Jal Shakti Ministry to Strengthen State Capacities for SBM-Grameen II

The Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Ministry of Jal Shakti, with the support of UNICEF, organized a national workshop on capacity building in New Delhi on 12^th July to finalize the capacity building strategy and training calendar of each State and Union Territory as part of their efforts to make their villages ODF Plus.

Stakeholder capacity building is critical to achieving ODF Plus status, and in the third year of Phase II of Swachh Bharat Mission Grameen (SBM-G), States and Union Territories have set targets to ensure that all of their villages are ODF Plus. The programme drew participation from more than 150 sanitation officials from across the country.

Vini Mahajan, Secretary-DDWS, stated at the inaugural session, "I believe we have a unique and historic opportunity to make a difference in people's lives." The work done over the years has provided momentum, and today, with strong political will at the highest levels, both in the Government of India and the States, and equipped with technical knowledge of what needs to be done for rural sanitation, we know what needs to be done and how to do it. As a result, we have the ability to transform our countryside."

However, the Secretary added that if we want to deliver rural sanitation, which is a human right and a necessity for human health and dignity, it must be done with the engagement, continued involvement, and strong participation of local communities.

She emphasized that adequate funds are available and that panchayat leader at the local level should recognise the need, importance, and possibilities, as well as understand which option works best in their areas. We may lose this historic opportunity unless we are willing to take on the responsibility of ensuring that the necessary actions are taken, infrastructure is developed and maintained, and systems are in place, said Mahajan.

"The task is highly complex because we are talking about 6 lakh villages under various geographic conditions," the Secretary said, calling for capacity building at all levels. “We need strong teams comprised of committed individuals willing to devote their attention, energy, and intellectual abilities to this issue, and this must extend down to the district and block levels. In addition, every panchayat must be brought into the loop, and master trainers must be developed at all levels to train the next level."

Nicolas Osbert, UNICEF WASH Chief, outlined what is at stake for India as it fulfills its commitment to SDG 6.2 on safely managed sanitation, which is toilet usage while ensuring safe containment of human faeces through faecal sludge management and the operation and maintenance of twin pit toilets, in his opening remarks. He stated that UNICEF is involved with the Mission because it promotes women's and children's health and dignity while preventing water-borne diseases. It also provides an excellent opportunity to build on Phase I's successes, he says.

Concerning UNICEF's capacity-building assistance, he stated that they have developed well-defined training modules to empower GPs - a 5-day training module for master trainers - and that to date, approximately 1232 master trainers have been developed in 12 states and are engaged in ODF Plus training. UNICEF remains fully committed and accountable to assisting in the achievement of the target of building sanitation workers' capacities, empowering them, and raising community awareness.

Speaking on the occasion, Arun Baroka, Special Secretary, DDWS, emphasized that solid and liquid waste management were technical in nature and that given a large number of villages and lack of capacities at the local level, there was a need for decentralized planning, implementation, operation, and maintenance; in addition to sustaining behaviour change and ODF status.

To address this, DDWS intends to strengthen capacity at all levels in a timely manner, provide adequate information and knowledge to village-level functionaries, and maintain ODF while transitioning to ODF plus. The Special Secretary also discussed the current human resource availability, the capacity-building dashboard, theme-based training that has been conducted thus far, and the path forward.

During the workshop, states/UTs shared information on the following topics: a strategy for orienting state/district level officers, number of master trainers (MTs) to be trained at the state and district levels, and a timeline. Strategy for MT engagement and sustainability; a rollout plan with a cascading approach to cover all GPs/villages, including a monitoring mechanism; a timeline for completing all trainings at the district/block/GP/village level, as well as the preparation of a village sanitation plan; and the appointment of resource persons to undertake capacity building initiatives at the state, district, and block levels.

DDWS intends to provide training programme support through partner training agencies. The first round of training should be supplemented in the current fiscal year so that one trained resource person is available in each village to help prepare the Village Sanitation Plan (VSP) of the villages/GPs for the current year and monitor its implementation.