacts’. Through positive reinforcement of the principal stakeholders who contributed to it, a committed set of social transformation agents can be created. Also, sustainability activities have to be planned for at the project conceptualization stage itself and implementation may start at the initial stages itself. The livelihood linkages in this case study were created as a part of the area cleaning drive – not after they were completed. As a result, any gains in cleanliness were maintained and added to – there was no fallback. Had the livelihood linkages not been made, the results of the the ‘Safai Abhiyaan’ could not have been maintained.

Kitchen Waste Based Bio-Gas implemented as a part of STEP 9 - Innovation and livelihood linkages – is actually a case study by itself. It highlights some very important points: 1) That sustainability is not a single layered approach. Though we may aim for a particular level of sustainability in our project, we need to remember that there will always be the potential to take it one step further, deeper.

2) Innovative technologies and approaches play an important role in sustainability. However, these need to be adapted to deliver a clear personal benefit to the user. Delivering a clear social benefit is not enough – it must translate into a clear individual benefit as well.

Bio Gas has been around for a long time, however, it has been largely used in rural areas as an alternative fuel. In this case study, bio gas became a tool for a larger social benefit relevant in the urban context – that of disposal of garbage.

It was however, presented to the user community as an individual benefit. For these users, the availability of fuel was not a problem, its cost was. Hence the technology was presented as a cost saving one rather than as an alternative fuel or as a garbage removal technique.

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CHAPTER 5 CASE STUDY 3 - WATER MANAGEMENT IN HARIJAN BASTI Background Context The Community Situation Harijan Basti is a slum area on the fringes of the middle class residential area Vasant Kunj in New Delhi. Until 2011 and involvement of FORCE, the local community has restricted access to water, which had impact on the well-being, security and overall health of the community. In order to fetch water from the well in neighboring residential area local women were forced to walk more than 1 km along busy roads and cross nearby highway daily. The dangerous highway crossing turned to be fatal for one member of community and led to abduction of another. Thus, the safe and regular access to water turned out to be one of the most poignant issues for the safety and well-being of the whole community.

The Problem Statement How to enable safe and regular access to water for the residents of Harijan Basti was the problem.

Voices “baIsa

saala sao esao hI panaI Barto Aae hOM. Lagata hO ik Agalao baIsa saala BaI esao hI kT jaaeMgao. ” maunnaI– bastI inavaasaI ”[na JaugigayaaoM maoM pa[-plaa[-na ibaCanaa hmaaro ilae saMBava nahIM hO.jyaada sao jyaada kBaI kBaI TOMkr Baoja sakto hOM.” sarkarI AiQakarI The Solution Aimed For The aim was to ensure that all households in Harijan Basti get treated water supply within the area of the slum preferably with water points located such that no house is further than 20 metres from a source of water.

WASH TRANSFORMATION ENGINEERING (WTE) Steps that made the difference As a part of the Swatch Delhi Swasth Delhi project, FORCE achieved significant success in this effort. The methodology used by FORCE to provide water for all especially highlights WTE

Step 3 viz Resource mapping – Mapping Factual, Positive and Negative resources FIELD ACTIVITIES SUMMARY With Special Reference To Highlighted Steps When FORCE, as a part of the Swatch Delhi Swasth Delhi project first started work in Harijan Basti, the initial reaction of the community was of mistrust and caution. So at the beginning FORCE Area Incharge visited each household to reassure them that we would work hard to help enable access to water for all. Smt Ram Rati was selected as the Nari Nirmal Awas Samiti – Women’s WASH committee leader for the area. The success of this intervention is largely because of her strong, selfless, soft-spoken and determined leadership.

Step 2 - Resource mapping: Mapping Factual, Positive and Negative resources

Pic: Community leader Ram Rati showing water pipelines

The clue to the possible solutions for the area came when the resource mapping was being done as per Step 2 of the WTE process. The handmade sketch (figure 1) gives the resource map of the area.

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BLUEbank Knowledge Sharing Series There were two things that immediately struck the FORCE team when making the map 1) That there was a large open space at the entrance to the area. This space was easily accessible to large vehicles (such as tankers) and could also accommodate a large number of people.

2) That there was a main Delhi Jal Board water pipeline passing parallel to the length of the cluster parallel near the entrance. There was a ‘valve’ (meant for regulating the flow and direction of water) in this pipeline that was visible. This valve leaked twice a day – in the morning and evening when water supply was given to the surrounding localities.

The above observations were further discussed with the Pic: Central water storage tanks at Harijan Basti. community and more details about them were taken.

Based on the feedback, they were classified as strong positive resources in the final Resource Map.

Criteria for classification as a Positive Resource Both the above satisfied the main criteria for classification as a positive resource. They were both common resources i.e not owned by any individual; easily accessible for everyone in the area; currently used by the community for satisfying some common need ( the open space was used for small functions, meetings with leaders etc, the leaking water from the valve was collected by people to whatever extent was possible).

