Incredible weather

The Swachh marathon
Journey to a cleaner India will not be a sprint. Communication campaigns are required, gentle and positive approaches should be promoted.

The momentum and scale of the Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin (SBM-G) is unprecedented. Since the launch of the programme by the prime minister in October 2014, there has been an astonishing acceleration in the construction of toilets, with five crore built in three years. The scale and complexity facing the SBM-G make it, we believe, more challenging than any other rural development programme in the world. Driven forward with impressive leadership and dynamism, shortcomings are inevitable and rapid learning and adjustments vital and imperative for sustainable success.
With this in mind, a day-long meeting on October 10 in Delhi of representatives of government, international agencies, NGOs, consultants and researchers shared findings and lessons from methods for rapid learning relevant for the SBM-G. This led to ideas about how to tackle concerns that had come to light. Three burning issues stood out: Technical realities and what people know; their beliefs and behaviour; and unfinished business, especially concerning those who are poorer, marginalised and left behind.