Follow up after completion - Feb. 07
1.Toilets and bathing rooms for all families in the three villages – Ranjasahi, Jakara and Nuapada, covering 172 families consisting of 1054 people.
2.Water supply from overhead storage tanks and distribution pipelines to each home
3.Establishment of solar water pumping system in the two tribal villages – Ranjasahi and Jakara
By March 2006, all the above-mentioned works were completed. All families in the three villages had access to safe piped water on tap in their homes. They also had toilets and bathing rooms with piped water supply. Monitoring records for the last year show that all members of the village have been using toilets and the water supply has been functioning without any disruption.
In addition to ensuring that systems function without any disruption, the various sub-committees like the education committee and health committee also look into the software aspects in the village. Self-help groups of women play an important role in monitoring the functioning of the government schools and in ensuring that the government health staff visits the village regularly. Building up pressure from within the villages themselves towards improvement of the status of health and education is a part of Gram Vikas’ strategy of creating self-reliant and responsible rural communities.
Status in tribal villages – Ranjasahi and Jakhara
In Ranjasahi and Jakara, Gram Vikas has been working with people for over 15 years. People have been working together on several aspects including education, immunization of children and health care, women’s savings and credit, horticulture, housing etc. Establishment of community managed piped water supply and sanitation is a key step in the withdrawal process where the community tangibly demonstrates an ability to manage its own affairs, under the stewardship of an executive committee. Having achieved this, Gram Vikas is now gradually phasing out of these villages. By the end of 2009, Gram Vikas would have withdrawn from these villages.
In Ranjasahi and Jakara, with the availability of running water, the standards of living have improved considerably. Earlier, availability of water was not reliable, especially during summer months. The solar water pumping system is being used to pump water to the overhead water tank, since these villages are not electrified and there is very little hope that they will be electrified in the coming years.
Ranjasahi
Ranjasahi is a tribal village with 30 households, out of which 15 falls under the ‘Below Poverty Line’ (BPL) category. 28 families had earlier come together to source loans from Gram Vikas to establish disaster-resistant housing. 29 out of the 30 households are landless and all families practice shifting cultivation. After establishment of sanitation and water supply systems, and with the emphasis on building up a self-reliant village institution, the village has seen much change.
• All eligible children (both boys and girls) are enrolled in school.
• Common illnesses are under control in this village, with the ongoing interventions in curative health. Following the establishment of sanitation and water supply and with a renewed emphasis on personal and environmental hygiene, it has been noticed that the incidence of skin diseases like scabies have drastically fallen. Here, a comparison of data between 2004 and 2006 (for the six month period of July-December) shows that the incidence of scabies fell from 26 to 2 for the corresponding periods. Similarly, incidence of malaria has also gone down from 17 to 2 over the reporting periods.
• With the availability of protected drinking water, no cases of diarrhoea, jaundice or typhoid were reported during July-December 2006.
• There is 100% immunization of all eligible children
• People have discovered and developed an alternate water source - a spring on a nearby hill, from which water is stored in the overhead tank using gravity principles. During months when this water is available, the solar pump will not be used for pumping water.
• 34 women are involved in self-help groups, with savings of Rs. 35, 021.
• The village general body, the executive committee and the mahila samiti meet at least once a month to discuss various issues of common interest in the village. Issues regarding health, sustainability of the education programme and participation in local governance structures feature prominently in the agenda.
• The community has become more active in the local Panchayat. Recently, Ranjasahi mobilised Rs. 2,00,000 from the Gram Panchayat for a village road.
• The maintenance of the water supply system is taken care of by the proceeds of the community social forestry and horticulture – cashew, lemon and mango.
Jakhara
Jakhara is a tribal village with 22 households, out of which 16 falls under the ‘Below Poverty Line’ (BPL) category. 21 families had earlier come together to source loans from Gram Vikas to establish disaster-resistant housing. All families practice shifting cultivation and no family owns over 2 acres of land.
• Two girl children who had dropped out of school during 2004-05 are also now attending school.
• Between 2004 and 2006 (for the six month period of July-December), comparison of data shows that the incidence of malaria fell from 33 to 11 for the corresponding periods. The increasing menace of cerebral malaria in these hilly areas is a cause for concern and in the non-availability of means to immediately identify and treat patients, malaria takes a heavy toll on people’s lives in these regions.
• With the availability of protected drinking water, no cases of diarrhoea, jaundice or typhoid were reported during July-December 2006.
• There is 100% immunization of all eligible children.
• 12 women are involved in self-help groups, with total savings of Rs. 9, 425
• The village general body, the executive committee and the mahila samiti meet at least once a month to discuss various issues of common interest in the village. Issues regarding general hygiene, health, and immunization of children and construction of smokeless cook stoves have figured prominently in the agenda of most such meetings.
Status in the non-tribal village - Nuapada
For Nuapada, the first point of contact with Gram Vikas was for the water and sanitation programme. Gram Vikas staff approached the village in late 2004, broaching the idea of toilets and bathing rooms and piped water supply to each home. Presently, following the completion of the entry point activity, Gram Vikas will stay in Nuapada for three to five years, working on strengthening village cohesiveness, improving livelihoods and putting in mechanisms so that the community is able to take care of all its development needs by itself.
For the people in Nuapada, it was the first experience of working together. It took nearly a year of social mobilization to generate 100% consensus and get all families to agree to the proposal of establishing community managed water supply and sanitation systems, with all families benefiting equally.
Here, the difference is both on caste and economic lines. There are 9 scheduled caste families in the village of 120 families. Ten families are landless and work as daily wage labourers. The majority of the villagers (80%) are small and marginal farmers. About 10% of the villagers are categorized as large farmers, i.e. having about 5-7 acres of land. In real terms they are not significantly better off. The main income for this village comes from migrant families in Gujarat, whose income is used to build permanent houses, acquire assets, etc.
In Nuapada, there are no reported cases of diarrhoea for the period July-December 2006. This, when compared to the same period in 2004, where there were 16 reported cases, suggests that the availability of clean water and hygienic sanitary habits have benefited the village has a whole in significant measure. Also, no cases of Typhoid and Jaundice have been reported in Nuapada between July to December 2006. There is 100% immunization of all eligible children.
In this village, all women are a part of self-help groups. However, only one group was formed directly by Gram Vikas and hence, that is the only one being monitored by Gram Vikas staff. The 14 women in this group have collective savings of Rs. 4, 320 and loans outstanding worth Rs. 15, 550.
The village committee collects a monthly tariff of Rs. 20 from all households towards meeting expenses of the monthly electricity bill for pumping water. Starting April 2007, households will contribute Rs. 30 each every month so that a surplus is built up that can address any maintenance issues that may arise with the water supply system.
Having finished the water supply and sanitation project, people have now turned to other issues in their village. For example, people have started a village library (in the process of putting together a library corpus fund of Rs. 12,000). In addition, they would also be paying a membership fee of Rs. 5 per person.
In 2004, 28% of the eligible girls and 32% of the eligible boys were dropouts from the village school. By the end of 2006, barring one boy and one girl, all other eligible children were enrolled in school.