There was a debate about the classification of the pipeline and valve as a positive or a negative resource. The leakage in the valve was also a problem for the people. Several thousands of litres of water was leaking and it was creating a mini-water body in one part of the slum. Since that was also the place where all the sewage water and garbage was coming, this was a major source of disease in the area. There had also been reports of people having fallen into it and being rescued with great difficulty because it was very deep.

However, after much discussion, it was felt that the potential for use offered by that fresh water was more important than its current nuisance value. Hence, it was classified as a positive resource to be used for furthering the WASH objectives of the area.

Actions taken by FORCE. Action 1 – Winning people’s trust – Immediate solution for Water Access The first step was to win the confidence of people and to find them an immediate solution to their water problem.

For this, FORCE helped the community leaders contact the local Delhi Jal Board office and placed an official request for a water tanker on daily basis. To strengthen the claim, the group also lobbied with the MLA of the area and got him to push for grant of our request. As a result, within a few days, a water tanker started coming regularly. The tanker used to stand in the open place identified as a positive resource in the Resource mapping. This was a big relief for people. They now developed faith that by working jointly with the program team, their long standing problems could be solved.

Action 2 – Regulating the Water system for equity and access to all.

Taking water directly from the tankers was not an ideal solution. The reason was the unpredictable timing of the tanker (which meant that not everyone was present when the tanker came), the chaos that happened when it came and the wastage that happened due to the frantic water filling actions of the people.

To remove these problems and to introduce the concepts of Equity and self regulation in Water management, several meetings were held with the community. The result was a decision to install a Water storage system wherein the tanker would put water and subsequently people would take water from it in a peaceful manner.

Three inter-connected tanks of 2000 litres each were placed in the open area. The site was chosen such that a tanker could easily come up to the tanks and, with the help of a motor, fill water in the tanks. The three tanks also had 6 Water Filling points – lockable faucets – from where people could peacefully and without wastage, fill water.

Ram Rati ji managed the system. The community decided that first every house would take 20 litres of potable water.

After every house had taken that, the surplus water could then be taken on a first come first served basis. Timings were

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BLUEbank Knowledge Sharing Series made for water collection so that people could plan their daily routine accordingly. Ram Rati ji would keep the faucets locked during the rest of the day. Other members of the NNAS also helped in getting the water filled, cleaning the tanks periodically and managing the water distribution.

A majority of the funds for installation of tanks came from the SDSD project funds. This system continued for some months.

Action 3 – Need redefinition – from ‘Access’ to ‘Easy Access for all’.

The community was graduating from one which was satisfied with just getting some water through the tanks to one which was wanting water connections in their lanes (if not their houses). Several meetings were held in which it was discussed to make a Water Distribution system so that water from the tanks could be pumped and distributed through a pipeline to each lane. During these discussions, the potential offered by the second positive resource – the valve with the leaking water – suddenly came to the forefront.

Action 4 – The Community funded water distribution system.

It was decided to productively utilize the thousands of litres of water being wasted through the leaking valve. For this, a local plumber was engaged to draw up a distribution plan. Based on his recommendation, the following were made: 1) A concrete enclosure around the leaking valve. It had only one opening on the top through which a person could go inside to periodically clean this tank. The enclosure served multiple purposes. Firstly, it prevented the water from immediately flowing out, secondly it created a mini storage system, thirdly it prevented contamination of the water because now no-one could touch the water directly at the source. A provision for overflow and an open drain were also made so that excess water could flow out into the water body without creating a mess near this Water Source.

This tank was made with the SDSD project funds.

2) A network of pipelines was made. One main trunk pipeline branching off into a maze of smaller pipelines going into each lane of the slum. This network was laid over a period of more than a year.

It was entirely funded by the people themselves. Under the leadership of Ram Rati ji, people contributed money for the pipeline. The cost for the trunk pipeline was shared equally by all whereas the contribution for the lane pipes was graded based on the distance of the house from the source.

One pipe connection was also given to the storage tanks installed in the previous phase. These were to be filled periodically as an emergency water storage or for those who were unable to take water during the times when water was available in the pipes.

3) Two booster pumps were installed at different points along the network. This was to ensure that water reached with adequate pressure to even the farthest points in the community.

The two pumps were bought from the SDSD project funds.

In addition, FORCE supported community leaders with police support to ensure the security of the construction works against any provocations from the opposing side of the community. We also helped them with making a Water Management system In addition, to ensuring 100% access to water, FORCE also carries out various educational activities on drinking water, for example, by distributing chlorine tablets to purify and disinfect water or conducting information sessions among community members on treatment and distribution of clean drinking water, for example, avoiding immersion of hands into drinking water tank etc. The community members also carry out regular testing of water quality every 3 months, especially monitoring the quality during summer months.

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Pic: Central water tank at Harijan Basti.

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IMPACT Today, all households in Harijan Basti – 240 households - have access to safe water. Many have water supply in their homes. Others take water from their lane – never more than 20 metres from their home.

