EXPERIENCES WITH COMMUNITY APPROACHES …knowledgelinks.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/CLTS_SMP_03.pdfHalba, Moriya and Gond tribes; villages in Surguja with Oron, Korba and Gond population;

Knowle

dge L

inks

, Ind

ia

Experiences with Community Approaches to Total Sanitation in Chhattisgarh 1

Linking Learning with action

EXPERIENCES WITH COMMUNITY APPROACHES TO TOTAL SANITATION IN

CHHATTISGARH (2014-2015)

A UNICEF, field office Chhattisgarh initiative

End line Project Report for UNICEF

Submitted by

Knowledge Links, India

KA 54, Upper Ground Floor, Kaushambi, Ghaziabad Pin: 201010

Phone: +91120 4114721 email: [email protected]

Knowle

dge L

inks

, Ind

ia



Contents

Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................................... 3

1. Key Achievements of the UNICEF supported CATS intervention in the state 2013-2015 ................. 4

2. Institutionalizing behaviour change capacity (BCC) for CATS ........................................................... 5

3. Demand generation (Social and Behavior Change Communication-SBCC) for construction and

use of toilets and hygiene practices by community-based networks ....................................................... 9

4. Demonstration of alternative delivery mechanism for CATS within NBA/SBM: Capacity building

and supportive supervision in select districts: End line Report ............................................................ 13

a) Rajnandgaon .................................................................................................................................. 13

b) Dantewada ..................................................................................................................................... 16

c) Surguja ............................................................................................................................................ 18

d) Raigarh ............................................................................................................................................ 20

Annex 1: ODF Format prepared and used by the District Administration, Surguja ............................ 22

Annex 2: Details of the CATS trainings completed............................................................................... 26

Annex 3: Tables and graphics ................................................................................................................ 27

Annex 4: District wise ODF villages facilitated during the project period .......................................... 31

Knowle

dge L

inks

, Ind

ia



Acknowledgements

Knowledge Links takes this end of the project report as an opportunity to convey our heart-felt

thanks to all who have been involved with the planning and implementation of the community

approaches to total sanitation (CATS) as supported by UNICEF in Chattisgarh and making it a

resounding success in the state.

Knowledge Links is grateful to UNICEF, Raipur and particularly acknowledge the support provided by

Shri Prashanta Dash, State Chief and Dr Pratibha Singh, WASH Specialist for providing strategic

guidance and support for the successful completion of the assignment.

Thanks are due to Shri Ashok Kumar Agrawal, Commissioner, Raipur and Durg Divisions, who first

recognized the transforming potential of CLTS in changing people’s lives during his tenure as District

Collector, Rajnandgaon and then continued to providing flexible and sensible support to the mission

of Swachh Bharat Mission.

Thanks are also due to District Collectors of the target districts, namely Shri K C Dev Senapati in

Dantewada, Shri Mukesh Bansal in Rajnadgaon, Ms Ritu Sain in Surguja and Ms Alamelamangai in

Raigarh for all their valuable support without which the success of this project would not have been

possible. Their periodic visits to the villages and active participation in ODF celebrations have

encouraged and enthused the implementing teams and the villagers alike and have been of huge

help in imparting the required impetus to the CATS initiative in their respective districts.

The CEO, Zilla Panchayat in Raigarh, Mr Nilesh Kshirsagar and Dr Priyanka Shukla in Rajnandgaon

deserve a special mention for their remarkable ownership and leadership of the sanitation

movement in their respective districts. Their enthusiasm and untiring efforts in facilitating innovative

approaches to implement the CATS approach in their respective districts have been a source of

inspiration for others.

We place on record our thanks to all the trained members of the Nirmal Samuhs across the target

districts, whose commitment and untiring efforts have enabled to carry out the activities with

desired results during the project period and even beyond.

We express our gratitude to the communities in all the target districts, particularly the ones from the

39 ODF villages and 34 other near ODF villages (at the close of the project on 31st May, 2015), who not

only accepted the CATS facilitators and whole heartedly supported their endeavor and above all

provided a huge learning opportunity.

We are humbled by the support extended by the Natural Leaders, especially the ones from ODF

villages who have been hugely instrumental in scaling up community led initiatives on the ground to

create sustainable ODF villages across districts of Dantewada, Sarguja, Raigarh and Rajnandgaon

districts in the state.

Knowle

dge L

inks

, Ind

ia



1. Key Achievements of the UNICEF supported CATS intervention in the

state 2013-2015 Community Approaches to Total Sanitation (CATS) such as Community Led Total Sanitation

(CLTS), as supported by UNICEF and carried out by Knowledge Links on their behalf in the state

of Chhattisgarh during 2013-15, has been significantly instrumental in establishing CATS as the

most viable alternative to achieving sustainable open defecation free (ODF) villages/GPs on the

ground with speed and on scale across districts in the state.

