Daily Editorial Analysis

Leveraging sanitation for livelihood (GS Paper 2, Social Justice)

Context:

• Decentralisation and community partnerships can help state governments link marginalised communities to livelihoods in the sanitation space.
• The Odisha government has been able to provide employment opportunities to 6,500 members of women- and transgender collectives in the state.

Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM):

• The Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), an ambitious programme of the Government of India to accelerate the efforts to achieve universal sanitation coverage in rural and urban India, was launched in 2014.
• Since then, the programme has been able to achieve a number of milestones towards the goal of making India open defecation free (ODF). 
• The increase in service delivery through rapid expansion of sanitation infrastructure facilities beget the need for skilled workforce to operate and manage these facilities.
• In most of the cities, the urban local bodies (ULBs) were constrained by the limited availability of suitable private agencies to run and manage the sanitation infrastructure. Some state governments saw this as an opportunity to create livelihoods for various marginalised communities.

Urban reforms in Odisha:

• The government of Odisha has undertaken pioneering urban reforms in the area of slum development, water and sanitation, with decentralisation and community partnerships as the key two approaches.
• By adopting this two-pronged approach, the government has taken strides in engaging collectives comprising of marginalised members of the society in sanitation activities in the urban areas.
• The government employs collectives along the sanitation value chain, including self-help groups (SHGs) of women, transgender person, and people with disabilities (PwD).
• Specifically, collectives are involved in three types of sanitation models:

1. community and public toilets (CT/PTs),
2. faecal sludge treatment plants (FSTPs), and
3. solid waste management (SWM).

• The state has been able to provide employment opportunities to more than 6,500 women- and transgender-collective members through the various sanitation models.

Appointing & training collectives:

• 3ie, in partnership with the Ministry Of Housing And Urban Development Department, Odisha, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, conducted a year-long study to understand the barriers and facilitators of these urban collectives engaged in the sanitation work.
• The collectives are contracted by the urban local bodies after reviewing the selection criteria. This includes proximity of the collective to the sanitation enterprise, and inclination of the collective members to take up sanitation work.
• The contract is renewed annually after the review of performance of the collectives managing the sanitation enterprise.
• The members of these collectives are capacitated through various trainings and site visits to operate and manage these sanitation facilities. They are also provided refresher trainings every six months.
• The members are provided with personal protective equipment, and uniforms to ensure their safety.

Advantages of contracting collectives in sanitation work:

• It generates livelihood opportunities among the most marginalised section of the society. During the Covid-19 pandemic, when many people lost livelihood opportunities, sanitation work proved to the only source of income for most women and transgender people.
• Women, engaged in the sanitation work, became the sole breadwinners, gaining respect and confidence in the process.
• The income earned through sanitation work facilitated good education and nutrition for their family, especially children, in their hour of need. This has resulted in female SHG members collectively working towards addressing social issues and conflicts in their neighborhoods.
• For many transgender people, this opportunity was not only a source of livelihood when they had dearth of options, but also provided a pathway for reintegration into the society. Many of them were even accepted back into their family fold.
• Members of these collectives are engaged in both service and demand generation. For instance, the intervention has led to the formation of a cadre of Swachh Sathis who have been selected from existing women SHGs.

Community sensitization:

• One of their important tasks is to conduct house-to-house visits to create awareness about depositing waste in the waste collection vehicles, segregation of waste, usage of community and public toilets and creating demand for mechanized desludging.
• These aspects distinguish it from the model which contracted private operators, since their motive was solely profiteering with little to no accountability towards the community.
• Apart from regular training, community sensitisation, many urban local bodies have come up with innovative mechanisms to gain community’s interest.
• Through community connect platforms with participation from influential members of the community, urban local bodies and sanitation collective members, problems faced by the general public as well as collective members engaged in the sanitation work are taken up and addressed.

Conclusion & Way Forward:

• Thus, by ensuring the provision of basic services within the community in partnership with the local government, these programmes are designed to become sustainable and scalable.
• The collective-led sanitation program offers a lucrative opportunity for both the government as well as community. 
• These are rapid strides made by government in involving marginal communities and women in the field of sanitation and offering them respectable livelihood opportunities.
• However, the challenge will be to sustain the momentum in the long run. It is to be seen whether the programme will be able to meet the diverse needs of the communities involved in sanitation related livelihood to create a better quality of life and future for all.