The quantity of water flowing waste has substantially reduced. The unhygienic conditions created by water flowing all around the valve have also been replaced by a neat drain that takes the water to the water body. The dirty Water Body itself has shrunk substantially owing to lesser water flow.

The FORCE assistance in ensuring free and regular access to drinking water, as well as continuous educational activities on safe water practices have resulted in the improved health of the community. Also, it has encouraged the community to take up other initiatives that depend on availability of water. Some examples are making of individual toilets in the households and a thrust on personal hygiene.

CONCLUSION WTE Activities – Contribution to the success of the intervention The success of the project has highlighted the importance of Resource Mapping as a tool to identify opportunities for improving the living conditions of people. The WTE approach of analyzing each item on the map and classifying it as a positive or a negative resource is a major factor in ensuring the success of this intervention. This analysis led to an evaluation which led to a complete change in the perspective of the community. What was hitherto viewed as a major problem now became a major asset. It was an innovative turn that led to a complete transformation in the status of availability of water.

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CHAPTER 6 CASE STUDY 4-WASTE WATER TREATMENT IN ISRAIL CAMP Background Context -The Community Situation Rangpuri Pahadi is situated in the Ridge forest area on the Delhi–Gurgaon border. The area is home to several slum settlements. It is a rocky area dotted with abandoned mining pits (which was done here till 20 years back). Some of the abandoned mining pits are filled with rainwater from the surrounding catchment area and hence serve the cause of groundwater recharge. However, most are now receptacles for the sewage or the garbage of the area.

The Water Body where the intervention was done is located in a slum area called Israil camp, Mahipalpur in ward nr.

144 in MCD area in South Delhi. For more than 30 years now, it has been polluted by solid waste and waste water from the surrounding slum settlement. Though the slum itself has more than 1100 households, there are approximately 250 households whose sewage and garbage goes into this mining pit. Not only was the sewage and solid waste in the pit a source of disease but it was also contaminating the groundwater.

Pics: Israil camp lake - before and after the first stage of project.

The Problem Statement The problem that this case study addresses is that of safe disposal of the sewage outflow of the area.

The Solution Aimed For The solution aimed for was to remove the stagnant sewage from the area so that the unsanitary conditions and danger to health and groundwater created by it could be removed.

WASH TRANSFORMATION ENGINEERING (WTE) Steps that made the difference Though work on this project is still going on at the time of publishing of this case study compilation, the methodology used by FORCE highlights three WTE steps: STEP 6 – Creating Win- Win solutions through root cause analysis STEP 9 –Innovation and livelihood linkages STEP 7 – Follow up, persistence and paperwork Interestingly, this case also demonstrates the negative impact of miscalculations for: Step 2 – Resource Mapping – Identifying negative resources

FIELD ACTIVITIES SUMMARY With Special Reference To Highlighted Steps In the current city planning paradigm, sewage disposal is a difficult task. The current system is a network of primary sewage collection conduits, secondary local sewer lines and trunk lines leading upto the sewage treatment plant or the final disposal point. In this city wide, interconnected complex network, it is difficult to make space for unplanned large settlements such as a slum cluster. Also, this network is a purely hydraulics driven system i.e. the flow from the smaller conduits to the larger ones is a gravity driven flow. In such a scenario, slums that are placed against the gradient find it

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This was the situation in Israel Camp. Hence linking it to the nearest sewage line (approx 1 km from the area) was difficult. Since our objective was to remove the stagnant sewage from the area so our effort was to find a way out that was not linked to the city sewage system

STEP 6 – Creating Win- Win solutions through root cause analysis Our discussions with the community members as a part of the Root Cause Analysis threw up an interesting observation: 1) That the community was used to the presence of the mining pit filled with water – even though it was sewage 2) That some members of the community infact felt that it was an asset for the area since it helped the tubewells of the area to continue to yield water for the people.

3) Some women performed religious rituals in the water of the pit.

Also, there was no other place for the sewage of the area to go. The pit was infact serving an important function – that of giving a space for the sewage to accumulate and thus prevent it from stagnating in the area itself.

Based on the above, we felt that the Win-Win solution would be one where the sewage continues to flow into the mining Pit but it gets treated in the pond so that it no longer causes disease or contaminates groundwater.

STEP 9 –Innovation and livelihood linkages Having decided on the Win-Win solution of In-situ treatment of waste water, a decision had to be made about the best way of doing it. There were several challenges that had to be overcome: 1) Lack of 4 phase electricity at the intervention point 2) Cost of installing and operating a conventional sewage treatment system.

Innovative solutions for handling this problem had to be found. One such solution was the use of ‘Constructed Wetlands for Sewage treatment (Root Zone Technology)’.

Root Zone Treatment

In simplistic terms, the methodology for treatment would be: Step 1 – One time thorough cleaning of the water body to remove accumulated garbage. 27 truckloads of garbage were removed from the mining pit. The cleaning was done with project funds but the trucks for removal were provided by South Delhi Municipal Corporation.

