What Works at Scale? Distilling the Critical Success Factors for Scaling Up Rural Sanitation
In February 2014, the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Government of India, in collaboration with the Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) of the World Bank, brought together policy makers, scholars and practitioners in Jaipur, India, for the Knowledge Sharing Forum entitled what works at scale? Distilling critical success factors for scaling up rural sanitation. The forum participants reviewed the conditions required for successful sanitation programs and strategies that could lead to sound implementation of such programs and strategies in their own states and/or countries. Participants from within India came from State and District sanitation programs, international organizations, NGOs and the private sector. The forum also benefited from international experience, with strategic inputs provided by key resource people from Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Tanzania, Thailand and Uganda. Prior to the formal sessions, international participants were able to visit two districts in Rajasthan to observe sanitation campaigns which had resulted in open defecation-free status. The Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (NBA), Clean India Campaign, focuses on a comprehensive program to ensure the sustained use of safe sanitation facilities in rural areas, eliminating the practice of open defecation and ensuring a clean environment. The NBA experience has shown that without the motivation for safe sanitation, facilities will not be used with any degree of consistency. Demand creation must therefore take precedence over physical implementation and new practices must be sustained after construction. The focus is not on individual households but on groups of people at the habitation, village, community (Panchayat) levels who can work together, supporting each other to achieve long term open defecation-free status. Once the demand is created, a strong supply chain must be in place to ensure a rapid response.