Sanitation ki ore badhte kadam
VIEW EVENT DETAILS595 million people do not use toilets in India, this figure represents more than half of India’s population (UNICEF, 2014). Elimination of practice of open defecation has been a topical issue for various CSR initiatives and government campaigns. However, despite all the chatter, subsidies, funding and awareness campaigns—open defecation is still a common practice. The root cause of this sanitation challenge is that there is a low demand for toilets. How do we change this thinking? What aspects of behavior change should we tackle?
Asia Society and Dalberg are bringing together a diverse panel of research, strategy, design and implementation experts from private, public and not-for-profit sectors to answer these pressing questions on sanitation in India.
Jagdish Acharya is the Founder-Creative Head of Mumbai based creative agency Cut the Crap. An ex-ECD with DDB Mudra, Acharya is known for the iconic campaigns like Dhara Jalebi-Ramukaka and My Daddy Strongest. His line ‘Roti, Kapda, Makaan aur Mobile phone’ ushered in the Reliance mobile revolution and was widely quoted; including by the then Prime Minister Shri A.B. Vajpayee. His awards and accolades include Goafest Abbys, Times Asia-Pacific, amongst others and several wins at the regional award shows such as Ad Club Bangalore, Calcutta & Chennai.
Sudhir Thakre has a wealth of sanitation experience under his belt. Most notably, he was the former Sanitation Secretary for the Maharashtra government and worked on Swach Bharat campaigns, with organizations including GOI, WSP, World Bank, and YASHDA. Mr. Thakre’s key involvements in sanitation include the community led Total Sanitation, Jalswaraj Project and “Aple Pani” in Maharashtra. Mr. Thakre is an advocate of “community driven development,” bringing together various rural and urban stakeholders.
Mathews Mullackal has been working as State Coordinator for the World Bank’s Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) since April 2011, facilitating technical assistance to Government of Rajasthan in scaling up rural sanitation. Mathews has worked over 11 years on water and sanitation with various projects of international agencies and the government. He has been a recipient of the prestigious Commonwealth Scholarship.
Nirat Bhatnagar is a Senior Project Manager with Dalberg and brings over 12 years of multidisciplinary experience in Human-Centered Design, social impact, entrepreneurship, and management consulting in India. Bhatnagar has successfully put together several multimillion dollar innovation projects in water, sanitation, livelihoods, with partners such as the Gates Foundation, UNICEF, JPAL, the Government of India and the International Youth Foundation.
Varad Pande is an Associate Partner with Dalberg and co-leads the Financial Inclusion practice. He has extensive experience in the education and skills, rural development, water and sanitation and environment sectors, and in developing business models for BoP customers. He was previously Special Advisor to the Minister in the Ministry of Rural Development and Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of India. He has helped catalyze an innovative results-based approach to a National Skills Program, with a successful test case launched in Jammu & Kashmir.
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