Cities Alliance Supports Sanitation for India's Urban Poor

India Together, an e-publication targeting national and international audiences interested in issues affecting Indian life, has published an article highlighting the implementation of a community-led toilet project in twelve slum settlements in the Sangli-Miraj-Kupwad Municipal Corporation in Maharashtra state. Phase IV of the project, supported by the Cities Alliance and USAID’s Community Water and Sanitation Facility, helps 3,600 households in Sangli gain access to community and individual household toilets. Shelter Associates, a Pune-based organization working in informal settlements, has been implementing the

programme. Its director, Pratima Joshi, is especially pleased by the changes in stakeholder attitudes that arose as a result of the project. Communities and the government became actively involved in activities, which enabled a greater range of options to become available to the poor, including individual household toilets – initially thought by the government to be a nonviable option. She believes this project can be replicated in other Indian cities.

Read India Together article: http://www.indiatogether.org/2007/apr/gov-sangli.htm