India - Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project for Low Income States : Environmental Assessment (Vol. 3) : Executive Summary Social Assessment, Capacity Building, and Communications Framework for Bihar (Hindi)

The development objective of Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project for Low Income States of India is to improve piped water supply and sanitation services for selected rural communities in the target states through decentralized delivery systems and...  Voir la suite The development objective of Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project for Low Income States of India is to improve piped water supply and sanitation services for selected rural communities in the target states through decentralized delivery systems and to increase the capacity of the participating States to respond promptly and effectively to an eligible crisis or emergency. Some of the negative impacts include: (i) a routine supply driven construction program of water supply and sanitation facilities without effective demand from user communities for improved services; (ii) lack of ownership of the constructed schemes by Gram Panchayats (GPs); (iii) exclusion of poor and the marginalized, particularly women, from project processes; (iv) lack of transparency in project planning and implementation; (v) lack of accountability in case of time and cost over runs of the schemes; and (vi) sanitation remains a poor add on to the overall project. Some of the mitigation measures include: (i) creating demand for improved piped water supply services with innovative communication campaigns; (ii) ensuring the substantive involvement of GPs at all stages of project planning and implementation beginning from the feasibility study stage itself; (iii) ensuring substantive, rather than the notional, involvement of the poor and women in project planning and implementation by ensuring their active involvement in taking key decisions related to project planning and implementation on the ground; (iv) all the key decisions related to the size of the scheme, villages/GPs to be involved, service level, payment of user charges are taken in community wide meetings called Gram Sabhas, and not by the executive body of the GP; (v) responsibility, authority, and accountability are located strategically and evenly; and (vi) safe sanitation in terms of open defecation free (ODF) communities or GPs is made into an incentive for improved water supply services.  Réduire

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