Step 2 - The inlet drain would be diverted into a settlement tank. This tank, with a natural filter, earthworms and a sediment settlement chamber would provide the Pre-treatment i.e it would allow the suspended impurities to settle. The earthworms, would decompose the organic matter in the sediment so that the filter does not get choked.

Pic: Root Zone Treatment is a wastewater treatment technique consisting of planted filter-beds, containing sand/grave/soil/plants that treats wastewater by a variety of chemical, physical and biological means. After removal of floating garbage, the wastewater of the lake passes through the filter-beds where other organic pollutants are decomposed biochemically by bacteria present in the root plants.

Step 3 - The outflow from the settlement chamber would flow into the Point Source filter – i.e a reed bed planted in trenches. The plants have bacteria in their roots which decompose the organic impurities in sewage. Hence, as the water travels through the trench, it loses its impurities.

Step 4 – Built into the trenches or the settlement chamber, are hydraulic jumps. By creating mini jumps for water, these further help purify the water through oxygenation.

Step 5 – Water then flows into the mining pit. Here, floating wetlands that allow the plants to float on the water with their roots suspended in it, further treat the water continuously while it stays in the pit.

This innovative system, designed and implemented under the guidance of a young Environmental Engineer – Tarun Nanda – helped overcome all the challenges. It did not need electricity and needed no maintenance other than periodic manual cleaning.

STEP 7 – Follow up, Persistence and Paperwork The project was also one of the best examples of persistent follow up leading to successful partnerships. Since the mining pit was on sensitive ‘Ridge Forest’ area, there was stringent monitoring to prevent any further construction in 27

BLUEbank Knowledge Sharing Series the area. It was not advisable to work without taking due permission from the land owning agency.

As per the information shared by the community, this land belonged to the Forest Department of Delhi Government.

We were told that they would never grant permission for this work. We were also told horror stories of corruption that we would have to reckon with.

We made extensive efforts to explain our concept and based on that ask for permissions from all officials – from the lowest to the highest rung. We requested for time to make presentations to showcase the entire project plan, financials and the expected output. We followed the process suggested to us and shared all documents as required at all levels.

Owing to this persistent and systematic follow up that respected all the procedures of the government, we obtained permissions from the Forest authorities. Not just that, we gained their promise of support – all without having to face any corrupt demand.

Later, we found – through the use of Right to Information – that the land actually belonged to Delhi Development Authority. Though, it meant a delay of several months, we repeated the same due process of taking permissions from DDA. We experienced the same level of support – particularly in the topmost echelons. As a result of this, when we started work, we did so with confidence. Also, this effort highlighted the issue of In-Situ sewage treatment in front of decision makers in the government. Subsequent declarations by them proved that we had impacted policy because they were now actively seeking support for more such efforts.

Initially the above mentioned activities of the project was supposed to be carried out within 1 month. However, due to various reasons the project is still ongoing. During the whole project implementation process, FORCE has persistently engaged with the community members, completed necessary paper work and followed up on the promises of community leaders and local officials. The key to the completion of the project depends on the persistence, follow-up and readiness for engagement with the community of the FORCE members.

Interestingly, this case also demonstrates the negative impact of miscalculations. In the WTE process we made major mistakes in: Step 3 – Resource Mapping – Identifying negative resources As a result of these mistakes there were delays and obstructions in the project that we were not prepared for.

Step 2 - – Resource Mapping – Identifying negative resources We made two major mistakes in Resource Mapping:

Mistake 1 – We did not verify the land ownership status ie. Which government agency was the actual owner of the land. We were told by the community that the land owner was the Department of Forests. Based on that, we went about the task of taking permissions from them. It was also unfortunate that the department too seemed to be sure that the land belonged to them. As a result, after 3 months of presentations and paperwork we got permission from the Department of Forests to work here. We felt this was verification enough of the popular community view about ownership of the land.

However we were wrong. Subsequent events proved that the land actually belonged to Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and so our permissions were invalid. WE had to spend another 3 months in fact finding, verification of DDA’s claim and follow up on request for permission. Finally, in desperation, we approached the senior most official of DDA. It was on his intervention that we received the permission from DDA after more than 3.5 months.

This mistake of verifying facts before mapping them in ‘Factual Mapping’ cost us 7 months of delay and immense effort.

Mistake 2 In our 3 layered Resource Mapping, one of the things we do is to identify negative resources i.e problem points (including stakeholder problems) in the area. While doing the resource mapping for Israel Camp, we failed to spot the unusually intense intra community rivalry between two groups. One of the groups – RWAD- was comprised largely of people who lived near the water body while the other – RWAM, the more dominant group – lived in the core settlement. Our project planning was done with RWAM but RWAD was not formally consulted. Also, RWAM failed to share with us an important factual resource at the lake – a platform used for religious ceremonies during festivals – such as Maa Kali idol submersion, Holika dahan and Vishwakarma pooja. The platform was not usually visible – it was covered with debris etc. But on these festivals it was cleaned up and used.