There is a larger consensus within the government now about sanitation being an issue primarily

of collective behavior change rather than of toilet construction, as indicated by the state level

monitoring of ODF villages and GPs instead of the number of toilets constructed.

CATS work undertaken in the districts of Rajnandgaon, Dantewada, Raigarh and Sarguja during

2014-15 has resulted in a substantial uptake of ODF habitations and villages across all the four

project districts.

Another significant achievement of the UNICEF supported CATS initiative has been its outreach

to remote villages inhabited by tribal people, which include: villages in Dantewada in habited by

Halba, Moriya and Gond tribes; villages in Surguja with Oron, Korba and Gond population; and

villages in Raigarh with, Binjwar and Sidar tribes. Around 40 tribal villages have achieved the

ODF status during the project period.

A critical mass of natural leaders from ODF villages has been created, many of whom are willing

to go to other blocks and districts to work as community facilitators and mobilisers. They are

also trained in construction of technologically sound toilets, using local resource, thus

minimizing the costs.

A pool of trained government functionaries from within the target districts has been created,

which can be deployed to scale up the CATS approach to achieve large scale ODF results in the

districts of intervention and beyond.

District administration in Dantewada distributed SBM incentive money collectively to the village

on achievement of ODF status. Many of the households constructed a bathing cubicle next to

the toilet with the money received

It was envisaged that as an outcome of the training and handholding support across the project

districts, around 21 ODF villages would be created during the project period. However, the teams

have done well to achieve 45 ODF villages, 18 in Dantewada, 14 in Surguja and 13 in Raigarh

districts.

Knowle

dge L

inks

, Ind

ia



2. Institutionalizing behaviour change capacity (BCC) for CATS

Background

CATS was introduced in Chhattisgarh during the pilot initiative supported by UNICEF, Raipur.

Knowledge Links was engaged as the technical agency during May 2013-Feb 2014 to demonstrate

creation of ODF villages in Chhuria block of Rajnandgaon district using the CATS approach. 20 villages

became ODF as a result. The project was designed to organize CATS orientation events across five

more districts. As part of this effort KL facilitated 5 days Training of Trainers’ in each of the districts

to help create buy-in for the approach in other districts as well.

In the second phase KL was engaged in to demonstrate alternative delivery mechanism of CATS with

NBA/SBM. The initiative was conceived with the idea of building capacities of the district

administration, including the district, block and cluster coordinators, Rojgar Sahayaks, Saksharta

Preraks, ASHAs/Mitanins and handpump technicians. The target districts initially were Rajnandgaon,

Dantewada and Surguja.

At the outset the response of the state and the district administration was cold. The 20 ODF villages

created as a result of the pilot initiative did attract the interest of some, yet the majority stayed

unaffected. During the inception meeting with the District Collectors and CEO, Zilla Panchayat in the

target districts, except in Rajnandgaon, where the pilot project was initiated, they seem to be

indifferent and at the same time they were happy that UNICEF was trying out some new approach in

their district. The response was more like, ‘please come and try it out, please depute your best

people here.’

As was the case everywhere, these districts were implementing the rural sanitation program with a

focus on accomplishing the ‘target’ of toilet construction with practically no emphasis on behaviour

change. The larger objective of creating open defecation free villages and blocks was missing from

the implementation approach being adopted in these districts. This was the larger context within

which the CATS approach was sought to be introduced in these districts.

However, after the initial rounds of meetings, it became clear that the district administration had to

select the participants for the five day CATS training of facilitators and that they had to arrange the

logistics, which essentially demanded their active participation.

KL facilitated the training events during which the participants prepared action plan in groups

(formed as per their convenience so as to work as nirmal samuhs). These groups were handheld to

further strengthen their newly acquired skills in CATS approaches. CATS activities were rolled out on

the ground across all the project districts as per the action plans, while more batches were being

trained. In all, during the second phase of the project, 20 batches consisting 619 participants

successfully completed the 5 day CATS training of facilitators across Dantewada, Rajnandgaon,

Surguja, Raipur and Raigarh districts. As these trained teams engaged in CATS processes and the

results began to come, the district administration took cognizance of the fact that the people from

Knowle

dge L

inks

, Ind

ia



ODF villages exhibited heightened levels of confidence and enthusiasm. They invited the District

Collector, as the guest of honour during ODF celebration events organized by them. This changed

the attitude of the government departments and the enthusiasm was almost contagious. The DCs

were surprised with the level of ownership and enthusiasm among the community, and the way

people built their own toilets without any external assistance.

