India makes for an excellent case study for sanitation literacy done well. In just the last 5-8 years, we’ve seen a tangible difference in how we experience our nation: not only are our spaces visibly cleaner than before, but our access to clean and well maintained toilets has increased by leaps and bounds.
How did this happen? For starters, under the Swachh Bharat Mission, the GoI successfully constructed toilets for every Indian. Then, it began the work of communicating the massive behavioural change needed to use this infrastructure correctly and safely. After all, if we don’t maintain these toilets correctly, they will soon degrade and become unusable – bringing us back to square one.
The Swachh Bharat Mission kicked off a strong communication campaign that encompassed everything from speeches by the PM himself, to celebrities leading cleaning drives, to more typical forms of communication like posters, TV advertisements, and social media posts. In doing so, it made sanitation a national topic of conversation, and Indians began to resonate with the idea of a Swachh Bharat for all.
Of course, this was by design. A dedicated Sub-Group of Chief Ministers on Swachh Bharat Mission created the Behaviour Change Communication (BCC) strategy which includes measures like:
- Involving political and social/thought leaders, celebrities and media houses to spread the message of the importance of cleanliness and sanitation.
- Extensive media campaigns in the form of electronic, web and print to be used for conveying messages and encouraging the people to pay for usage of public toilets for their sustainability.
- Advocacy of the concept of three R’s: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.
- Communications to ensure that cleaning occupations must be seen as dignified work and widely respected.
However, the work didn’t stop there. In order to create lasting change, we needed to ingrain these behaviours into the next generation. As the Sub-Group of Chief Ministers found, children are formidable agents of change. Once educated about toilet hygiene and its links to disease, by and large, children tend to campaign for good toilet hygiene and toilet access within their families. The Sub-Group of Chief Ministers also came up with an education strategy that encompasses several key measures:
- Inculcating sanitation practices in children by including a chapter in the school curriculum from the first standard itself.
- In each school and college, a team of students may be formed which will be called the ‘Swachhata Senani’, to spread awareness about sanitation and cleanliness
- Skill Development courses/ Diploma courses may be introduced in State ITIs and polytechnics/ colleges to train personnel in the field of solid and liquid waste management.
- Specialised courses on Environmental Sciences, Public Health Engineering and Municipal Engineering with focus on sanitation and waste management may be introduced at undergraduate and postgraduate level.
- Joint Research Programmes with foreign universities/higher educational institutions would enhance knowledge and capacities to work on waste management technologies.
Toilet Hygiene in Schools Around The World
India isn’t alone in recognising the need for a toilet hygiene curriculum in schools. There is very good precedent for these initiatives, as seen in several projects undertaken worldwide.
The Fit for School Programme in the Philippines: aims to improve the health and education outcomes of primary school children by integrating water, sanitation, hygiene (WASH), nutrition, deworming, and oral health interventions into the school system. This simple but effective practice has been shown to reduce diarrhoeal diseases by 30%, respiratory infections by 23%, and school absenteeism by 40%.
The SWASH+ Project in Kenya: aims to improve the learning environment for primary school children by improving access to water supply systems, toilets, handwashing stations, sanitary materials for menstrual hygiene, waste management systems, and hygiene education materials. The project has resulted in increased WASH coverage, improved toilet cleanliness, reduced waterborne diseases, enhanced menstrual hygiene management, and increased school attendance and performance.
The School-Led Total Sanitation (SLTS) Approach in Nepal: aims to empower schools and communities to take collective action to end open defecation and improve sanitation and hygiene practices. The approach has led to improved sanitation and hygiene conditions, reduced diarrhoeal diseases, increased school enrolment and retention, and enhanced community participation and ownership.
Beyond Government-Led Programmes
Fortunately, the GoI has several vocal allies in the field of sanitation. First amongst these is Harpic. As India’s leading brand in the lavatory care segment, Harpic has a deep and nuanced understanding of the challenges that lie in communicating key sanitation messages in ways that they are understood and implemented by the right audiences.
For decades now, Harpic has vocally championed the cause of toilet hygiene through innovative and thought provoking campaigns and outreach programs. Together with News18, it also created the Mission Swachhta aur Paani initiative 3 years ago. It is a movement that upholds the cause of inclusive sanitation where everyone has access to clean toilets. Mission Swachhta aur Paani advocates equality for all genders, abilities, castes and classes and strongly believes that clean toilets are a shared responsibility.
Under the aegis of Mission Swachhta aur Paani, Harpic has also reached out 17.5 million children across the nation via their partnership with Sesame Workshop India to promote positive sanitation, hygiene knowledge and toilet behaviours among children and families through schools and communities. Very recently, the partnership also resulted in the new Sanitation for Good Health curriculum aimed at children at the preschool level.
Mission Swachhta aur Paani also undertakes community outreach programs like developing and recognising them as “Swachhta Champions’, and undertaking Swachhta ki Paathshalas which bring together celebrities like Shilpa Shetty, Kajal Agarwal, News18’s own Marya Shakil to use their celebrity status to drive home key messages and inspire the children and their families.
However, possibly the most important work that Mission Swachhta aur Paani does is to empower readers like you with the information they need to have the right conversations with their own children, and within their communities. Mission Swachhta aur Paani serves as a repository for information on a vast variety of topics related to toilets and sanitation, giving you a great jumping off point from which to start your own sanitation revolution.
No action is too small and every conversation counts. As does every social post, every email to your local ward officer and local municipality. Each time you raise your voice, online or offline, for improving sanitation, you move us closer to the ideal.
Join your voice to ours here, and help us move the needle on a Swasth and Swachh Bharat.
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