World Toilet Day Reaches Raichur Villages Through Amrita-Led Sanitation Campaign

This is the first year that World Toilet Day’s global message was communicated to the villages of KurvaKhurda and Mamadadodi, located in Raichur district, through an Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham-led week-long sanitation education program. The program enlisted hundreds of local individuals to promote the importance of the relationship between sanitation, health, and dignity in rural communities.
The culmination of the campaign was with record levels of cooperation between Amrita’s academic researchers, local government officials, and community leaders. A significant indicator of the program’s success at the grassroots level was the organic spread of information to the families in advance of the events by families using local informal networks to provide this information – long before formal mobilization.
“We discovered that the majority of families already knew about the upcoming event through word-of-mouth,” said Sydney Ndhlovu, Amrita PhD student who managed the field effort. “This traditional knowledge dissemination channel, driven by local networks and the trust in Amrita’s mission, was a significant achievement in pre-event mobilization.”
In KurvaKhurda, around 150 members of the community came to a meeting, with the vast majority of those in attendance being female. The keynote speakers included Dr. Shivasharanaepa (a Medical Doctor and part of the Yapaldinni community), Mr. Chandra Sekar (Raichur Taluk Panchayat Officer), Mr. Atchuda Reddy (former APMC Chairman) and other local Panchayat Members who spoke together about the health benefits of safe sanitation and discussed government schemes regarding the construction of toilets.
According to Ndhlovu, “The large representation of women shows that there is an urgent need for safe sanitation for women and girls who are at the highest risk.” The next day, there was a larger crowd at an event in Mamadadodi, with about 240 participants from the community. This assembly had pledges made by the villagers to use toilets; thus, signalling the willingness of the community to address this issue through movement from awareness to behavioural intent. Amrita’s team led the discussions and pledges with an emphasis on sanitation as a matter of dignity, health and community.
After the event, post-event assessment by Amrita researchers was undertaken. The household survey of 72 households indicates progress and challenges in the implementation of the campaign, with 71% indicating an intention to use toilets, yet only 18% report regularly using the toilet. This statistics demonstrates a significant gap between intention and action. The survey results showed that communication was also an issue, as 38% of respondents assumed that the campaign promised immediate toilet building and there are still people dependent on government funding and additional clarification on roles and responsibilities is needed.

This program has established a new standard for sanitation-focused community engagement in Raichur, which exemplifies the application of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham’s approach to applying research, fieldwork and community-level collaboration towards solving complex social and behavioural challenges. Although it may take time for sustainable improvements to occur, this effort has demonstrated that mobilising communities for the first time can be an effective and realistic way to initiate a commitment to creating a healthier, more secure, and more dignifying future for all members of the village.