The omission in mapping these two resources led to us not understanding the local dynamics of that lake. The RWAD felt slighted at not being consulted and felt that this project was an attempt by the RWAM to encroach upon the territory 28

BLUEbank Knowledge Sharing Series of RWAD. They became anti FORCE and anti the project. They did not express their anger openly at first since the local political leaders were also strongly supporting the project and came there frequently. The anger exploded when, the heavy machine that was removing garbage from the site, accidentally broke the platform. They stalled the project completely and used all possible methods – calling the police, complaining to DDA & Forest department, threatening the workers, breaking our installations, pilferage and everything else. Matters became even worse when we tried to It took us several months and innumerable meetings to break this deadlock with this section of the community. In these meetings we shared all our plans with them with complete transparency, acknowledged that we had erred in not consulting them, promised to rebuild the broken religious platform and allayed all their fears regarding us establishing ownership over that land.

We also learnt an invaluable lesson in Democracy – people’s power prevails. Regardless of the fact that the people were actually unauthorizedly living there and despite the fact that we had all the legal permissions – infact full support of the authorities – we could not do anything till the people gave us their mandate to do so.

Pic: President of FORCE talks to opposition members.

Pic: Leader from opposition group argues with NNAS member.

Pics: The cleaning of the lake with the help of JCB Machines and manual labor.

IMPACT At the time of compiling these case studies, the project has just been completed. Hence the impact assessment has not been formally done so far. However there is already a visible improvement in the water quality level in the lake. When we had started the project the lake there was no life at all in the lake. It could not sustain plant or animal life. Today, the lake already has plants. Tadpoles / small fishes too have been spotted here. Some people also claim to have seen a turtle / tortoise!

The cleaning of the lake and its embankment from the piles of garbage collected there for last 20 to 30 years have improved the quality of the water and decreased the overall pollution of the area, thus, not only improving the general landscape of the area, but limiting the possible health hazards for community members, in particular, children.

Secondly, the educational activities of Nari Nirmal Awas Samiti to limit the cases of open-defecation at the lake has already raised awareness of the local community members regarding importance of personal hygiene. Finally, although the project has created tension between the opposite community groups, it has also fostered discussion regarding the wastewater treatment, cleaning of the communal water bodies, waste management and necessity to improve surrounding landscape.

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CONCLUSION WTE Activities – Contribution to the success of the intervention The project is a great example of the importance of STEP 6 – Creating Win- Win solutions through root cause analysis – for all. Unless there is a clearly visible / stated benefit for everyone in an activity, it is difficult to implement the project successfully.

It also demonstrates the need to look for STEP 9 –Innovation – to find viable solutions to seemingly impossible issues.

Had we not identified a Zero Energy In-situ waste water treatment method, we would not have been able to do provide a solution to the sewage accumulation problem in Israel Camp. The importance of Step 7 -persistent follow up and correct documentation is also amply demonstrated. For 7 months we diligently followed up with the land owning agencies, in which we ensured that we submitted all papers necessary to comply with their internal guidelines and respected any limitations they imposed on us. Because of that, we got the permissions. More important than that, we achieved two more significant successes: 1) The permissions ensured that despite the intra- community rivalry, our project team did not suffer from police, DDA or forest officials being summoned by the anti-project group. Also the group knew that we could do the project even without their go-ahead. The fact that we waited for many months to resolve their issues became a proof of our commitment to community welfare. They understood that their goodwill was more valuable for us than mere completion of a project.

2) In the process of taking permissions, we spoke to , and convinced, all levels of officials – from the lowermost rungs to the topmost. Hence, there was a lot of interest in the project and they took regular reports from us.

This became an advocacy opportunity for In Situ Waste Water Treatment. From all those agencies, FORCE has received invitation to do more such projects on Water Bodies owned by them.

The project has also taught us invaluable lessons in ‘What NOT to do’ viz to never miss out on the critical Step 2 – The 3 layered Resource Mapping. Special focus must be on verification of all data and on identifying negative resources.

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CHAPTER 7 CASE STUDY 5 NAARI NIRMAL AWAAS SAMITI MAHASANGH & WOMEN’S ‘WASH’ SELF HELP GROUPS Background Context -The Community Situation Women suffer the most because of water and sanitation problems. Yet they have the least say in decision making on those issues. They are perceived as neither having a

The Problem Statement How to make women strong leaders in the Water, Sanitation, Hygiene transformation process in their areas

The Solution Aimed For To identify a group of strong women within each community and build their capacities so that they lead the WASH transformation movement in their areas. To further join them as a city wide network that becomes a partner in advocacy for WASH improvements in urban slums.

