India

What did we do?

India is the second-largest country in the world by population and Kolkata is its third-largest city. Located in West Bengal State, the city is characterized by fraying colonial-era architecture, contentious politics, and income inequality. Amongst government schools, we found that 70% had water testing positive for total coliform. Given cramped conditions and limited space in school compounds, toilet to student ratios were particularly inadequate, and provisions for menstrual hygiene management largely absent.

Splash partnered with SSM: Kolkata, the equivalent of the municipal department of education, to improve school WASH conditions. Despite strong support from the SSM Chairperson, we were ultimately unable to unlock funding from the West Bengal Department of Education due to COVID-related budget constraints.

However, through school administrations, parent-teacher associations, local communities, local partners, and local vendors, we developed an adjusted model for school-level cost-sharing that has been incredibly successful in Kolkata.

What did we learn?

We believe that only through government co-funding can we ensure long-term sustainability of WASH solutions in schools, and the support of government at the micro-level through individual schools and neighborhoods has been a significant learning opportunity to try a slightly different model. We are committed to ensuring sustainability in the 361 schools we have reached and have dedicated our resources to these schools. Our strategies for long-term sustainability here include securing low-cost maintenance contracts between schools and private vendors and a handover of the project to a local NGO. As of late 2024, nearly 100% of schools have signed on to long-term maintenance contracts and are invested in new infrastructure.

We continue to retain some staff to both help us wind down the program as well as to conduct technical assistance and carry forward the behavior change and menstrual health program work that remains. Additionally, this new co-funding model at the micro level has provided the roadmap for continued growth in Kolkata and beyond!

Impact

Learn more about Splash's impact here.

Partners

“We see this as a beginning of a long term partnership towards ensuring the basic rights of children in accessing safe drinking water, proper sanitation and better hygiene practices.

The Splash input will strengthen the efforts of the Sarva Shiksha Mission in providing clean drinking water, proper sanitation and a child friendly environment at schools as mandated through the Right to Education Act.”

Sr. Kartick Chandra Manna

Chairman

Sarva Shiksha Mission (SSM), Kolkata