Two-Day National Learning and Planning Workshop on Open Defecation Free-Plus under Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) Report

A two-day national level planning and learning on open defecation-free (ODF)-Plus in the context of Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin (SBG-M) was organised in New Delhi on the 25th-26th March 2019. It brought together 120 participants, including Mission Directors and state consultants and Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation (MDWS) staff. The workshop was designed to provide a platform to discuss challenges associated with ODF-Sustainability and ODF-Plus and to learn and plan future activities. The workshop was concluded by the Secretary, SBM-G and MDWS, focusing on initiatives and planning for ODF-Plus. It was reiterated that updating of sarpanch and swachhagrahi databases is very important for capacity building and Left out of Baseline have to be dealt with as soon as possible to receive funds for the next phase of the mission. The major focus should be first towards ending open defecation (OD) before moving towards sustaining the efforts and ODF-Plus activities.