240 days of access to the toilet and shower to people in need in India

Gram Vikas predominantly works in the hinterland of Odisha State where the tribals, poor and marginalised communities live, largely in the south and southwestern areas of the State. It also works in the Keonjhar and Mayurbhaj districts located in the northern part where there is a predominance of tribal communities. These areas have been neglected for decades and development is slow and Gram Vikas has been working in these areas since its inception.

Gram Vikas selects the entire village with 100% coverage of all households in that particular village. The villages are selected based on strict terms and conditions which cannot be compromised like full participation of all families in the village, generation of a corpus fund or an endowment fund which comes to an average of INR 1000 per family. A pre-condition is also laid out during counseling and mobilization that the households should be willing to contribute physical labour, locally available materials like stone, bricks, sand etc. for construction of their toilets and bathrooms.

A General Body is formed in each village once consensus is generated for implementation of the programme. This Body should agree to implement the programme with all the terms and conditions within a time frame, which is drawn out by both the villagers and Gram Vikas. The agreement also spells out clearly that once the WATSAN infrastructure building is completed and the water supply is commissioned, the entire system or programme is handed over to the villagers or their village society. This committee is the responsible to sustain and maintain the WATSAN programme in the village.