Journey from fringe to centre - asserting rights and dignity: experiences of WASH intervention in India

The government efforts for improved WASH services in the rural areas eventually favour the socioeconomic well off groups rather than reaching the excluded communities. Against this backdrop, project intervention in Morena district of MP adopted a decentralized and inclusive approach for integrated planning and implementation of WASH-services. The intervention intended to address pro-poor and social exclusion concerns by reflecting the needs and voices of communities. The major focus of the project has been on capacity building of the community members, local institutions, and field level extension workers and collaborating with the government department to leverage resources and linkages with national flagship programmes like NBA and MGNREGA. In about three years of field intervention the project was able to influence the lives of hundreds of marginalized families by creating a number of water and sanitation facilities and empowered institutions capable of planning and executing WASH interventions.