WASH TRANSFORMATION ENGINEERING (WTE) Steps that made the difference Step 1 – Identifying the right Community leaders Step 2 – Capacity building and Empowerment of the leaders

FIELD ACTIVITIES SUMMARY With Special Reference To Highlighted Steps FORCE believes that the true agents of transformation are the people themselves. Hence, in each area, we invested a significant amount of time and effort in finding and training the right community leaders. FORCE also believes that since women suffer the most when water and sanitation conditions are poor, they should have the first right to take decisions on those issues. Hence, as a principle, we give priority to women in the selection of the WASH transformation groups in any area. It is only when we do not find enough women who are willing and able to take the lead, that we offer the membership to the men.

Step 1 – Identifying the right Community leaders The process followed for selection of the Community leaders was the same everywhere. Prior to the start of the selection process we had done focus group discussions to identify the qualities that communities would expect in a leader. Based on those FGDs, the following characteristics were identified as most important for a community leader:  She should be able to work closely with members of the local community, especially the socially/economically/ culturally challenged.  She should be able to read & write  She should be able to work independently and under work load  She should have the ability and willingness to travel to project areas  She should have strong interpersonal skills and ability to establish working relations with target communities and Project team.  She should be well networked within her community  She should be committed  She should be above 25 year of age  She should be honest  She should have good Communication skills  She should be Willing to learn new things  She should not have a criminal record  She should have legal identification proof  She should not have any formal political affiliation  She should exhibit good public behavior

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BLUEbank Knowledge Sharing Series This set of qualities became the benchmark. Against these, we evaluated all the potential women leaders. We also made some selection rules: 1) It is not necessary for a leader to have all these qualities always. We recognize that Leadership styles vary from person and person and that different leadership styles are needed in different situations.

2) However, the leader must have atleast 12 out of the 15 qualities.

3) A qualitative assessment of the potential of the person may also be made. In some cases, the person may not have had the opportunity to develop those qualities. If the project team feels that the person has the potential, then that must be given due weight in the evaluation.

4) Leadership is a dynamic process. An assessment of the leaders must be done every year to identify those that are most effective.

In each area we went to, we did 3-6 meetings in different parts of the community to introduce ourselves to them and to understand more about them. In these meetings, we also asked community members to give references of people who they felt would be able to work with us for the cause. We also asked people to volunteer. After these exploratory meetings, we usually had a list of potential leaders. Some of them were recommended by the community, some who volunteered themselves and others who we shortlisted based on their responses during the community meetings.

The project team then spent time with each of the shortlisted leaders and evaluated them on the parameters given above. Based on those, a final recommendation for the Principal leader was made. Also other members of the group would be identified. However, the Principal leader also had the freedom to select people from within her community for the group. This group then became the nodal point for all WASH activities in the area.

RAMESH DEVI5 This case study is a testimony of enduring spirit and enthusiasm of a women leader, without whom it was difficult for FORCE to perform activities for WASH transformation in Nala Camp B slum belonged to Rangpuri Pahadi, South Delhi. A widow, separated from her in-laws family, dwelling in a deserted area at forest fringe, has been going through her struggle with rare sense of dignity and humour and continues to be a source of inspiration to her community people.

In 2008, Rangpuri Pahadi area including Nala Camp A, Nala Camp B, Shankar Camp slum settlements was surrounded by forest region with very little population. The roads were not constructed till then and the area was almost an abandoned area. That time FORCE had started “Swatch Delhi, Swasth Delhi” project with partnership of WaterAid and hence a survey was initiated for mapping of those areas. While two area –in- charges of FORCE were approaching inside to visit Nala Camp B slum, a widow came out from a 3’/4’ sized small cottage built in the corner and spoke to the FORCE Team.

Her name was Ramesh Devi, stayed in that jhopri with no other family members except her only young son. She asked about FORCE and expressed her wish to join the survey work too. To feel her determination and wish for doing something constructive work, the area-in-charges involved her into the survey work. Ramesh Devi completed her task before last date of submission.

Ramesh Devi visited every house of her area, talked personally with every woman of the slum, mobilized them and described the necessity and objective of WASH programme.

After the survey was over, Ramesh Devi was appointed as helper in the Anganwadi behind Nala Camp B. She had worked there for several months very dedicatedly and passionately. By 2009, she had joined FORCE as animator from Nala Camp B slum. Since then she has been working with same Ramesh Devi commitment and enthusiasm. Ramesh Devi organizes meetings at various levels with the help of FORCE team. These include informal gatherings, discussions about FORCE and individual and house-to-house visits where necessary. She also convened awareness meetings addressing WASH issues.

During 2008-09, Nala Camp B was under 100% open defecation and hence the slum women were in a distress situation. While going to forest area in darkness to relief themselves, they often used to be molested and tortured.

Ramesh Devi convened awareness meeting, discussed the adverse effects of open defecation and illustrated the significance of a dignified lifestyle. She united all the women members of the slum and decided to constructed a Community Toilet Complex and personal toilets too whoever would afford to make it. Under her guidance a group of women from the community received comprehensive training on WASH activities and consequently, Nari Nirmal Awas Samiti was formed. As Ramesh Devi was elected as the coordinator, NNAS of Nala Camp B slum,

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Story as narrated by her colleague in SDSD

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BLUEbank Knowledge Sharing Series this women team engaged into continuous activity for ensuring adequate access of easily affordable drinking water and change of community’s health behavior for adoption of toilets, garbage collection and general cleaning of the neighbourhood and importance of clean hygiene practice.

