Press Release
The catalyzing role of dedicated investments in sanitation to empower vulnerable communities
Sanitation has been a crucial priority of urban development in India, with dedicated political will towards advancing the sector. Urban India was officially declared open defecation-free in October 2019, largely due to the thrust provided by the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) 1.0. SBM 1.0 was impactful due to the efforts towards building infrastructure with dedicated at scale construction of toilets. A large reason why India has been able to maintain an ODF status and move towards its journey of becoming ODF++ with an increasing focus on safe treatment of waste, has been due to the efforts of about 5 million sanitation workers engaged in diverse kinds of work across the sanitation value chain along with behaviour change amongst communities.