Some of the indicators, from across the target districts, that point towards the institutionalization of

CATS approaches and Behaviour Change Communication are given below:

Demand for more CATS trainings at the district level

UNICEF, Raipur had organized a one day State level workshop in Raipur for Orientation of CEO’s of

Zilla Panchayats on Swachh Bharat Mission on 14th February, 2015, where the outcome of the CATS

approaches in the project districts was shared by KL and CEO, Zilla Panchayat, Rajnandgaon

presented how the district up-scaled and progressed since the pilot initiative in 2013-14.

This was an eye-opener for many and requests for CATS training events from across the districts like

Bijapur, Dhamtari, Raigarh, Jagdalpur and so on began to pour in.

For example, during the pilot initiative in Chhuria, a meeting was held at Raigarh with the EE PHED

but no demand for CLTS training could be created. But now the work in Raigarh has picked up pace

and momentum and is being led by the CEO, Zilla Panchayat himself with very good results on the

ground.

Issuing orders to facilitate deployment of trained people

Knowle

dge L

inks

, Ind

ia



It was often the practice that when people from other line departments were trained in CATS, their

parent departments did not allow them to work full time on sanitation. Therefore, often the efforts

put into training did not yield any results.

But in Raigarh, to counter this situation the district administration issued order to ensure that those

trained would engage in the CATS processes as assigned without any hindrance.

Distribution of NBA/SBM subsidy as post achievement reward

During the pilot initiative, the district administration was convinced not to talk about the incentive

money under NBA, when the government officials visited the villages. This was not always followed

at that stage, however, the then District Collector, Shri Ashok Agrawal, after completion of the

project, facilitated public distribution of incentive money as a post-achievement collective reward to

the ODF community, which the villagers distributed equally among all the households in the village.

Though the amount varied from village to village, it was

given as a reward to the whole village thus reinforcing a

collective responsibility and achievement.

In Dantewada too, in Binjam GP, the District Collector

handed over a cheque in a public function after the GP

became Open defecation free. Further, the post ODF

incentives create a sense of pride in the recipient

communities thus enhancing the chances of the

sustainability of collective behavior change achieved.

Distribution of collective rewards post ODF

As a reward for achieving the ODF status, district administration in Dantewada distributed LED

Televisions sets and cricket kits. In Raigarh, the CEO Zilla Panchayat promised water schemes and

tube wells to ODF villages in public meetings. In Rajnandgaon, the CEO Zilla Panchayat very politely

told the women who approached her with applications and requests that, she would look into them

only after they built their toilets and started using them. Thus the message sent from the district

administrations was very clear that sanitation was a priority.

Assigning villages to all the officials at the district and block levels

In the Rajnandgaon, the CEO, Zilla panchayat has institutionalized the sanitation agenda to an extent

that she has allotted villages to all the officials and staff at the district and block levels. As an

additional responsibility they have to facilitate construction and usage of toilets. As a result,

Rajnandgaon has 215 ODF villages as on 30th May, 2015.

ODF Celebration in Binjam GP

Knowle

dge L

inks

, Ind

ia



Facilitating ODF verification

In Surguja the District Collector constituted a 6 member team and developed a verification format to

be administered in the ODF declared villages. The format included information related to disposal of

household waste and garbage also along with questions to check safe disposal of infant feces and

hand wash at critical times.

Format for ODF verification as developed by Surguja

The villages which cleared the verification process would qualify to avail schemes and the special

attention of the district administration.

At the state and district levels there has been a drastic change in terms of acceptance and adaptation

of the CATS approach, thus resulting in a paradigm shift in the focus from construction of toilets to

usage and sustainability of the changed behavior. Across the state, the UNICEF supported projects in

CATS have successfully influenced the mindset of the government machinery in looking at sanitation

as a collective behavior change issue rather than an issue of infrastructure.

Knowle

dge L

inks

, Ind

ia



3. Demand generation (Social and Behavior Change Communication-SBCC)

for construction and use of toilets and hygiene practices by community-based

networks

The second stint with UNICEF, Raipur support in Chhattisgarh was devoted to strengthening

alternative delivery mechanism. The project enabled creation of a pool of trained resource in

facilitating CATS processes at the community level, with an aim to enhance demand generation for

toilets and ensuring their usage.

Convergence with NRLM in Rajnandgaon

Rajnandgaon has a good network of empowered women groups and SHGs. Many of these women

have undergone the 5 day training in CATS and are in a position to trigger neighbouring villages and

follow up and monitor in their own villages, to adhere to hygienic practices and safe confinement on

infant feces etc. They would serve as in-house CATS facilitators and be effective agents to check any

slip back.

In Surguja too, the participants were picked up from among the Rojgar Sahayaks, ASHAs/Mitanins

and Sakshartha Preraks in neighbouring GPs. As a result they could effectively work in groups of 5-8

and produce very good results.

Poor tribal families sold forest products to buy

sanitary ware

In Dantewada, there is a high concentration of

tribal population who have little liquid cash on

hand. When they were triggered and realized

they wanted to give up the habit of open

defecation, they bought the sanitary material by

selling forest produce, especially mohua, the

wild flower used to make an intoxicating drink.

