Nirmal 2000 : a project of Kottayam District Sanitation Mission

The term, sanitation, is now seen to encompass all issues involved in controlling the environment with a view to preventing disease and promoting health. However, sanitary disposal of human excreta is still the most important aspect of sanitation in rural areas. Nirmal 2000, a project of Kottayam District Sanitation Mission, seeks to provide all households with proper sanitation facilities in the panchayats and municipal areas of Kottayam District, Kerala State, India. The proposed project rests on the collaboration of local panchayaths, governmental and non-governmental organizations and the local community. The overall objective is to improve the health and living standards of the people of Kottayam District by reducing the incidence of waterborne diseases. The specific project objectives include: to create an awareness of the need for sanitation and hygiene in the community; to construct sanitary latrines for 75000 households by the year 2000; to construct and maintain 15 to 20 public and 400 institutional latrines; to provide facilities for the safe disposal of household and other solid waste; to provide proper drainage facilities; and to establish sanitary marts and production centres. In describing the project, this paper first gives a district profile with problems to be addressed. Tables which detail the results of a sanitation survey conducted in each ward of the district under the leadership of panchayat members are included. Since sanitation projects now involve a combined multi-disciplinary programme of action, the paper outlines sanitation-related activities such as hygiene education and ward sanitation committee training which are an integral part of the project. The implementation mechanism, and a breakdown of the estimated costs of the project are detailed. The community-based approach, used to implement the project, seeks to make sanitation a people's movement and a way of life. An annex presents the Information, Educational Empowerment and Communication (IEC) strategy for the low-cost sanitary latrine programme carried out in Kerala which could serve as a model for the Kottayam project.