Sustainability through training

This paper summarises the work done over the last six years to improve the supply of water in rural areas of India through specially designed training for engineers and scientists working in the rural water sector. The programme came into being as a result of the vision of senior staff of the Drinking Water Mission in the Department of Rural Development of the Ministry of Agriculture in 1990. Since then the support of Mission staff has continued as the responsibility for the activities of the Mission passed first to the Ministry of Rural Development and recently to the Ministry of Rural Areas and Employment. Financial support was provided for the external input costs to this programme by the Overseas Development Administration of the United Kingdom Government and internal costs were borne by the Mission

Catching them young: an assessment of hygiene knowledge in government school children in Delhi

Children are recognised as change agents in hygiene promotion. Though numerous efforts are being made to sensitise them on the importance of hygiene it is necessary to gauge their current understanding. For the 2015 Global Handwashing Day, WaterAid India and Society for All Round Development (SARD) conducted quizzes to reinforce the importance of hygiene within schools and recognise children as school health ambassadors and nurture them as change agents between their schools and communities. The quiz helped us analyse the current understanding of the school children on different aspects of hygiene and design targeted interventions needed to further their understanding on the subject. Based on the analysis of the responses of the children to the quiz questionnaire we found that the children from different age groups, classes and gender had different levels of understanding on various aspects of hygiene