“Sanitation is more important than political independence”. ~
Mahatma Gandhi,
Vimukti organized 19th November 2017, World Toilet Day awareness
program at Utakanoor Grama Panchyath. As per project Swacch Bharat
Andolan (Clean India Mission) has not been able to provide toilets
to 335 million women and girls in India today. It also says that
about 732 million Indian have no access to toilets and are thus
forced to defecate in the open. VCT for the past eight years through
its continuous awareness programmes only 5% of families have stopped
open defecation.
Efforts to increase access to water, sanitation, and hygiene not
only advance progress towards reaching the water and sanitation
Millennium Development Goal (MDG 7), but also contribute to the
reduction in child mortality (MDG 4) and reduction in malnutrition (MDG
1). Access to improved sanitation facilities can even prevent young
girls from dropping out of school. In addition to raising awareness
and advocacy, World Toilet Day, The project focuses on learning how
to combine the approaches of Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS),
behavior change communications, and social marketing of sanitation
to generate sanitation demand and strengthen the supply of
sanitation products and services at scale, leading to improved
health for people in rural areas. It is a large-scale effort to meet
the basic sanitation needs of the rural poor who do not currently
have access to safe and hygienic sanitation.
On this occasion Fr. Sathish Fernandes VCT Director said, our motto
is “To see a villages with a clean, safe toilet and sanitation for
everyone, everywhere at all times.” Educate to change mindsets on
sanitation. VCT collaborates with grassroots organizations and
schools to increase awareness of the importance of sanitation in
local communities. Build to develop sanitation infrastructure and
capacity. In public places speeches help to raise awareness of the
importance of sanitation, and inspire and drive demand for
sanitation. VCT takes the opportunities to meet philanthropy groups,
schools, NGOs, grassroots organizations, government bodies and wide
audience through events and conferences. Mr. Channa Raddi PDO
expressed saying, BETTER TOILETS FOR A BETTER WORLD. Grama panchyath
president, members and community leaders were present for the
program. VCT motivated 152 families to fill the form on the spot and
made them to hand over to PDO for sanction the amount immediately.
As a result gathered 152 families agreed to build toilets by January
15, 2018. Thus program ended with positive note.
