Sanitation and Hygiene

Citizens Association for Child Rights (CACR) works with municipal schools in Mumbai with a focus on WASH and menstrual hygiene management and even a digital literacy programme. It is a  development partner of UNICEF Maharashtra and implementation partner of Tata Trusts Mumbai.

While Covid-19 has brought forth the need for better access to water for WASH practices to the forefront, how India plans to bring water at the doorstep through the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) continues to be a challenge. This is especially in the context of not only access but also quality of the available water. Studies show that improved water sources  continue to provide unsafe drinking water in low resource settings in India where water borne diseases continue to be rampant.

Under JJM, Centre to ensure safe drinking water and scale up activities during monsoon

In the last one week of starting its humanitarian relief response to fight coronavirus, Oxfam India along with its partners have provided dry ration to around 40,000 poor people, cooked meals served to nearly 40,000 migrant labourers, distributed 2660 safety kits to frontline workers and reached 4.5 million people through awareness initiatives in India.

This primer provides the basics related to most aspects of faecal sludge and septage management. Please click on a topic to view more detailed information.

What is faecal sludge and septage management?

What is the difference between greywater and blackwater?

What is the difference between sewage, faecal sludge and septage?

With Covid-19 spreading its wings across the world, the impact on quality of life and access to basic human rights will be felt exceedingly more in the global south. It is the nature of disasters, to bare the inherent socio-economic inequities in societies, that are invisibilized during normal times. The Covid-19 pandemic, an unprecedented public health disaster, is a case in point.

A hand washing survey is being conducted by SIGMA Foundation, a not for profit society, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The objective is to know about handwashing practices being followed across different sections of the society in India. The data will be analysed to plan for appropriate interventions in improving handwashing practices in the country on a sustainable basis. 

Take the survey

The Covid-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc worldwide and India continues to be in the line of fire. While cases continue to rise, India also is experiencing a crisis of another kind, that of the lockdown affecting the livelihoods of a large number of workers from the informal sector.

Maharashtra has the highest COVID-19 cases in the country and the government is taking a slew of measures to flatten the curve. We speak to Mr. Yusuf Kabir, WASH specialist and emergency focal point for UNICEF Mumbai, who is at the forefront of the containment efforts to find out about their efforts towards WASH in urban and rural areas especially to tackle COVID-19 spread.

What is UNICEF’s response to Covid-19 in Maharashtra?