Equity in WASH in India

Arun Mudgerikar & Aidan CroninUNICEF

Asia Regional Sanitation and Hygiene Practitioners Workshop

Dhaka, Bangladesh (31st January-2nd February, 2012)

Equity Profile in India• Disparities in WASH exist – across States, Castes, Religions, Rural-Urban, and Wealth

quintiles.– within politically recognized excluded classes– but the disparities among wealth quintiles are cross cutting

• These are reflected in WASH coverage in respective classifications– Rural-urban gap reflects need for accelerating rural sanitation– Definite linkage with poverty– Household water connectivity (HH water connection) enables

sanitation– Typical toilet designs (or any physical component) will have to

consistent with the existing household structures2

Disparities in rural sanitation – NSS 2010

75.23

3.11

21.66

Scheduled Tribes

69.651.61

28.74

Other Backward Castes

43.36

4.33

52.31

Others

76.61

1.71

21.69

Scheduled Caste

Open defeca-tion

Unimproved sanitation

Improved san-itation

Disparities in urban sanitation – NSS 2010Scheduled Tribes

21.23

2.52

76.26

Scheduled Tribe

22.95

3.03

74.01

Scheduled Caste

Open defeca-tion

Unimproved sanitation

Improved san-itation

14.762.73

82.51

Other Backward Castes

4.12

2.51

93.37

Others

Disparities across States in urban water supply – NSS 2010

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Tap Improved Source Other

Disparities across States in rural water supply – NSS 2010

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Tap Improved Other

Disparities across wealth quintiles Rural sanitation - JMPPorrest 20%

II Poorest 20%

III Poorest 20%IV Poorest 20%

Richest

0

50

100

Improved toilets 1995Improved toilets 2008

Disparities across wealth quintilesrural WS

Porrest 20%

II Poorest 20%

III Poorest 20%IV Poorest 20%

Richest

0

50

100

Piped water on premises - 1995 Piped water on premises 2008Other improved 1995 Other improved 2008

Disparities across wealth quintiles Urban sanitation

Porrest 20%

II Poorest 20%

III Poorest 20%IV Poorest 20%

Richest

0

50

100

Improved toilets 1995 Improved toilets 2008

Distribution of population across States in national wealth quintiles – NFHS 2005-06

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Poorest II Lowest Middle IV Quintile Richest

• Inclusive Behaviour Change: All C4D activities in WASH include specific emphasis on reaching the marginalised, social norm change can facilitate this

• Empowerment and Voice Strengthening: UNICEF build platforms with Govt, Civil Society, UN and the other main WASH actors to unite for improved service provision to the marginalised of India.

• Knowledge Management: CEP first unpacks the issue of social exclusion and equity in the WASH sector and then designs targeted programmatic interventions to tackle these and following this to strengthen documentation of the process and impact on the marginalised.

• Service Delivery: The main service delivery point to be adopted by Government is that progress in sanitation and water access to date is currently not reaching the poorest.

• Aaccountability and Institutional Strengthening: Capacity building will continue – at individual and institutional level. Key experts on WASH and the excluded will be identified to build capacity into program planners and implementers in Govt., civil society.

• Evidenced- based Policy Advocacy: Continue to promote the JMP methodology to highlight the actual usage of defined levels of service provision across different strata of society but looking also at other improved data sources with increased disaggregation possibilities (min to District level).

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Proposed strategy for inclusive programming

Some of the notable initiatives from India• Jharkhand: KAP findings study and GIS mapping of WASH among Adivasi groups.• Madhya Prasesh: Impact of district communication plan and mass media

campaigns for excluded • Uttar Pradesh: GIS mapping of 11,000 water points has been completed for all five

blocks of Chitrakoot and its scaled up to Lalitpur. • West Bengal: Consultation on converging backward region grant funds to prioritize

neglected areas and partnership in Purulia district with women SHGs • Orissa: Mapping of views on sanitation in Scheduled Tribes and designing an

inclusive communication strategy.• Assam: WASH in Tea Gardens Initiative to reach socially excluded people in the

estates.• Chhattisgarh: partnership with civil society to work with socially excluded primitive

tribes in civil strife affected areas.• Gujarat: Innovative solutions for water supply were trialed in remote tribal areas.• Bihar: Formative research for inclusive communication strategy development

Ways forward for for inclusive programming

• Clear identification of social economic and other classification

• Basic unit of effective coverage (like individual, Household)

• Baselines of access and actual use• Status of disparities & causal factors• Monitoring and evaluation methodology• Evidence based advocacy for policy and political

commitment • Universal and/or targeted approaches

Thanks !