It is expected that the unprecedented nature and scale of the epidemic will have a long term and wide spread impact on livelihoods and natural resources like water. Thus, it is important to create a reliable channel of communication that allows collection, collation and analysis of factual data and information to flow that will augment the government and civil society’s efforts for targeted intervention in a proactive manner, even as the crisis unfolds across the country. This information will be critical to first understand the change on the ground and then realign the policies of government as well as strategy of funding and implementing organisations.

In this context, the consortium of 20 civil society organizations having a collective outreach of over 1.2 million families has reached out to the donor community including Arghyam for financial support as well as leveraging resources that can strengthen the consortium to be more effective in its work.

The consortium has come up with three-pronged response strategy as below:

1. Direct Action – support to vulnerable communities, including migrant workers, through an existing cadre of 10,000 CRPs for raising awareness, support GPs, extend reach of government programmes, organize relief (food & medicines), support health workers with PPE/ quarantine facilities etc.
2. Action Research – to generate usable knowledge for better understanding of the public health as well as the economic crisis both in the short and long term in rural areas. This would entail building contextual understanding in multiple geographies as well as various vulnerable communities, for designing and implementing effective coping strategies.
3. Support to Elected Representatives and Policy Advocacy – to complement the efforts of the democratically elected representatives from the local self-government (GPs), MLAs/ MPs as well as Niti Aayog. This is for making relief and rebuilding efforts more community based, targeted and humane. The collective advocacy is aimed to inform policy of both national and state governments as well as for funding organisations.

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Project Summary

The state of Bihar ranks lowest in terms of the Human Development Index (HDI) and has the largest percentage of poor people and the worst indicators of health and education in the country. It ranks lowest in terms of overall sanitation coverage.

Against this backdrop, this project will demonstrate the importance of water quality testing to the government and Panchayati Raj system in order to integrate it into drinking water solutions at the state level. It will promote a scientific approach towards water quality and hygiene, as well as develop systems and measures for scientific water quality testing in remote rural areas with the participation of local youth. It will also link this work with government agencies and village Panchayats to integrate water quality and hygiene management into a larger state system. Finally, the project will dovetail into a larger, EU-supported program to reduce water borne diseases in north Bihar.

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