This spread as an easy way to acquire the

hardware for toilet construction. It had become

a common site to see the tribal family returning

from a village haat with pan and p-trap in their hands.

Knowle

dge L

inks

, Ind

ia



Nigrani Samitis in all ODF villages

All the ODF villages have in place the vigilance teams

with members representing all sections of the

community. It constitutes of women, children and

men. The vigilance teams are set up by the community

when the construction of toilets in the community is

complete and people collectively resolve to abide by

the newly set norm. These samitis are active during

dawn and dusk. If any member of the vigilance team

finds someone defecating in the open, they blow the whistle and attract other’s attention. This

humiliates the one who breaks the norm; the whistle blower gets rewarded while the one caught,

ends up paying a fine. Youth participated in large numbers particularly in Dantewada, where cricket

kits were being provided as rewards.

Innovative designs for the super structure

It is interesting to see the size and shapes of the super structures of the toilets built by the villagers

across the target districts. In contrast to the toilets provided under TSC/NBA, the super structure of

toilets built by the villagers seemed more spacious, airy and better ventilated. Some of them who

could not afford bricks and cement chose to use local raw materials to construct the super structure.

The designs jelled with that of their houses and it was clear that they were building it considering

their comfort and that of the family members, because intend to use it.

Toilets 1 and 2 are toilets in Dantewada: Super structure with Gunny bag material; mud bricks. Toilet 3 is a brick and cement super structure in Raigarh

Knowle

dge L

inks

, Ind

ia



Some others used temporary super structures with the intention of upgrading it when they could

afford it.

Taking pride in becoming ODF village/GP

When there is collective resolve followed by collective action and achievement, the ownership and

sense of pride associated with it is huge. The villagers take the opportunity to have a celebration and

invite the District Collector and other important officials from the district and block levels for the

celebration.

L&R:Toilets with temporary super structure in Dantewada ; Center Mud super structure with a thatched roof in Raigarh

Left: Invitation card for ODf celebration in Binjam, Dantewada ; Center: Preparations for ODF celebration

Knowle

dge L

inks

, Ind

ia



Community Toilets and sign boards

After building their own toilets, the villagers contribute and build a community toilet so that the

visitors and passers-by do not engage in OD. They even put out sign board announcing the newly

acquired status and the rules to be followed with regard to defecation practices in the village.

Pic 2 from Left: Community toilet in Raigarh

Knowle

dge L

inks

, Ind

ia



4. Demonstration of alternative delivery mechanism for CATS within

NBA/SBM: Capacity building and supportive supervision in select districts:

End line Report The second phase of CATS support initiative was conceived with the idea of building capacities of the

district administration, including the district, block and cluster coordinators, Rojgar Sahayaks,

Saksharta preraks, ASHAs/Mitanins and handpump technicians. The target districts initially were

Rajnandgaon, Dantewada and Surguja.

It was envisaged that as an outcome of the training and handholding support across the project

districts, around 21 ODF villages would be created during the project period. However, the teams

have done well to achieve 45 ODF villages across Dantewada, Surguja and Raigarh districts.

a) Rajnandgaon

The inception meeting at Rajnandgaon set the tone for the launch of the second round of CATS

activities in the district. The District collector was keen on giving an impetus to the sanitation

movement in the district, while the CEO, Zilla Panchayat was enthusiastic about its convergence with

the ongoing NRLM (National Rural Livelihood Mission) activities in the district. She was very keen to

get the women of the SHGs and Village organizations trained in CATS approach so that they could

engage in triggering when they visit the villages allotted to them for forming women SHGs.

While the idea was very good and carried the promise of positioning and mobilizing women as

sanitation champions and key catalysts in the sanitation movement in the district, there were some

practical hurdles to begin with.

Selection of participants for the CATS five day training of facilitators program

The criteria for selection of participants provided by KL were not followed while selecting the

participants. As a result, appropriate selection of participants could not take place and many of the

participants did not attend all the 5 days of the CATS workshop.

Incentives for the members of the Nirmal Samuhs

No system of compensation and incentives could be developed to cover the costs of those who

attended all the five days and showed visible interest in working as community facilitators and

mobilisers. Meeting the travel cost of the members of the Nirmal Samuhs emerged as a major

bottleneck. Despite repeated requests, the CEO Zilla Panchayat insisted that they need not be paid

separately. She even turned down the offer made by UNICEF, Raipur to provide some travel

allowance to the trained participants to facilitate their movement to the field. She believed that the

training would not go waste as the trained people would use the acquired skills as and when they

visited other villages to facilitate SHG formation.

