Page 20 - Swachhata Chronicles – Transformative Tales from India (eBook)

ODF Plus

The key objective of SBM-G Phase-II is to sustain the ODF status of villages and further make
them ODF Plus. This can be achieved by improving the level of cleanliness in rural areas
through SLWM activities and by ensuring continued Behaviour Change Communication
(BCC) and capacity strengthening at all levels.

An ODF Plus village is defined as a village that sustains its ODF status, ensures SLWM, and is
visually clean.

The criteria for declaring a village as ODF Plus depends on interventions on the
various verticals of SLWM. Given that all States may not fulfill all criteria under
different verticals before declaring a village as ODF Plus, DDWS has reviewed the
criteria and introduced intermediate stages in the process of declaring a village as
ODF Plus:

ODF Plus – Aspiring: A village in which all households have access to a functional toilet
facility; all schools/Anganwadi Centres (AWCs)/panchayat ghars have access to a functional
toilet with separate toilets for men and women; and the village has arrangements for SWM
or LWM.

ODF Plus – Rising: A village in which all households have access to a functional toilet facility;
all schools/AWCs/panchayat ghars have access to a functional toilet with separate toilets for
men and women; and the village has arrangements for SWM and LWM.

ODF Plus – Model: A village in which all households have access to a functional toilet facility;
all schools/AWCs/panchayat ghars have access to a functional toilet with separate toilets
for men and women; all public spaces in the village have minimal litter, minimal stagnant
wastewater and no plastic waste dump in public places; the village has arrangements for
SWM and LWM; and the village has ODF Plus IEC messages prominently displayed through
wall paintings and billboards.

Information, Education Communication (IEC)

India’s Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) has been recognized as the largest behaviour change
programme in the world. Innovative strategies were employed at multiple levels to foster
an enabling environment for effective and informed community engagement and achieve
Swachhata. One of the key strategies to achieving the goals of SBM was nudging behaviour
change towards toilet construction and regular use through a participatory, community-led
approach.

The long-term objective of this intervention was to change the social norms around open
defecation and to promote the 4R principle of waste management including segregation
of waste at source. To prioritize planning and implementation of IEC for SBM, States were
provided flexibility to plan, design and implement IEC strategies, taking due account of local
culture, practices and sensibilities.

xviii Swachhata Chronicles: Transformative Tales from India