Community radio is one of the most powerful medium that can be utilised to promote Swachh Bharat Mission, India’s flagship program on sanitation. Radio has the potential to reach out to the people at the last mile at the grassroots who otherwise are deprived of information through different forms of media and sources.

1. Information Education Communication and Behavior Change Component
under Swachh Bharat Mission- Examples and Experiences
Community radio is one of the most powerful medium that can be utilised to promote
Swachh Bharat Mission, India’s flagship program on sanitation. Radio has the
potential to reach out to the people at the last mile at the grassroots who otherwise are
deprived of information through different forms of media and sources.
To share briefly about Community radio, Alfaz-e-Mewat
107.8 initiative, we worked on a series of episodes on one
of the country’s greatest problems of sanitation. The
theme was chosen from the issues identified by the
community in group meetings, focused group discussions,
and in-depth interviews, conducted under the formative
research process. The community discussions with men and
women indicated that the community realizes the
importance of having household toilets but the lack of
resources and delays in getting government funds, and non availability of water leaves
rural families with no choice but to defecate in the open.
The radio program series titled ‘Shochalay Mere Angana’ (Toilet in my household),
featured the apathy of women due to open defecation. The discussions also lead to
information related to severe health problems faced by the community women which
were captured as stories directly from the affected party.
We used community stories woven
around narration as the format for the
episodes because stories are best told by
the people who are in them. We
broadcasted these series into two
segments: segment one was a series of
seven radio dramas depicting challenges
and solutions to open defecation were
prepared. The second series of 12
episodes with real life stories from women
themselves describing the daily ordeals
they face while open defecation. It was
the first time ever that these women
spoke about their own health problems
due to open defecation, the prevalent
myths in the area and also grassroots
stories of hope and courage that never go
beyond the village neighborhood.
The critical success factor behind such
programmes is community involvement
right from the design stage till execution
and actual construction of toilets in
households in Havan nagar village led by women of the houses. The sustainability of our
series hinges upon the fact that it gave an important platform to women to speak about
such issues and share their stories.
Pooja Murada, S M Sehgal Foundation

2. Reply to the query on Decentralization Committee on Solution Exchange from
Joy Elamon of Intercooperation Social Development India on improving the
implementation of the Swachh Bharat Mission, specifically the IEC and Behavior
Change component under it.
Head Office
Plot No.34, Sector 44, Institutional Area
Gurgaon, Haryana – 122003
INDIA
Tel: 91-124-4744100
Fax: 91-124-4744123
Email: smsf@smsfoundation.org
Website: www.smsfoundation.org