Demand Creation for Rural Sanitation in Andhra Pradesh, India

Studies indicate that only 46% of Indian households have access to toilets and 59% of its population still adopts open defecation imposing tremendous costs on the country. The Government of India (GoI) has therefore been promoting access to sanitation through incentives and social mobilization under Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC). It also offers Nirmal Gram Puraskar or Clean Village Prize to villages, which have attained open defecation free (ODF) status. This study looks at the process of demand creation for toilets and their utilization in NGP awarded villages in a district in rural India. It finds that while access to sanitation has improved, the practice of open defecation is still at large amongst those households who constructed toilets during the campaign. It therefore suggests detailed baseline data collection and mandated planning process to aid in helping the villages find customized solutions to achieve ODF status. Further it points out that while access to sanitation has been primarily narrated as women’s issues, men hold the key to achieving ODF status after a toilet is constructed. Therefore, appropriate gender-neutral mobilization approaches focusing on community health like Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) could be adopted to ensure regular utilization of sanitation facilities.