Knowle

dge L

inks

, Ind

ia



Handholding Support was turned down

After the first village Simradehan became ODF, the CEO Zilla Panchayat suggested that KL may

decide the area where they would work so that nobody else from the local administration and the

nirmal samuhs would be engaged in the facilitation of the processes in those villages/GPs. The Nirmal

Samuhs remained non-functional as their travel costs were not provided for by the district

administration and the team members were not in a position to take care of their own travel for

sanitation work across villages.

Ownership of the district administration

Some of these initial factors affected Knowledge Links’ involvement in facilitation on the ground.

However, a complete ownership of the sanitation agenda as evinced by CEO Zilla Panchayat and the

hard work put in by her staff and teams helped achieve a fairly good number of ODF villages in the

district. While the approach and strategy used by the teams and individuals working to create ODF

villages in Rajnandgaon has not been very clear, the ODF numbers claimed by the district

administration are impressive.

They have 207 ODF villages as per their brochure prepared for the visit of Dy. Director, MDWS, Dr

Nipun Vinayak in the month of May, the closing month of the UNICEF supported CATS initiative.

However, as per their own data, there is a gap between the number of households in the ODF

villages and the number of total toilets functional, repaired and constructed.

The table below has the details.

S.N. Name of agency Total ODF villages

Total No of HHs in village

Total toilets constructed

New Toilets constructed

Total no. of toilets repaired

Total toilet functional before implementation

1 Dist. Administration 2014-15

54 3903 3903 1631 1188 1084

2 Dist. Administration 2015-16

110 17603 10896 5277 5086 533

3 Maa Bamleshwari SHGs Group (2014-15)

21 1096 1096 560 492 44

4 Knowledge Links (2013-14)

19 2611 2611 745 1866 0

UNICEF supported NGO Jan Kalyan Samiti (April to September 2014)

9

5 Navratn Special and woman SHG group (2014-15)

2 761 750 594 150 0

Total 215 26009 19291 8842 8782 1667

Knowle

dge L

inks

, Ind

ia



As per the details in the table above as shared by Rajnandgaon district administration, the ODF

villages created by the efforts of the District Administration during 2015-16 are 110. The number of

households has been quoted as 17603 the total toilets constructed repaired and found to be

functional before implementation are only 10896, meaning there are 6,707 households without

toilets.

Similarly, the villages facilitated by Navratna Special and SHG groups during 2014-15 as shown in the

table above have 761 households and only 750 toilets thereby leaving 11 households without a toilet.

This is the status of the physical existence of toilets as against number of households in the villages

declared ODF; there is no confirmed information regarding the usage, but since they are reportedly

ODF, one could safely presume 100% usage.

Knowle

dge L

inks

, Ind

ia



b) Dantewada

In view of the district being a major site for left wing activism, the District Collector, had suggested at

the very outset that the CATS activities should be concentrated only in two of the four blocks

namely, Geedam and Dantewada to begin with. During the first kick off meeting, it was agreed that

the District Coordinators, Block coordinators and Cluster coordinators from the PHED and some

active Saksharta Preraks and Rojgar Sahayaks would be selected for the 3 batches of CATS 5 day

training of facilitator events to be conducted as per the proposed project in the district.

Two batches of all newly recruited PHED staff and the Saksharta preraks and the Rojgar sahayaks

were trained but it was noticed that these groups lost the enthusiasm and insisted on staying away

from the field on the pretext of their routine responsibilities. On sharing about this situation with

Task Supervisor, Dr. Pratibha Singh, it was discussed and agreed with the district administration that

a batch of twenty young people from the district would recruited and trained who would form

samuhs and work as per the action plan.

Recruiting local youth to train in CATS

A call for applications from eligible graduates was advertised in the local newspapers. The applicants

underwent a round each of written exam and group discussion and 30 of those who cleared these

two rounds faced a personal interview with a board consisting of KL and district administration

representatives. Twenty candidates eventually were selected and trained in Cats. They formed

nirmal Samuhs and were handheld by the KL team led by Sanjay Sharma.

Several large sized paras make a village

In Dantewada, unlike other target districts a number of paras formed a village and they are spread

over a vast area. Therefore reaching out to the villages was a challenge for the new samuhs put

together. UNICEF, Raipur therefore sanctioned a small grant to cover the travel costs of the teams

for the remaining part of the project period. This enabled the teams to function without any

problems and the results reflect their hard work.

Tasks accomplished despite adversities

Though the teams/ individuals in the teams at times faced threats and detainment by some of those

who had other vested interests, the teams did well to facilitate creation of 2 GPs ODF, consisting of

1263 households in 33 paras. Work is on in 12 more paras that are moving fast towards the ODF

status.

