Rural and urban programmes

Credit: WaterAid / Marco Betti

Though both regions face great challenges with gaining access to water and sanitation, approaches in rural and urban areas can be quite different due to the distinct difficulties they face.

Rural Programme

WaterAid India's rural programmes have evolved over the years. As the government has made huge investments in increasing the access to water in rural areas, WaterAid India's projects here concentrate on community capacity and institution building, training villagers to maintain the new infrastructure and set up village water and sanitation committees to manage the projects in a way that involves the entire community and promotes good hygiene.

WaterAid India also helps the rural poor put forward their views in village governing bodies such as the Gram Sabha (a village level forum for decision making) and Panchayats (local government). WaterAid India's focus is on rehabilitating the existing infrastructure and promoting conservation and rainwater harvesting.

Rural sanitation coverage is very low and continues to be a big challenge. WaterAid India projects focus on promoting sanitation as a demand-responsive approach among the rural poor, encouraging them to not just have their own latrines, but also use them in a manner that results in safe disposal of human waste. Sanitation and hygiene is often promoted through school children and linked to school sanitation.

Urban programme

WaterAid India's urban programme is evolving and growing fast. Our initial interventions have yielded significant successes despite the diversity in urban contexts. As in the rural context, we work in close collaboration with local urban bodies.

We recognise the resources held within government institutions and our interventions have inspired policy makers and development practitioners to adopt pro-poor approaches.

WaterAid India has demonstrated collaborative projects in which, through empowerment of poor communities, particularly women, the projects have addressed obstacles preventing the poor from getting connected. Community toilets in urban settlements have been found to be a feasible option for the urban context.

Management issues around community toilets have been addressed through training and capacity-building of communities to enable them to organise themselves  and develop systems to recover maintenance through collection of user fees, maintaining the infrastructure and ensuring access to all.

To ensure that increased sanitation also results in increased use, especially in the case of individual toilets, a social marketing model is adopted in urban sanitation where settlements opt for appropriate design and technology.