Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf?

If you don't want the wolf to grow, don't feed it. Community Correspondent Mamta Patra brings us a positive story documenting a communities efforts to get better sanitation facilities from Redhakol Block. The community of Kuhi village are very happy with the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (Total Sanitation Campaign). They received the designated amount of INR 9000 from the government to build the toilets. Each family added some of their own savings to that amount. They extended the height to 6 ft, deepened the soak pit and widened the space for comfort. Now that the 40+ families have built toilets close to their homes, they have eliminated all the problems that came with the need to defecate and urinate. They used to be scared to go defecate in the woods; often they would go in pairs. For many the entire process involved feeling embarrassed and ashamed. It has highly benefited the elderly, children and women of the community. Mamta has documented many cases of the implementation of the in Redhakol Block. In one instance the corruption in the process meant that villagers still have no toilets. Our story today is a far cry from that. So what was different? it was the same money, the same area and similar beneficiaries... Todays story shows that the community led execution of schemes was much better than the government's and also that removing the contractor from the equation actually helped in ensuring that families in the Kuhi village got proper sanitation facilities. The government in many schemes discourages the presence of contractors; they however seem to work their way in somehow or the other. Another observation is that the government's allocated fund per family which is INR 9000 is not enough for proper construction of toilets that would meet all health standards like a deep soak pit and strong structure. Evidently collaborative community efforts are a potent tool to rid the country of the corruption that seems to run in its veins. It's like a hungry wolf, waiting to ambush, eyeing every opportunity in sight. Coordinated action can not only fend off the big bad wolf but kill it, with ease. Just remember, if you don't want the wolf to grow, don't feed it.
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