A new campaign focuses on restoration in schools in India of already built sanitation infrastructure, which is lying in a 'dysfunctional' state, instead of building new toilets.
US-based personal care corporation, Kimberly-Clark (K-C) in association with city-based NGO, Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) recently launched the 'Toilets Change Lives' campaign here, seeking to spread awareness about the need for proper sanitation by renovating toilets in schools.
The programme, that began in October last year, aims to restore 100 already existing but "dysfunctional" toilets, across government schools in 5 Indian states - Delhi-NCR, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, West Bengal and Maharashtra.
According to Achal Agarwal, President K-C, Asia Pacific region, the issue of sanitation must be disected into three parts - building the toilet, maintaining the toilet and sustaining the people going to the toilet, the last being the biggest challenge.
"We were trying to find the right way to impact the issue. of sanitation and we found a sweet spot in government schools. 90 per cent of the schools had toilets but 40 per cent were not being used or were called dysfunctional.
"If those 40 per cent can be maintained and we then build up the mindset of using the toilet the right way and sanitation over all, then we can sustain that effort," says Agarwal.
Besides says Agarwal, the elementary job of
infrastructural restoration, the programme, says, wishes to serve as an agent of change in the long run by influencing the young minds, which will spread the word, thereby making a difference .
"Our NGO partners are working with the schools in order to create a mindset. If you instil the ideas of a healthy mind in a healthy body at such an early stage, it will never leave their minds.
"What we must make sure is that those toilets are maintained so that these children use the toilets at school and when they go home, they demand similar toilets from their parents and the community and then they will bring a change in the community. This is what we are going after," he says.
The primary factors that contribute towards the dysfunctionality of these toilets include disrupted and damaged floors, intermittent water supply, poor lighting, and broken doors among others.
"Often the doors have broken latches and cannot be closed, due to which adolescent girls refrain from using the toilets," says Shweta Shukla, Director Communications and Government Affairs, K-C.
K-C and CAF say that they have already revived 40 per cent of the toilets in government schools, and are looking to pilot in anganwadi areas in Pune and Uttar Pradesh, while expressing an interest in expanding the campaign into other affected areas in the country.
They say a dedicated team in cooperation with local institutions like panchayats and municipalities will monitor the progress of the initiative and ensure sustained usage of the toilets.
