BANKO BIKANO COMMUNITY LED SANITATION CAMPAIGN IN BIKANER

Under Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan

Arti Dogra

District Collector, Bikaner

Banko Bikano- A community led sanitation campaign in Bikaner

Arti Dogra, District Collector, Bikaner

dm-bik-rj@nic.in

Overview

Knowledge Sharing Forum What works at scale? Distilling critical success factors for scaling-up rural sanitation

Summary: In the heart of the arid Thar Desert , the programme of sanitation was almost destined to fail given the traditional approach to sanitation. But in April 2013 when it was launched, the Banko Bikano campaign surprised everyone including the government officials in Bikaner. Unlike other process and target oriented government programmes, this one focused on being community led and community driven . Morever the basic premise of the programme was pride- pride and self respect for the women, pride for the family , pride for the village and ultimately for the district. This thought and vision caught on in the social set up of rural Bikaner and the programme became almost self propelling.

Bikaner Third Largest District

in the country

Area: 28466 sq km

Population: 2,367,745

Gram Panchayats: 219

Heart of the desert

Severe droughts

Severe climate

• Desert terrain

• The size of the district

• Huge Gram Panchayats

• Dhani culture

• Water Scarcity

• Low literacy for women

• Feudal society

• Past history of the programme

TSC program was not functioning , with no officers in place

The Challenge- All the Excuses

The Trigger

• Involvement of Water and Sanitation Programme of World Bank

• Convincing the public representatives

• Engaging a dedicated team

• Finding a District Co-ordinator

• Trying to erase memories of the past

Campaign Branding

- Rising Sun • Focus on Ranbankura • Using local language &

customs • Emphasis on pride

• Shift from target orientation to objective orientation

• Focus on Pride ,Dignity and respect for women

• Community Led - Bringing the community to the fore

• Intensive training and capacity building of stakeholders

• Dedicated visits ,follow ups and regular meetings (Ratri Chaupal, Saturday meeting etc)

• Monitoring is focused on ODF (community wide behaviour change) rather than construction of individual toilets (Emphasis on 100% usage)

• ODF GPs would be recognized and rewarded with schemes such as SLWM

Strategy

• Communities to be triggered by DRG

• Early morning nigarani by natural leaders of each village/habitation

• Toilets have to be constructed by people themselves; No third party involved

• Communities are encouraged themselves to support the poorest of the poor.

• Incentives would be given after achieving ODF status only

• No standard design of toilet.(preference of household matters, but low cost options are communicated)

• Women and children are included in the process

Execution

• Convincing stakeholders

• Having staff and institutional arrangement in place

• District Coordinator

• Block coordinators

• DRG

• Nodal officers

• Motivators

• Partnership with WSP for Strategic technical support

Preparation Phase – Jan to March 2013

• 5 days residential training by WSP

• Training motivators, Gram Secretaries, Sarpanch and other key functionaries

• Ensuring presence of key functionaries

• Triggering of two GPs (Naal and Ridmalsar)

Launch – April 2013

• Naal Bari became the first ODF Panchayat in 10 days

• Instant hero of the sarpanch of Naal

• 21 GPs claimed ODF status in the first one month

• Media attention • Thought provoking for

critics

Response

• Prompt follow up to discuss the success of Naal

• Intensive monitoring thereafter

• Weekly meetings and prompt mid course correction

Response

• DRG Members & Local Leaders involved demonstrate how to construct toilets.

• Massive meetings in all interested GPs

• Creating community leaders

Scaling Up –Involving PRIs

Proactive PRI Involvement

• Even aged men as well as women came forward to construct their own toilets,

• Active role to early morning Nigrani

• Role to women and their pride

• Rallies by school children

Scaling Up-Involving the community

Active Participation by Women

• Different types of toilets as per the preference and affordability of community.

• No standard model was promoted.

• Training at all levels including masons

• Availability of material

Scaling Up- Providing Options

• Trained and dedicated resource persons willing to work 24x7

• Night halts and two day visits by the DRG

District Resource Group

• The District Support Unit will undertake a stringent verification of ODF status

• Before declaring a GP ODF, to verify that all households have access to toilets

Mobile Monitoring - ODF Claims Verification

• Using outcome tracker mobile app developed by WSP

• Independent Journalists, Students and NGO professionals

Mobile Monitoring - ODF Claims Verification

• Complimentary to interpersonal communication

• Creates demand from all corners

Success – Press Coverage

Success – ODF status of GP’s

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• Ensuring Timely Payments

• Convergence with MG-NREGA

• Sustaining the ODF status

• Extending to the entire district

• Meeting the new aspiration of the people

Challenges Ahead

Knowledge Sharing Forum What works at scale? Distilling critical success factors for scaling-up rural sanitation

• Being a community driven campaign

• Ensuring it is a demand driven campaign

• Central role to women

• Focus on PRI

Key Success Factors

Knowledge Sharing Forum What works at scale? Distilling critical success factors for scaling-up rural sanitation

THANKS