L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering (LTHE), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Larsen & Toubro, has begun a sanitation revolution in two villages of Waghodia Taluka in Vadodara district, Gujarat. LTHE’s CSR division was surveying the district for a sanitation project and identified Umarva and Pavlepur villages as needing immediate intervention. In association with implementation partner Voluntary Youth Organisation for Motivation (VYOM), LTHE CSR project team decided to build individual household sanitary latrines as part of a detailed program for which it collaborated extensively with multiple stakeholders over an extended period.
For the residents of Umarva and Pavlepur villages sanitation wasn’t a priority. Largely unaware of the harmful effects of open defecation on their general health and hygiene, the villagers carried on with their unsanitary ways chalking it up as a minor inconvenience of the rural life. While there were many reasons for the dire sanitation situation in the two villages, lack of water, financial constraints, and mindsets were major deterrents preventing the villagers from adopting a more hygienic way of life.
At every step of the way, the project involved participation of the community, including the design and construction of toilets. Additionally, the project from its very beginning paid adequate attention to the sustainability aspect and made sure that the villagers took ownership of the facilities for usage, repair, and maintenance of the toilets.
Besides building the toilets, the program also involved educating the community members about the harmful effects of open defecation and instilling in their minds ideas for adopting new behavioural practices. There have already been multiple benefits including fewer incidents of water-borne diseases and lower out-of-pocket expenses for the families due to improved sanitation. Then there are benefits on the safety side. Open defecation while unhygienic is also dangerous for women and children. Women who often bear the brunt of household work and endure hardships of drudgery, had to, in the absence of toilets, go out in the open during either the early hours of the morning or late in the evening after dark. This posed a danger to their physical safety. Ever since the construction of toilets though, the scenario has changed completely.
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