The Purulia Experience on WASH

Inspiring and instilling change in the centuries-old habits of villagers by slowly and steadily introducing the women of the SHGs in Purulia to sanitation and hygiene practices is both challenging and rewarding

Background

W hen I joined PRADAN and heard that I had to stay in a village for 15–20 days for an assignment, the first thought that came to my mind was, ‘Oh my God! How will I survive without a proper toilet and bathing space?’ Being very finicky about clean toilets, I now had to make use of open spaces! I found it very difficult. Questions about how the women of the village manage immediately came to mind. The fear of someone turning up right there haunted me during my entire village stay. This is not an unfamiliar story for a PRADANite staying in a village, as is overwhelmingly evident when we initially shared about our experiences with each other. I questioned the women and girls of the village; most spoke of the lack of finances to make bathrooms and toilets. Many accepted the situation as natural and normal. Later, when the discussions in our meetings in PRADAN mainly focused on livelihood enhancement and community mobilization, this issue gradually faded out.

However, this problem has been spoken of by women over time. It is interesting that the villagers, initially, perceived us as ‘livelihood wallahs’; therefore, their other problems hardly came up during discussions although members did share the need to have drinking water, and the difficulty and drudgery of carrying water over distances every day. Over the years and subsequently, in a meeting, at Anandamoyee Cluster at Berada village and later in federation meeting, many women members identified sanitation as a problem or a block in their way to progress as ‘developed’, recognizing that this needed to be worked upon. Such issues cropped up in SHG and cluster meetings too although we were tentative and evasive when dealing with these. Then PRADAN’s focus in its Vision 2017—aspiring to enhance the well-being of the rural poor—opened a different door for us. It got strengthened with the Purulia team’s intervention on women adult functional literacy. Our successful initiation on the literacy programme and our understanding on the concept of holistic development provided us with the confidence to venture on a path not treaded on so far.