Dhakede
habitation of Gram Panchayat Loshgyani of Ramgarh block, district Nainital is
situated about 54 kms away from District headquarters.The planning phase was initiated
in the village in July 2007. The problem of drinking water in the village was most
serious, as there was no drinking water supply scheme in the village and rural
women were forced to fetch water a the rivulet named Gadegad, which is about 2.5
kms away from the village habitations.The average time consumption in a round
trip for fetching one vessel of water is about 45 minutes, thus in a day a
woman per household had to spend about 5 hrs for getting water. According to the women of the village they used
to bring 2 to 3 vessels of water early in the morning before sunrise. In the summers
in place of taking rest in the afternoon they used to bring water in the scorching
heat. Due to unavailability of toilets, people used to go to defecate in open
fields & Gadheras (Streams) which in the rainy season contaminated water
sources, and out of compulsion & ignorance they had to drink polluted water
which lead to the water borne diseases like jaundice, diarrhea, skin diseases
etc. and the ever-increasing work load on women had adverse effect on their health.
There were many incidences of disease reoccurrences due to consumption of
polluted water. Due to poor sanitation coverage and use, the women and young
girls faced difficulty in attending the nature’s call. They were forced to go
in the fields & the forest. In focus - group discussions with the women, their
problems were discussed and converged towards motivating them for mobilizing
the resources for creation of sanitary ancillary in their homes. Participatory
Rural Appraisal tools such as SARAR (Self-esteem,Associate in strength,
Resourcefulness, Action plan and Responsibility) were found useful during the
process, especially the Poster Drama, depicting the healthy and the problem village, Three pile
sorting focused on good and the were most effective in which women folk participated
enthusiastically.
Women were
made aware of their daily work calendar through a pictorial chart game named “Women Time Use” Analysis and were sensitized to catagrise
the productive works in their household chores and also to the activities which they now
as a problem. Through these visioning
exercises they were led to foresee the picture of the forthcoming future, where
after the completion of the scheme they would be able to save time for
fulfilling their dreams like giving more time to their children, a bit of the
resting time and learning some skill like
weaving, knitting etc. Meanwhile, the knowledge about the process of “Healthy
Home Survey” as a community surveillance technique also shared with the members
of UWSSC, women and the school going children of the village. The healthy home
survey was practiced quarterly in the village and the results documented in
form of village sanitation maps. As per the norms decided by the villagers for
healthy home survey the house of Mrs. Malti Devi w/o Mr. Vijay Singh was found
the healthiest and she was awarded in an open meeting.
For conceptualizing
and planning the water supply scheme for the village, the community constituted
‘User Water & Sanitation Sub Committee (UWSSC)’ as a sub committee of Gram Panchayat
Jal Prabandhan Samiti (JPS) by general consensus in an open meeting held in the
village Panchayat Bhavan. UWSSC, with its untiring efforts and with the help of
the user community, constructed drinking water supply scheme under the guidance
of district implementing agency-SWAJAL. ‘Dharohar Vikas Sanstha’ worked as the Support
Organisation for training and motivating the community. District implementing
agency –SWAJAL assisted the community through regular monitoring of the works
carried out by the community and the Support Organisation. After successful
planning of water supply & sanitation scheme layout, the community entered
into the implementation phase on second week of Nov.2008, where besides the
construction, activities of community development such as training on material
procurement & storage, financial
book keeping and the study tour to a
nearby sector program village were completed with the assistance of the support
organisation in which the Portfolio Manager of District Implementing Agency of Nainital monitored the work and
helped villagers through timely release of the funds for completion of the implementation phase works.
The community
deposited an amount of Rs. 585 as cash contribution against capital cost share for
the scheme cost and Rs.7560 as upfront
cash contribution for operation & maintenance of the proposed water supply
scheme. Besides this as labor contribution, community including the women of
the village participated vigorously in the work of digging & filling
trenches for pipelines, cartage of pipes, sand, stone etc from motor head to
the village. With the objective of ensuring women participation and
sustainability of the scheme, the Women Self Help Group (WSHG) was encouraged
for regularise the micro savings to meet the recurring operational cost of the
water supply scheme in future.
Besides the
above, the women group of the village motivated
the community for cleaning their village road, digging pit for disposal of
garbage, digging compost pits for dumping
the cow dung and other bio-degradable waste as green manure. They also visited school and Anganwadi
for observing sanitation conditions there. Women invited Auxiliary Nursing Midwife
(ANM) deployed by Department of Health in meetings for sharing the information
about health, sanitation, mother & child health, vaccination etc. The
villagers participated with enthusiasm.
Impact Of Sector Program In The Community / Villagers
The impact of work done by
villagers under sector program is visible now. Villagers have become more aware
of importance of clean drinking water and sanitation as well as of other
activities enlisted below-
- Women now wash their hands with soap before / after cooking and eating meals.
- There is decrease in serious waterborne diseases like Jaundice, rpell etc.
- Regular Vaccination of pregnant women and children
- More focus on upbringing of female children.
- Active participation of women in social gatherings & programs without hesitation, they even deliver speeches, perform dances and sing songs,.
- Construction of toilets in almost every household and their use by all the members of the family.
- Water is available throughout the year without any breakdowns.
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