Active role of the District Collector and CEO Zilla panchayat

At the inception of the project, Dr Mittar was the CEO Zilla Panchayat, who took keen interest and

visited some of the triggered villages and offered the SBM subsidy to 50 households in a couple of

paras. However, the first two paras Totapara and Patel para in Jodhiyabadam village in Geedam

block became ODF on 15th and 17th March, 2015. Around the same time, Dr Mittar got transferred out

and the District Collector, Shri Dev Senapathy began to take keen interest in the ongoing sanitation

Knowle

dge L

inks

, Ind

ia



work in the district. He made several visits to these paras and personally congratulated the natural

leaders for taking up the responsibility for their village and publicly presented them with solar lamps

as a memento of appreciation for their initiative. He promised and provided cricket kits and LED TVs

to the ODF villages in appreciation of their collective decision to change their defecation behavior.

These incentives gave an impetus to the ongoing work on the ground. Word spread and within the

28th of April, 15, the remaining paras of this village and the other village in the GP became ODF.

Following the suit, Binjam GP became ODF before the end May, 2015.

The under privileged pulled up their socks!

Enthusiasm in the air can be infectious. The less privileged who would have otherwise complained

about lack of funds to build a toilet, gathered the courage to think out of the box. They bought the

material for toilet construction with the money collected from the sale of mohua and other forest

products. Many were seen returning with pans and pipes on their way back from the day’s work.

Recognition and encouraging coverage by the print media

The local papers carried articles and news items about how these villages were exhibiting confidence

and enthusiasm and coming forward to make their villages free from open defecation. Many of them

belonged to scheduled tribes like Gonds, halbas and Moriyas.

Innovative cost effective super structures

The villagers came up with innovative ideas for the super structures like using mud bricks and mud

plastering to give it a sturdy and smooth finish. Women and children played an active role. Some

used a gunny cover and cemented it with mud and lime to make stiff and lend it a neat finish. Some

used bamboos for wall and roof.

Post ODF incentive to the villages

A combined sum was paid to the ODF GP, Binjam in public meeting, reinforcing the collective

responsibility to sustain the ODF status and inspiring others to achieve the feat.

Knowle

dge L

inks

, Ind

ia



c) Surguja

Restore ODF status of the slipped back Nirmal Grams

The initiative in Surguja had an uncertain start largely due to lack of interest at the level of the district

administration and absence of a nodal person for the task. The District Collector was not even

available for a kick-off meeting as promised, due to her other engagements in the district.

During the subsequent meeting with the collector, she shared her apprehensions about the

sanitation programme in general and the task of creating open defecation free villages in particular.

She warned the KL team that the villagers would ask for pipe and other material for repair of the

defunct toilets built earlier; she was referring to the NGP winning GPs in the Lundra block where

there was reportedly 80% slip back.

5 day CATS Training Events at the GP level

With regards selection of participants for the training she requested the KL team to select the final

30-40 participants for each of the batches, so that only those who can actually contribute are

trained. A critical point was that Collector proposed a methodology where trainings will be

conducted at the GP level , so as to minimize costs of travel. Since many trainings had been

conducted at the district and block levels, one batch was created from selected participants

belonging to 3 near by GPs, making it easy to form nirmal groups and minimize travel costs. A total of

6 batches of CATS training of facilitators were conducted.

Nirmal Samuhs

From the 6 batches trained, 24 nirmal samuhs were formed. Only 3 of the 24 fell apart, while 21

actively participated and facilitated in creation of ODF villages. This has indeed been a major

achievement of this project.

No financial assistance sought

Though the district administration had made it very clear at the very outset that the training events

were largely a waste of resources and that the district had no funds available even in the IEC funds,

the district did not seek any assistance for the travel of the members of the Nirmal Samuhs or the

training events.

District recognized the success of the approach

After the success of the first training event and creation of the first ODF village within a month on 13

December, 2014, the district administration recognized the potential of the CATS/CLTS initiative and

the District Collector, called the KL Team Leader to arrange more trainings.

As a result, before the end of the project period on 31st May, 2015, 14 villages had become ODF and 10

more were almost ODF or near ODF. In some of them the vigilance teams were working to ensure

Knowle

dge L

inks

, Ind

ia



there is 100% conformation to the newly established rule while in some others the construction work

was close to completion. The details are furnished in the table annexed at the end of the report.

ODF Verification

The District of Surguja constituted an independent team of people from the district administration to

verify the ODF status of12 of the earlier declared villages, and to check if the ones declared in

December and January had actually sustained their status. It was found that the villages had

maintained the status. In one village where a family of 3 had returned from Odisha (where they were

at the time when their village resolved to end OD), were asked to build their toilet. When the

verification team visited the village, they saw that their toilet was under construction and that the

community ensured they used one of the toilets in the village until theirs was ready for use. The

format used is annexed to this report.

