Mid-term review : water and sanitation (1991-1995)

India's Water and Sanitation Programme involves a two pronged approach with interventions at National Level advocating accelerated coverage through policy development, capacity building, communication and social mobilization, low cost technology and Management Information System; at District Level, increasing service levels and WATSAN convergence with women and child related activities for overall improvement of quality of life in which community involvement is an integral component. The major programme components include water supply, environmental sanitation, guineaworm eradication, communication and social mobilization, and management information system. This 1993 mid-term review seeks to provide the Government of India and UNICEF with an assessment of achievements at the mid point of the 1991-95 GOI/UNICEF programme of Cooperation with especial reference to the Global Goals for the year 2000; to determine whether the programme is appropriate and relevant or needs to be modified; and to provide an opportunity to address policy, strategy, technical or operational issues of special concern. Part I of the report outlines the objectives of and financial inputs to the programme and describes the present accomplishments towards achieving universal access to safe drinking water and to sanitary means of excreta disposal, and towards eradicating guineaworm disease. Part II presents a critical analysis of the approaches and strategies used to implement the programme and the experience gained during the first two years of the current Plan of Operations as well as highlighting areas of success, scope for consolidation and opportunities for accelerating coverage against Global Goals in a sustainable manner. In sanitation projects, several community based approaches promise replicability; namely, the promotion of local production capacity of sanitary latrines; the development of different models of sanitary latrines to accommodate various income groups; the formation of WATSAN committees as organs of the Village Panchayats; the involvement of women in the promotion of personal hygiene, environmental sanitation, immunization, nutrition and primary education, and their acceptance as mechanics; and the process of decentralization through Village Contact Drives. Part III looks to the future by giving an overview of the water and sanitation challenges still to be met, and by outlining the future WATSAN strategy which emphasizes mobilizing communities to adopt available low cost ooptions, such as sanitary marts, in an effort to bridge the gap between the demand created and service delivery with regard to sanitation facilities.