At the present, the community people of Nala camp B are constructing private toilets and one community toilet complex has also been built with the fund support of Water Aid India. Today it is on road to becoming a 100% Open Defecation Free Area.

During 2008-09, Nala Camp B had 100% open defecation and hence the slum women were in a distress. While going to forest area in darkness to relief themselves, they often used to be molested and tortured. Ramesh Devi convened awareness meeting, discussed the adverse effects of open defecation and illustrated the significance of a dignified lifestyle.

Jasvinder Kaur, area-in-charge, FORCE told that Rameh Devi had a strong and positive mind which always reflected in the way she had motivated and mobilized the community people. She had an excellent ability to influence other people’s action, decision, opinion or thinking. She continuously interacted with community people and counseled them on every water, sanitation and hygiene problems, this gave her strength and understanding about the issues and how to tackle them - a necessary quality need to be a good community leader.

Today, Ramesh Devi is a firebrand speaker, a committed WASH warrior and leading member of the Naari Nirmal Awaas Samiti Mahasangh. She is also the treasurer of the first WASH Self Help Group that has been outsourced the management of the Community Toile Complex in Dalit Ekta Camp, Ward 14 4 . She is an inspiring leader for all others in the area.

Step 2 – Capacity building and Empowerment of the leaders After identifying potential women leaders, FORCE works towards: 1) Adding to the knowledge base of the leaders – Through capacity building workshops, training programs, meetings and exposure visits, FORCE tries to add to the knowledge that these community leaders have about water, sanitation and hygiene. Also they are educated about the process they need to follow to solve any WASH related problem in their areas. For example, if a tubewell has stopped working, then, because of the training given by FORCE, they know which official should be approached and what letter is to be written to get them to repair the tubewell.

2) Empowering the leaders – Becoming more knowledgeable does not automatically empower a person.

Empowerment happens when a person breaks out of his fear of authority, social taboos and personal fears and starts to believe in his ability to make life better for his community. FORCE adopts several methods to create a feeling of empowerment in the potential leaders. Some examples of activities we do that lead to empowerment are: a. Repeated interaction with government officials at all levels, b. The leaders conduct awareness sessions for their community members. This openly declares them as the knowledge leaders of the area. c. All letters from the area are signed by them d. Awards given to them by the VVIPs in large mass functions The dual thrust towards capacity building and empowerment has been the key reason why all the Naari Nirmal Awaas Samiti leaders are well informed, strong and effective WASH transformation agents for their areas.

RABEYA BEGUM6 Rabeya Begum was a quiet, shy lady. A very calm and polite person, she did not seem to have any leadership qualities. Darshan Anand, Area-in-charge, FORCE met her in 2009 while carrying out WASH activities in Amar Park slum in Zakhira, East Delhi. She found that Rabeya was quite knowledgeable and educated. Darshan asked her to join FORCE for mobilisation of her community to endeavour to improve their lifestyle and quality of life. She agreed immediately and thus her way of life started to change through constant process of empowerment and capacity building programmes.

She initiated awareness meetings, visited every house of her community with the objective to enable poor people to realise their right to safe drinking water and clean sanitation facilities.

Initially, she was able to work only under her senior’s guidance, but she acted in such a poised and confident way that she soon became an efficient and resourceful person

Rabiya Begum

Story as narrated by her colleague in SDSD

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BLUEbank Knowledge Sharing Series for FORCE. Her method of building rapport with community was unique. She worked very silently but honestly and dedicatedly and thus she earned the trust and dependence from her community people. urthermore, she conducted meetings promoting behaviour change among community people, school children and care givers on safe hygiene practice and provided technical assistance in monitoring water quality at community level. She also continuously campaigned to improve the standards on quality of drinking water and offered management support, monitored to track progress of the standards of sanitation facilities in the slum.

Later, with fund support from WaterAid India, she constructed water tanks, installed pipeline from government supply point to household, fixed water motor pumps to enable easy access to Water for the communities. She also tried to get rid of dirt, mud, silt and harmful insects including even snakes and scorpions etc. in her area by getting it cemented, construction of roads, drains and providing dustbins to every household.

She also carried out awareness programme with her NNAS team on safe use of drinking water, filtration of water, organised water quality tests, monitoring of garbage collection and toilet cleaning and clean hygiene practice like regular had washing with soaps, menstrual hygiene management, etc. She coordinated with street play or puppet show organizations to conduct such programmes for awareness drives on wash rights into slum areas.

