Rural Sanitation: Handholding & Implementation Support

The objective of the hand-holding support is to build the capacities of the core field team for implementing the CAS approach. The capacity of the core team is built through rigorous training on the principles and practices of the approach. The trained resource is given hand-holding support during the on-ground implementation. The idea is to provide technical support in implementation of initiatives to create demonstrable units of ODF communities by the communities themselves in a time-bound manner and in the process, build the capacity of the core team. Based on the learning from this demonstration, the Government can suitably scale-up the approach across the district/state in different phases.

Feedback Foundation creates linkages between various stakeholders as a key step to effective and smooth project implementation. The Foundation engages with the communities during implementation to mitigate resistance and create symbiotic stakeholder relationships and strengthens local institutions for post project follow-up and monitoring.

Feedback Foundation facilitates the district/block and urban areas to create ODF villages/slums using the principles of CAS so that learnings from the pilot can feed into the district action plan for scaling up the program at the District level. The Foundation works directly with the community with active support from the State/District/Block administrations to achieve the objective of the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) under this support mechanism. As the success of the intervention largely depends on timely support from the government, building the capacities of the government through established institutional structures such as Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (MDWS)/ District Water and Sanitation Committee (DWSC), organizing cross visits to ODF villages, establishing monitoring mechanisms at all levels, etc. are also the mandate within the implementation support.

The activities undertaken are largely with a professional project management approach. A significant amount of planning and monitoring is carried out besides the implementation. Some major tasks include:

  • Preparing a roll-out action plan for each component
  • Facilitating, monitoring and quality control of the assigned components for implementation, mainly of the:
    1. Plan of the clusters
    2. Wealth Management Plan for hutments
    3. Linking Plan with other existing schemes in the area
  • Setting up, guiding and handholding the institutional framework for the community
  • Developing a long-term monitoring framework and empowering community partnerships with project authorities for O&M
  • Development of a sense of equity and ownership amongst the community in the project area to ensure progressively higher participation in the management and contribution of O&M

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