As millions of Indians migrate to cities, the demand for clean water and sewage treatment will grow five to seven times over the next ten years. The poor and vulnerable will continue to suffer the worst consequences of inadequate sanitation with ailing children, uneducated girls, loss of livelihood and declining income levels.
Since 2012, Dasra has been working on improving sanitation in urban India. We realized early on, that building toilets is not enough. To achieve holistic sanitation for a billion Indians, we must look at the entire sanitation value chain – right from the containment of faecal waste, to its transport, treatment and proper disposal.
We are working with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to build a movement enabling total sanitation within urban India. We also co-facilitate the National Faecal Sludge and Septage Management Alliance (NFSSM Alliance), which was instrumental in passing India’s first national policy on Faecal Sludge and Septage Management (FSSM) by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India in 2017.
of sewage generated in urban India goes untreated
of India’s GDP is lost due to inadequate sanitation every year
million Indians are severely affected by water borne diseases.
We are fostering communities of practice among sixty plus organizations supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in India. These communities of practice encourage partner organizations to share knowledge and collaborate, and build upon each other’s work rather than replicate it. Through our online platform, CHORUS, we’re building a virtual space to share innovations and connect with a community of experts working towards sustainable urban sanitation solutions in India.
We have convened and provided strategic guidance to four taskforces focusing on gender, technology, finance, and behavior change communication, vis-à-vis sanitation. These taskforces interact with stakeholders ranging from entrepreneurs in the space of sanitation technology to Pollution Control Boards. Our partners also come together annually to converge learnings and deepen collaboration.
We believe in the power of research to drive awareness, advocacy and real change. We use innovative media like infographics and video case studies to amplify and promote our partners’ path-breaking research findings. We also work with public relations experts and renowned media companies, to bring attention to our partners’ research and build national advocacy efforts.
We believe that by empowering leaders, we empower organizations. Over the years, Dasra’s unique leadership programs have supported many leaders of our partner organizations to introspect, learn from peers and collaborate. In doing so, our programs have been instrumental in developing institutional and leadership strength within partner organizations.