LEARNING’S FROM PUBLIC PLEDGING IN THE INDIAN SUNDARBANS DELTA.
Sujoy Chaudhury, February 2015
BACKGROUND:
The project to make the community development block of Namkhana block of (S) 24 Paraganas
district in the Indian Sundarbans Delta was initiated in the middle of 2011 as a collaboration
between GOAL in India, the district administration of (S) 24 Paraganas and the Panchayat Samity
of Namkhana block. The project used the Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) approach to
promote sustainable sanitation behaviour change.
Namkhana block consists of 7 Gram Panchayats and a population of about 183,000 and a transient
population of about 25,000 seasonal workers, migrants and tourists. Through the active
participation of people and the elected representatives, the people living in the 98 Gram Sansads
of the 7 Gram Panchayats were able to achieve and declare themselves ODF in early 2012.
Public pledging was used in this project to get people to solve the issue of who declares and who
certifies the attainment of ODF status. It was also expected that by getting people to pledge
publicly, ownership for maintaining the ODF status could be ensured at least in the short term.
Public pledging, describing the attainment of a shit free environment and commitments to keep it
shit free were taken by the people in two ways. One , in which members of the Gram Unnayan
Samity ( Village development committees), signed on behalf of their constituents and two, where
representatives of all HHs which did not have a latrine earlier and had now stopped OD, signed up.
Based on the signed submissions from their respective Gram Sansads, the 7 Gram Panchayats
declared themselves ODF.
OBSERVATIONS SINCE 2012:
A few visits to the project area in 2013 and 2014, revealed that communities were largely ODF and
most families were desirous of moving up the sanitation ladder. Instances of well constructed
sanitary latrines were visible across the GPs. There was however a few landless families living in
either government occupied land or alongside embankments who did not invest in the
maintenance of their simple pit latrines and resorted to open defecation. Overall people reported
a much cleaner environment and the absence of dry latrines alongside canals was visibly
encouraging. Investigations revealed that people remembered their pledges and wished that the
office of the Gram Panchayat continues to prioritise sanitation and ensure that none defecate in
the open. It appeared that a large section of the population had moved away from open
defecation, while those still practising wished they had the land to construct their latrines or in the
case of temporary workers in the fishing sector, they wished that their owners provided them with
adequate access to latrines in their work place. (Reference can be made to earlier notes on the
findings in 2012, 2013 and 2014 and available in the website of the CLTS Hub
www.communityledtotalsanitation.org). The conclusion was that public pledging works and has
the potential to increase people’s ownership and participation in sustainable sanitation behaviour
change.
Pictures: Samples of signed pledges from Namkhana.
In 2014, as the Team leader of a UNICEF supported project to assist the District Administration of
Malda in West Bengal to promote the CLTS approach at scale, the author encountered an
altogether different situation (Namkhana had 2 NGPs in 2011 and only a few hundred latrines were
being constructed every year). The district has been pursuing a construction led approach and
people’s participation in the construction process and thus ownership of the latrine been
constructed is very low. The process emphasises individual action and is most inadequate when
social norms are expected to be challenged and changed. The idea of getting people to participate
in the process at different stages through community meetings and following up the culmination
of construction and completion of community vigilance through a public pledge appeared to
provide a response to resolving the ownership issue. It was also thought that maybe several
pledges could be thought of at various stages.
The author made a short trip to Namkhana in early February 2015, followed by another visit by Bani
Ballabh, a colleague also associated with the Namkhana and Malda projects. The author during his
visit made random visits to the house of members of the Gram Unnayan Samities in four of the
seven GPs. The availability of members on the particular day and time influenced the selection of
members met by the author. The author met 12 respondents in 4 GPs. The discussions revealed
that respondents did not immediately remember signing up but did so after some prodding (9)
and a few (3) remembered only after they were shown the copy of their pledge document. All
however responded that the situation was much better than that of 2011, barring a few households
living alongside embankments and a few individuals almost all people practiced closed defecation.
When asked whether they remembered their pledge to ensure that people in their habitation did
not defecate in the open, all replied that they remembered their pledge and themselves did not
practice open defecation however as they had lost their member status in the elections in 2012,
they did not have any active role in community affairs and that ensuring elimination of open
defecation is the responsibility of the elected members of the Gram Panchayat. All respondents
also opined that children no longer go to defecate in the open and there was increased awareness
on sanitation and personal hygiene. The author felt that it would be good to corroborate this
statement with visits to schools and Anganwadis. When asked, whether pledging had any utility
and what would their suggestions of an ideal pledging process be? All respondents replied that
they found the pledge useful as it gave people an agenda and commitment. They also opined that
the pledge should be signed by all members of the community. The author did not also find much
evidence of the implementation of the Swachh Bharat Mission in the targeted GPs even though all
