Barriers in Implementation of Sanitation Projects: A Case Study of Open Defecation Free (ODF) India

Abstract

Despite strong emphasis of government to make India open Defecation free by 2019, open defecation is widespread in India. It is equally widespread in the state of Uttar Pradesh. It is known that good health has strong impact on the overall productivity of an individual. It is also known that good sanitation and hygiene conditions are prerequisites of good health. People are not willing to change their habits and behaviour for healthy sanitation practices. Despite repeated efforts of government to change the behaviour of people regarding construction and use of toilet, people are not changing their habits. Our report presents evidence from the survey data collected from the rural households of Suriyawan block from Bhikarirampur village of Bhadohi district of Uttar Pradesh. More than 70 percent of people we interviewed, told that they do not have enough money for constructing toilet because more than 75 percent of the people think that constructing a toilet requires anything between INR 20,000-30,000. They do not have the idea about the low cost toilets, which they could have easily afforded and used. Also there is a wide spread belief among people that the low cost twin-pits toilets constructed by the government are of inferior quality. Families having working toilet inside home also had at least one member who defecates out in the open. We found that there are many false beliefs among people about open defecation. They possess the mind-set that open defecation improves their health as they get fresh air and defecate in the open in an open space. Females believe that using household toilet causes headache and sickness. Many believe that household toilets require more water, therefore it’s better to defecate in the open. Male members considered household toilet are for only females. Another important finding was lot of people do not want to construct a toilet because they think maintenance and cleanliness of the latrine is a big headache. These findings suggest that stakeholders need to intensify and stress on the Behaviour 1 We would like to thank the management and faculty members of Xavier School of Rural Management, Bhubaneshwar, particularly Prof T Kumar, as well as Fundamental Action and Research Foundation, particularly Mr Ramdutt Mishra, Mr Rishi Raj Mishra and family of Bhikarirampur, UP, for facilitating our field visit. 2 Graduate Student, Xavier School of Rural Management, Bhubaneshwar, India 3 Graduate Student, Xavier School of Rural Management, Bhubaneshwar, India 4 Founder, Fundamental Action and Research Foundation , India 5 Advisor, Fundamental Action and Research Foundation, India, Affiliate Professor, University of Washington Seattle and Co-founder and Partner, Infinite Sum Modelling, USA, Corresponding author.