In 2014-15, toilet coverage in the district of Ramgarh in Jharkhand was barely 15% and around 98,000 toilets were required to provide access to sanitation to all people. A multi-pronged approach to include awareness building, capacity building, supply chain management, and school-led sanitation, amongst other programmes, brought a turnaround in attitude in the erstwhile military district of the British regime, making it Open Defecation Free (ODF). Ramgarh was finally declared ODF on April 5, 2017. However, there were several challenges in the ODF journey of the sparsely populated region. Considering that open defecation was an accepted traditional behavior in Ramgarh, the District Administration organised an interaction programme with the community on the need of clean water and appropriate sanitation facilities. In this regard, various community awareness campaign initiatives were held. District Administration organised Ratri Choupal at village level to address the hurdles in making the village ODF. Ratri Vishram camps were organised in villages, where District Collector and other senior officers stayed overnight, had dinner with the people of the village and discussed about the ill effects of open defecation and its consequences on the community. Schools were viewed as an important gateway to promote clean sanitation habits. School children were motivated on health hygiene and sanitation. The Swachhta Shapath (cleanliness pledge) was made mandatory during daily school assemblies... Read More