Making rights real in India: using a tool on the rights to water and sanitation with local government officials

All countries have recognised that water and sanitation are human rights and there are solid commitments to realising services for all. However, guidance on putting the human rights to water and sanitation into practice still tends to address more central levels of government, rather than local government where services need to be planned for, implemented and maintained. A group of organisations has developed the ‘Making Rights Real’ toolkit to close this gap. The toolkit was tested in India with the aim of understanding its effectiveness in changing thinking among local government officials. Throughout the trial, encouraging impressions as well as important learnings for the further use of the toolkit were made