WaterAid's plans in India: 2005 - 2010

A new strategy running from 2005 to 2010 sets out the future plans and activities for WaterAid in India. During this time WaterAid will continue to focus on water, sanitation and hygiene education working with local partners on community managed projects.

The key aims are to:

• Ensure at least 245,000 people gain access to safe water and at least 200,000 people gain access to improved sanitation every year by 2010, contributing to reaching the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target of halving the proportion of people without access to safe water and sanitation by 2015
• Deliver hygiene education to 80% of these people to ensure sustainable good hygiene practices and a consequent 80% reduction in incidences of diarrhea among children under five

Child friendly toilets

Credit: WaterAid / Libby Clarke

These child friendly toilets are part of the community water and sanitation block built by WaterAid's partner Gramalaya in Karuvattupettai slum in Tircuhirapalli. "I am one of two people employed to look after the latrines," explains Mrs Lakshmi. "We each earn 40 rupees per day.

People are prepared to pay to use the latrines as they know the funds pay to keep the latrines clean. If people are unable to pay, for instance if they are sick, disabled or a lady living alone, then we let them in for free. About 300 children use the child-friendly toilets (also for free). The money pays for repairs, lightbulbs, soap and cleaning materials. The money left over is being used to build a community hall."

WaterAid is making urban program a priority and is currently developing strategic alliances for promoting urban work and increasing resources in those areas. In its urban work WaterAid's partner organizations act as intermediaries between the communities and the city water authorities to negotiate connections to the city's supplies. Communities are helped to establish communal, self managed water points and sanitation blocks which offer separate latrines and washing facilities for men, women and children. The blocks are run on a cost recovery basis; users pay a fee to the community management committee and the money collected covers the initial capital cost, water bills, attendants' wages and maintenance.

WaterAid India will continue to seek innovative ways to promote community collective action and create incentives for villages and schools to improve their water and sanitation situation. In 2004 a prize money scheme was initiated to provide cash prizes and certificates of appreciation to those villages or schools attaining zero-open defecation, maintaining a functional and reliable water supply system and adopting safe hygiene practices. Three villages and three schools were short-listed for the award in the first year.

The Indian Government's commitment to the MDGs entails a huge task and major gaps exist between the goals and the resources available. It is estimated that to reach the water and sanitation targets 48 million people need to be reached each year to 2015, for which there is a shortfall of around US$34 billion. In addition, incomplete decentralization has meant that local government, which is meant to be responsible for water and sanitation provision, often lack the finance and capacity to carry out their work fully.

WaterAid believes local government service providers should be accountable to the communities they serve. WaterAid will be supporting civil society organizations to mobilize communities to demand improved water and sanitation services from their local government agencies. In Bangalore and in rural districts in Jharkand and Uttar Pradesh WaterAid's Citizens' Action project is working to support communities to hold local authorities and service providers to account. People themselves gather evidence of their circumstances, such as water point mapping, take part in forums to discuss pertinent issues, and build partnerships and alliances with other communities or organizations. This experience of mobilizing themselves, raising money, developing a water user group and so on gives them experience of the process they would need to go through to demand other services such as health and education improvements. In this way communities are not passive recipients of aid but active agents of change.