Knowle

dge L

inks

, Ind

ia



d) Raigarh

This was not one of the project districts for the contract between KL and UNICEF, however the

initiative and interest of District Administration by observing the Rajnandgaon – piloting and up-

scaling of Community Approaches to Total Sanitation led to the start of CATS support to this district.

UNICEF, Raipur had organized a one day State level workshop in Raipur for Orientation of CEO’s of

Zilla Panchayats on Swachh Bharat Mission on 14th February, 2015. The CEO, Zilla Panchayat, Raigarh

Mr. Nilesh Kshirsagar attended this event where Knowledge Links made a presentation about the

CATS approach and the CEO, Zilla Panchayat, Rajnadgaon, also shared how KL had demonstrated the

approach in Chhuria and how she had subsequently facilitated the scale up in the district.

This triggered Mr Nileshkumar Kshirsagar and he immediately requested UNICEF, Raipur for training

of his staff in the CATS approach. UNICEF, Raipur suggested that some of the left out trainings in

Rajnandgaon can be facilitated in Raigarh. As a result the KL team started the first training event in

Raigarh. On 17th February, Tipakhol, a village triggered during the training became ODF in less than a

month’s time. The trained teams played an active role under the leadership of the CEO, Zilla

Panchayat. The KL team provided supportive supervision and trained three batches of District and

block level staff selected by the CEO, Zilla Panchayat himself.

Efforts by the CEO, Zilla Panchayat

The activities in the district took a mission mode, due to efforts of the CEO, Zilla Panchayat with

support of District Collector. He selected the most active people in the district from across all the line

departments and had them trained in the approach. He requested the KL team to facilitate

orientation workshops for the heads of the departments and other important office bearers in the

district. He took all on-board and issued necessary orders to facilitate the deputation of trained

people from other departments to work for SBM for stipulated time period. He provided block based

teams, vehicles to facilitate movement and efficient coverage.

Rewarding the ODF villages with schemes

During ODF celebrations, the CEO Zilla Panchayat, announced tube well schemes and publicly

promised to give priority to the ODF villages in all the schemes. He frequently visited the triggered

villages which was not only encouraging for the team members but also to the villagers, thus

facilitating pace of the work.

ODF Celebrations

ODF celebrations in the village were a time of pride for the villagers to showcase their achievement.

The large number of district officials including the district collector congratulating them at the

achievement of such a feat was a major boost of morale for the villagers and an inspiration for others

attending the function.

Knowle

dge L

inks

, Ind

ia



Effective Media Coverage

The print media gave adequate attention and weightage to the ongoing efforts which not only gave

a visibility and attention of all the other possible stakeholders in the district but also articulated the

efforts of the district administration and the enthusiasm of the villagers and the teams working for

the mission.

Roping in the private companies in different blocks

The ongoing action in the district on CATS and its publicity has effectively attracted the attention of

the private corporate firms in the district. Some of them have offered to support the cause. If their

support happens soon, it could be a huge help to scale up the efforts and at pace.

Knowle

dge L

inks

, Ind

ia



Annex 1: ODF Format prepared and used by the District Administration, Surguja

Knowle

dge L

inks

, Ind

ia



Knowle

dge L

inks

, Ind

ia



Knowle

dge L

inks

, Ind

ia



Knowle

dge L

inks

, Ind

ia



Annex 2: Details of the CATS trainings completed

S.N. Name of District No. of batches No. of Participants

1. Rajnandgaon 07 135

2. Ambikapur 06 248

3. Raighad 03 118

3. Dantewada 03 96

4. Raipur 01 22

Total 20 619

Knowle

dge L

inks

, Ind

ia



Annex 3: Tables and graphics

District wise Details of ODF villages

Sr No

District Block No of Villages

No of Para

in Village

No of Household

Population Before Triggering Functional

toilet

No of Toilets

Repaired

No of New

Toilets

ODF Villages

Near ODF as on

May 31, 2015

1 Sarguja Lundra 14 0 3684 25656 932 1912 840 14 8

Total 14 0 3684 25656 932 1912 840 14 8

1 Raigarh Raigarh 3 0 378 1890 109 170 99 4 0

2 Raigarh Sarangarh 8 0 483 2415 14 72 405 8 2

4 Raigarh Lailunga 1 0 78 390 40 30 8 1 0

Total 12 0 939 4695 163 272 512 13 2

1 Dantewada Geedam 8 26 485 2948 - - 485 13 13

2 Dantewada Dantewada 12 24 217 1201 - - 217 5 19

Total 20 50 702 4149 0 0 702 18 32

1 Rajnandgaon Rajnandgaon 215 0 26009 130045 1667 8782 8842 215

Total 215 0 26009 130045 1667 8782 8842 215 0

Grand Total 261 50 31334 164545 2762 10966 10896 259 42

Note:

The boxes in yellow are an estimated population (no. of households X 5)

Knowle

dge L

inks

, Ind

ia



Fig 1 : ODF villages across the project districts

0

50

100

150

200

250

Sarguja Raigarh Dantewada Rajnandgaon

No

. o

f O

DF

villa

ges

Name of the District

ODF villages across project districts

ODF Villages

Knowle

dge L

inks

, Ind

ia



Fig 2: No. of Households in the ODF villages across the project districts

No of Household, 26009

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000


No

. of

Ho

use

ho

lds

No of Households in the ODF villages across the project districts

Knowle

dge L

inks

, Ind

ia



Fig 3: No. of households that built new toilets in the ODF villages across the project districts

Note: In Surguja, as a strategy, the NGPs were targeted so that the slipped back villages could become ODF.

