New Delhi: Sanitation is not just about cleaner surroundings. It is also about better health, dignity and stronger communities. Across India, organisations and individuals have been working to improve sanitation practices and create lasting change. Through its sanitation initiatives, NDTV-Dettol Banega Swachh India has brought many of these efforts to the forefront. The India Sanitation Coalition (ISC) at FICCI has also been recognising the people and organisations driving change through the FICCI Sanitation Awards. The sixth edition of the awards was held in 2022. Launched in 2017, the awards received more than 50 nominations across 10 categories. The edition also highlighted three women changemakers who were recognised for their work in advancing sanitation across different parts of the country.
Here’s the list of winners
Best Corporate Initiative in Sanitation
Kimberly-Clark Professional
Kimberly-Clark Professional won recognition for its “Toilets Change Lives” initiative in Maharashtra and Delhi NCR. The programme works to provide safe and clean toilets, especially for women workers in underserved communities. It has directly benefited around 3 lakh working women. The toilets are fitted with bio-digesters that handle faecal sludge on-site. Due to the structural design, the toilets are 2-3 degrees cooler than the temperature outside.
Best Non-Profit Engagement Model in Sanitation: Rural and Urban
Gramalaya
Gramalaya works in Ramnad, Kerala, to improve sanitation and tackle water scarcity. It repaired old and damaged toilets and helped villagers get access to safer sanitation facilities. The project has benefited around 63,000 people, including villagers, students and women using repaired sanitary facilities. The programme promotes ODF and ODF + by providing education and awareness about the dangers of open defecation and its impact on children and adolescent girls.
Best Non-Profit Engagement Model in Sanitation: Rural & Urban
Centre for Policy Research
The Centre for Policy Research worked with UNICEF on a sanitation project in Dhenkanal, Odisha. The initiative connects rural villages with urban waste-treatment facilities so that waste can be safely collected and treated. More than 110 rural gram panchayats in Dhenkanal have been connected to these services.
Best Communication in Sanitation: Tradition and Digital
Kendriya Vidyalaya No. 1
Kendriya Vidyalaya No. 1 in Roorkee, Uttarakhand, worked to teach students about cleanliness, personal hygiene and waste management. The school organised activities such as painting, slogan and video competitions and installed handwashing stations. It also conducted cleanliness and health-related programmes for students and teachers. The institution conducted the Swachhta Pledge, Fit India Pledge, Yoga Pledge and Green pledge online and offline in the majority of schools in Roorkee.
Best Communication in Sanitation: Traditional and Digital
Urban Management Centre
The Urban Management Centre, based in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, created “MISAAL”, a nine-episode film on sanitation and community participation. The film shows how people can come together to solve local sanitation problems and work with local authorities. The project was based on experiences from more than 200 urban poor communities across four Indian cities.
Best Innovative Financial Accessibility model for WASH
Friends of Women’s World Banking, India
Friends of Women’s World Banking, India, works across Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat to make sanitation loans easier to access. It provides funding support to microfinance institutions so they can offer loans for toilets and other sanitation needs. Its programme has helped finance more than 90,000 toilets, with women receiving 99% of the sanitation loans.
Best Engagement Model in Sanitation by a Social Enterprise / Start-up
Ixora Corporate Services
Ixora Corporate Services runs Loocafe in Hyderabad, a public toilet model that combines a washroom with a cafe. The facilities offer free toilets for men, women and people with disabilities, along with features such as sanitary napkin dispensers and baby-care facilities. Around 420 Loocafes have been set up, and the model also creates employment opportunities.
Special Recognition Award for Government
Radhe Shyam Meena
Radhe Shyam Meena, Mission Director of SBMG in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, received a special recognition award for government work. Under the sanitation programme, all 189 villages in the Union Territory have been declared ODF+ and have access to solid and liquid waste management systems. More than 22,000 household toilets have also been built since 2014.
Best Faecal Sludge and Septage Management (FSSM) Model
Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation
The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation was recognised for its city-wide faecal sludge and septage management model. The programme focuses on safely collecting, transporting and treating waste while also making sanitation services accessible to poorer communities. It has benefited around 12 lakh citizens across 3 lakh households, directly and indirectly.
Best Skilling Initiative in Sanitation
District Administration, Jajpur
The Jajpur district administration in Odisha launched a programme to train and involve women in sanitation work. Women’s self-help groups were trained in waste collection, composting and other sanitation-related activities. More than 2,500 women SHG members have benefited, helping them gain skills, employment opportunities and greater financial independence.
Excellence on Work for Upliftment of Sanitation Workers
KAM Foundation
KAM Foundation worked with sanitation workers in Maharashtra, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh. It provided training on protective equipment, wastewater treatment, septic tank cleaning and other areas of sanitation work. Around 1,000 sanitation workers benefited from the programme and received training aimed at improving their safety, skills and livelihoods.
Women Changemakers in Sanitation
Sasmita Barik
Sasmita Barik is a sanitation worker and Swachh Sathi from Bhadrak, Odisha. She visits 20 to 30 families every day to spread awareness about waste management and sanitation. She has organised more than 150 awareness campaigns and has influenced around 15,000 people through her work.
Dr Smita Singh
Dr Smita Singh leads KAM Foundation’s work to train sanitation workers in Pune and Mumbai, Maharashtra. She has been the lead trainer in programmes covering safety equipment, septic tank cleaning and wastewater treatment. Her work has helped train around 1,000 sanitation workers and supported the creation of groups for mechanised septic tank cleaning.
Soumya Dabriwal
Soumya Dabriwal leads Project Baala, which works on menstrual health and access to reusable sanitary pads. The project also trains women to become local ambassadors and earn an income by selling Baala products in their communities. It has reached around 3.25 lakh women and girls across India, Nepal, Tanzania and Ghana. NDTV-Dettol Banega Swachh India continues to tell these stories and spread awareness about how people are working to make India cleaner and healthier.
Download The Full Report: ISC-FICCI Sanitation Awards 2022
NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which in its Season 10 is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Ayushmann Khurrana. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – the LGBTQ population, indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In a world post COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fight malnutrition, mental well-being, self-care, science and health, adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.
