Governments in South Asia are using innovative financial incentives to promote sanitation and hygiene behaviour changes in rural communities, marking a shift from subsidy-led toilet provision toward the promotion of open defecation–free (ODF) villages.

Key elements include:

• significant upfront funding for social mobilisation, awareness raising and market development to achieve sustained behaviour change;
• clear alignment of government policies and implementation strategies with authorities performing a facilitating role; and
• cash incentives to reward villages that have achieved targets, backed by robust monitoring.

India

In 2004 the Government of India launched Nirmal Gram Puruskar [1], (Clean Village Award), a national-level fiscal incentive programme, which rewards villages for achieving 100 percent sanitation at the collective level. So far almost 10,000 villages have applied for the award. The programme builds on earlier successful state-level initiatives in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.

Bangladesh and Pakistan

In 2004 in Bangladesh, the government declared ‘Sanitation for All by 2010’ as its national target and adopted a reward scheme for communities that achieved ODF status. In Pakistan, the recently-approved National Sanitation Policy describes ‘Community-Led Total Sanitation’ [2] as one of its basic principles and offers rewards for outcomes as incentives for Tehsil Municipal Administrations to create ‘Open Defecation Unions.

[1] India. Ministry of Rural Development. Dept of Drinking Water Supply - Nirmal Gram Puruskar

[2] Livelihoods Connect - Community Led Total Sanitation

See also: IRC - Financing and Cost Recovery

Contact: Soma Ghosh Moulik, Senior Water and Sanitation Specialist, WSP, India, wspsa@worldbank.org

Source: WSP, 5 Apr 2007

Tags: hygiene promotion, on-site sanitation