Location – 8 GPs of Purulia I Block of Purulia District
Client – UNICEF, Kolkata
Project Duration – (7 months) Starting date: Dec, 21; Ending date: July,21
Narrative description of project in brief:
The Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) is a flagship scheme of the government which aspires to provide functional household tap connections to every household in the country which is still constrained by 20% coverage (JJM Guidelines). The mission also seeks to promote the holistic management of local water resources at the lowest appropriate level through decentralized, but integrated water resource management by the Gram Panchayats, with a key focus on water conservation, source sustainability, and rainwater storage. JJM’s focus is on developing infrastructure for collection and basic treatment of domestic non-faecal wastewater, also called greywater, which typically accounts for nearly 80% of all domestic water.
Hijli INSPIRATION had been assigned to work with UNICEF in mitigating the Fluoride menace in 26 villages of Purulia I Block of Purulia district in West Bengal through Behaviour Change & Communication strategy and also to develop Village Action Plan for 107 villages of Purulia I Block integrating the Fluoride Mitigation strategy.
Initiatives included:
- Behaviour Change Communication in the following
- Safe Water Practice – diverting from an unsafe source to a safe source for collecting water for cooking and drinking
- Appropriate Nutrition and food intake among villagers to mitigate fluoride contamination – identifying food sources rich in Calcium, Protein and Vitamin C
- Institutionalizing cultivation of vegetables rich in Calcium and Vitamin C in kitchen gardens of schools/ AWCs and provide protein rich food on a regular basis such as whole egg and mixed dal with soyabean etc.
- Promoting multi – cropping and sustainable agriculture for supporting appropriate nutrition practices.
- Hygiene Practices on Oral Health to mitigate dental fluorosis.
- Nutrition & homebased practices to mitigate water quality issue among villagers.
- COVID-19 compliance, hand-washing hygiene practices with institutional focus
- Awareness generation for promoting water conservation techniques relevant for Purulia I Block
- Awareness generation to stop water wastage
- Reconstruction of VWSC of 8 GPs & gave training to the VWSC members on their roles & responsibilities related to water and sanitation.
- Preparation of Village Action Plan through community participation and stakeholder involvement in the context of PWS
- Involve community particularly women to take part in planning, implementation & O&M of PWS system