840 512 702

8842

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000


Break up of new toilets built in the ODF villages across the project districts

No of Household

No of New Toilets

Knowle

dge L

inks

, Ind

ia



Annex 4: District wise ODF villages facilitated during the project period

List of ODF Villages in Dantewada District

S. No. Identified Village / Para for ODF Name of Revenue Village No. of Households Population

Geedam Block

1 Patelpara Jhodiyabadam 66 430

2 Totapara Jhodiyabadam 21 176

3 Bramhand para Jhodiyabadam 4 27

4 Perampara Jhodiyabadam 23 106

5 Kunjampara Jhodiyabadam 21 126

6 Kalarpara Jhodiyabadam 17 95

7 Lankapara Jhodiyabadam 9 54

8 Iavanpara Kutulnar 19 97

9 Mandavipara & hajarepara Kutulnar 23 165

10 Patalpara&lakmepara Kutulnar 31 138

11 Schoolpara&rautpara Binjam 83 488

12 Patalpara Binjam 67 379

13 Badepara Binjam 101 667

Total 485 2948

Dantewada Block

14 Rautpara (Hemlet) Matenar 44 292

15 Sarpenchpara Murki 42 239

16 Dhakeradpara Murki 40 218

17 Patalpara&samerpara Murki 81 407

18 Kakdachua Bhairambandh 10 45

Total 217 1201

Grand Total 702 4149

Knowle

dge L

inks

, Ind

ia



ODF Villages in Sarguja District

S. No. Name of the village Name of Gram Panchayat Total Household Population

1 Bardihi Bardihi 236 1652

2 Barkol Barkol 234 1638

3 Gagoli Gagoli 166 1162

4 Ghaghari Gagoli 134 938

5 Jamira Jamira 374 2671

6 Batoli Jamira 119 833

7 Kot Kot 625 4376

8 Lamgao Lamgao 462 3234

9 Purkela Purkela 310 2243

10 Sikilma Purkela 142 998

11 Raghunathpur Raghunathpur 360 2520

12 Sairrai Raghunathpur 184 1288

13 Agasi Sahanpur 140 980

14 Uchadih Uchadin 198 1123

Total 3684 18420

Knowle

dge L

inks

, Ind

ia



ODF Villages in Raigarh District

S. No. Name of the village Name of Gram Panchayat No. of Household Population

Raigarh Block

1 Tipalkol Khairpur 77 385

2 Gadkurri Kushwabahari 72 360

3 Aurabhanta Aurabhanta 119 595

4 Thakurpali Aurabhanta 110 550

Total 378 1890

Sarangarh Block

5 Jhalmala Chatadei 32 160

6 Tilaipali Bataupali B 32 160

7 Vijaypur Chanwarpur 45 225

8 Bataupali Bataupali 100 500

9 Aamakoni 68 340

10 Sariyadara 74 370

11 Tamandi 42 210

12 Dongia Muriyadih 90 450

Total 483 2415

Lailunga Block

13 Gahira Bhakurra 78 390

Grand Total 939 4695

Knowle

dge L

inks

, Ind

ia



Details of ODF villages in Rajnandgaon as shared by the District Administration

S.N. Name of agency Total ODF villages

Total No. of HHs in village

Total toilets constructed

New Toilets constructed

Total no. of toilets repaired

Total toilet functional before implementation

1 Dist. Administration 2014-15 54 3903 3903 1631 1188 1084

2 Dist. Administration 2015-16 110 17603 10896 5277 5086 533

3 Maa Bamleshwari SHGs Group (2014-15)

21 1096 1096 560 492 44

4 Knowledge Links (2013-14) 19 2611 2611 745 1866 0

5 UNICEF supported NGO Jan Kalyan Samiti (April to September 2014)

9

6 Navratn Special and woman SHG group (2014-15)

2 761 750 594 150 0

Total 215 26009 19291 8842 8782 1667

Documents

EXPERIENCES WITH COMMUNITY APPROACHES …knowledgelinks.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/CLTS_SMP_03.pdfHalba, Moriya and Gond tribes; villages in Surguja with Oron, Korba and Gond population;