Gradually she became a part community government linkage since she started to communicate the concerned government departments for ensuring smooth functioning of every service delivery. She visited MCD office for hiring sweeper into the community, appointments of caretakers into community toilets complex, cleaning of septic tanks, etc. and health departments too for ensuring general cleaning and fumigation in drains. She talked to DJB officials for recharging of borewells, water tankers and pipeline construction. She convened meeting with MLAs and local councilors to notify slum issues regarding water and sanitation. She grew up as a good communicator too due to this continuous interaction and conversation in all level from community to government departments.

Her commitment and dedication to work has finally made her an Assistant Field Co-ordinator in FORCE. Her rise has inspired her community women to struggle and fight for their WASH rights with hardwork and dignity. Rabeya herself feels grateful to FORCE for empowering her and helping her take up the noble job achieving total access in water and sanitation.

IMPACT In our projects, we started with making groups of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene leaders in each area. These groups underwent capacity building and empowerment sessions to hone their skills and become more effective as leaders.

Though they started with working only for their own areas, many are now handling multiple areas. They are now city level leaders in their own right.

In January 2014, all the Naari Nirmal Awaas Samitis were made a part of a federation – The Naari Nirmal Awaas Samiti Mahasangh. This Mahasangh has representation from urban poor women from all parts of Delhi. All of them have been working for Water and Sanitation issues for more than 2 years now. They are all WASH aware, empowered women. Many have become entrepreneurs or have organized themselves into Self Help Groups, generating incomes through WASH entrepreneurial activities.

In the recent Delhi assembly elections, the NNAS Mahasangh carried out a Political Manifesto Promise drive wherein they presented a Memorandum to their local politicians asking them to include in their manifesto a promise that they will provide Water and Sanitation to all slums. This memorandum was signed by several politicians cutting across party lines. It seemed to have had an impact – every party’s manifesto specifically mentioned Provision of Water and Sanitation facilities as a priority.

In the coming years, FORCE visualizes the NNAS Mahasangh as a significant advocacy force for improvements in water, sanitation and hygiene services for the poor.

CONCLUSION WTE Activities – Contribution to the success of the intervention Step 1 – Choosing the right community leaders and Step 2 – Capacity Building and Empowerment have been the key to the success in all the interventions made by FORCE. The WTE process has helped us formalize a replicable formula for identifying and training potential WASH leaders. These two steps are perhaps the most critical steps for sustainable, deep rooted, dynamic Community transformation.

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ABOUT FORCE Forum for Organised Resource Conservation and Enhancement (FORCE)is a Delhi based NGO registered under the Societes Act of 1860. FORCE is FCRA Certified, 80G certified and registered under section 12A of Income Tax Act, 1961.

Objective of FORCE is to create awareness about natural resources– their use, misuse, current status and future scenario and to ensure adoption of measures to prevent their depletion.

Our focus area is WATER Our Vision: To make communities “Water Secure“ ‘Water Secure’ means that every micro unit should have enough sustainable water supplies to take care of its basic needs for all.

Our Mission: To help create productive, responsible partnerships that use traditional wisdom, modern technology and participative governance for holistic solutions to Save Water, Share Water.

FORCE adopts a unique ‘4 WAY PARTNERSHIP’ (P-4)approach. It partners with government and local leaders, communities, funding partners and technical experts to offer end-to-end support to citizen groups interested in adopting water conservation and sanitation practices. From research studies/seminars to creating awareness/interest and finally implementation, FORCE uses this model to empower communities and to cover the entire spectrum of activities related to water conservation and sanitation. We also share our learning with relevant government departments to help make existing water policies more people and water friendly.

Results Of The P-4 Approach - Some Achievements So Far The biggest achievement of FORCE is that we have been able to create an environmen of partnerships and proactive initiatives on Water. All this has been made possible, even with limited resources, because of our unique P-4 partnership model. Though it is difficult to quantify all that we have done, we have made significant contributions such as:

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Awards & Nominations Received So Far  Finalist (3rd Prize) in the National Urban Water Award 2009 instituted by the Ministry of Urban Development  Nominated by the Ministry of Water Resources as a member of the Drafting Committee for National Framework Water Law  Nominated by the Ministry of Water Resources as Member, National Groundwater Advisory Council  Nominated by Ministry of Water Resources as a member of the Task Force for Optimization and Integration of Water Quality Monitoring stations  Nominated to run with the Olympic Torch in India for the Beijing Olympics 2008.  Nominated on the ‘Advisory Committee for Groundwater Management and Regulation’ by the Deputy Commissioners of 7 districts of Delhi  Panelist on Civil Society Consultations held for Groundwater Management, Sustainable Water and Sanitation solutions for the Urban Poor

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(Recipient of National Urban Water Award 2009)

Forum For Organised Resource Conservation and Enhancement C-8/8035, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi – 110070, India, Ph: 91 11 46018754, Email: force@force.org.in, Web: www.force.org.in Join us on the ‘FORCE’ Facebook page and on ‘FORCEngo’ twitter account to share your views, suggestions and news about Water Sanitation and Hygiene.

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