7 GPs have been prioritised under priority action under the National Clean Ganga Action Plan.
Bani, in her visit to Namkhana a week after the author’s visit, explored the issue further conducting
4 FGDs and 5 semi-structured interviews with respondents who signed on behalf of the community
and those that signed as individuals. Her investigations revealed that of 13 Gram Unnayan Samity
members who had signed up on behalf of their constituents in 4 GPs, all 13 remembered signing up
on the pledge document. And of the 14 individuals who had signed up in 3 GPs, only 10 remembered
signing up in the pledge document. All those interviewed however were unanimous of the view
that signing up provided them the drive to continue to pursue the agenda of eliminating open
defecation in their communities. Women (8) respondents in particular stated that they were proud
to have pledged as it gave them the impetus to continue reminding people to improve their
sanitation behavior. Respondents found pledging useful and suggested that pledging could be
better if all members of the community sign up.
LEARNINGS:
The following broad learning are summarised as:
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Pledges are useful to ensure ownership of individual and community behaviour change.
Getting elected representatives / members of local committees to sign on behalf of others is
not effective as democratic processes can change the current status of these individuals.
Involve as many and get everyone to sign up. If not all at least one representative from each
household.
Create events around the actual signing up, make it more memorable.
Paper documents while formal, have less retention as they are filed away in an office.
PUBLIC PLEDGING IN MALDA:
In Malda, the learning from Namkhana was first used in Ranutola Gram Sansad of Dharampur Gram
Panchayat in Manikchak block. Ranutola Gram Sansad with 275 households , declared itself ODF on
the 10th of February, 2015 becoming the first ODF habitation in Malda district to become ODF.
The community had been triggered using the CLTS approach and 218 households which did not
have latrines had their latrines constructed by a local Rural Sanitary Mart. Following completion of
construction, community mobilisation processes were initiated to achieve an ODF status. Once, all
vigilance committees in the Gram Sansad were satisfied that no one was defecating in the open, a
community pledging event was proposed and the modalities agreed and finalized with these
committees.
Learning from Namkhana, it was decided that the pledge would be signed by at least one
representative from each household and that the pledging would be followed by a candle light
vigil and rally across the community in the evening. It was also decided that people would each
sign on a printed flex and that while most of the signatures would be available during the morning,
options for signing would be available throughout the day for those not available during the day.
Members of the respective vigilance committees took the responsibility of ensuring that all
households had signed up by the end of the day. On the morning of the 8 th of February, vigilance
committee members read out the pledge of ensuring that their communities remain ODF and got
the signatures of those present. Candle light vigils and rallies were organized on the evening of the
8th, where men, women and children from different sections of the Sansad walked through the
Sansad holding candles (supplied by the Gram Panchayat) and shouting
slogans , demanding an end to
open defecation. The different
groups congregated near the
office of the Gram Panchayat,
reiterated their pledge to
remain ODF and rallied back to
their homes. After the candle
light rally, members of the
vigilance committee sought out
those whose were not present
in the morning and requested
their signatures to the pledge.
Ranutola Gram Sansad has three
habitations or “tolas”, three
different flex sheets containing
the signatures of every
household representative was
thus available. In one tola,
children insisted on signing too
and this they did with much
enthusiasm. The signed pledges
were put up for display during
the ODF celebrations on the 10th
of February, 2015 and were later
strung up in prominent places in their respective tolas. It is expected that these flexes would last
for a minimum of three months.
On a visit, immediately afterwards, it was found that people were proud of their signatures and
were keen to point out their signatures.
The process ensured that the pledging was extended to all and the candle light vigil and rally would
be remembered for long. The prominently displayed flex bearing the signatures would also ensure
that the pledge is visible for at least three months, by which time it is expected a dominant
behaviour would have set in among the community. Whether Ranutola remains ODF or not will be
assessed continuously over the next few months.
The author would like to propose a list of do’s and don’ts on facilitating community / public
pledging, everyone has the right to add / delete or simply ignore this list.
Do’s:
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The facilitator/ facilitators should rehearse well before engaging with communities on
pledging. A well facilitated process will bring in the importance and sincerity desired.
Discuss and agree on the key message of the pledge. Explore how all people can learn of
and sign up to the pledge.
Make vigilance committees responsible for informing and involving those who are usually
away from the village on work or other reasons.
Get children to sign up- this is an event in their lives.
Prepare for other community events on the day of the pledging. Make people have
associated memories of the day.
Plan in advance where the pledges shall be finally and permanently displayed.
Most importantly facilitators should constantly appreciate and encourage people as they
go about completing the pledging process.
Don’ts:
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Facilitator should not be un / under-prepared.
Do not miss out any household.
Do not let anyone sign on behalf of someone else.