The South Asian Women in Media (SAWM) is a network of women journalists based in each country of the region — that is, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka. WE STAND FOR freedom of speech and expression, the fair and equal representation of women in the media, as well as equal opportunity for women in the media. Our aim is two-fold: We want to deepen our network inside our countries so as expose each other to the wide variety of stories around us as well as promote best practices in journalism; We also want to create a digital platform that will showcase our work as well as our interests and ideas across all the countries of South Asia. We believe that the right to speak freely goes hand-in-hand with the responsibility to dissent, and yet across our region, censorship and crackdowns and plain fear are being used by powerful governments to prevent the story from coming out. In these circumstances, a network of journalists — of women journalists — who demonstrate the power of cross-border networking in standing up to these values of a free and responsible media, is increasingly important.

Among these efforts to promote both national and cross-border journalism — which includes the provision of grants to women journalists to pursue their stories and arrange field visit — is a highly valued collaboration with UNICEF, which was launched in 2017. The theme of the inaugural SAWM India-UNICEF India Media Initiative was “Voices of Adolescents.” Eleven women journalists from English and regional media across the country wrote and reported untold stories of adolescent girls and boys and presented them to over 25 million readers and viewers in their respective publications.

For the second edition in 2018, SAWM India collaborated with UNICEF’s Water, Sanitation & Hygiene Initiative (WASH), on the theme “Gender and Sanitation.” This year, our funders supported 14 journalists. SAWM India makes it a point to make the selection of these journalists diverse and inclusive. Which means that journalists from big media organisations like Times of India, Indian Express, The Hindu, Prabhat Khabar, PTI, Mirror Now, along with journalists from smaller regional language newspapers and TV, as well as independent journalists participated in this exercise.

The program enabled the reporters to travel to other states to report their stories, an opportunity often not offered by media organisations. They visited villages and towns where sanitation projects were making an impact on the lives of young girls and women. The participants were also encouraged to travel on their own.

Providing resource and other support for quality journalism is important to SAWM. As in the first year, this year too we held a pre-departure briefing. It was attended by experts in sanitation, from UNICEF as well as those seconded to the government, as well as veteran journalists who have written on gender and sanitation issues. A report on the pre-departure briefing features in this report.

The program greatly values social media posts from the field, sent by participant journalists. These capture the interface of women journalists with women in villages or slums and the impressions they make on each other. In a sense, these are “stories behind the stories,” and need to be recorded as such.

“When a Women Reports a Story She does in a Different way”. Were enough provisions are given to the Female Journalist on Ground, its a question with No answer. Every Women Journalist travels across to file a story but the basic amenity Toilet is not Provided to her in many times. Many women Journalist On Ground says she suffers from UTI (Urinary Tract Infection) it’s not the case in Chennai. Even in NCR the situation prevails. Journalist reports about the stories of Lack of Toilets, No maintenance of Toilets but she asks “where is My Toilet?”

பெண் செய்தியாளர்களுக்கு அடிப்படை தேவையான கழிப்பறைகள் களத்தில் உள்ளதா?

source : News 7 Tamil

Everytime Children are considered as the Marginalised community, the reason behind this is, they don’t have any political importance. Here the school of West Bengal sets a trend for forming a Children Cabinet. The Cabinet comprises of 5 members, the Prime Minister, Food Minister, Health minister, Education Minister and Sports Minister. These little ones have a meeting every week discuss about the problems and finds Solutions. This Helps the Children to Motivate themselves and emerge them with political and Social Understanding.

குழந்தை நேய சமூகமாக இந்தியா மாற வேண்டும் : அதற்கான எடுத்துக்காட்டாக திகழும் ஒரு பள்ளிக்கூடம்

The 88-page manual lists the rules and guidelines which schools have to follow to ensure safety of children in each category – divided into categories such as infrastructure, health and hygiene, psycho-social aspects, roles and responsibilities of teachers, child safety checklist for schools among others.

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has released a manual titled ‘Safety and Security of Children in Schools’, a compilation of laws, Acts, guidelines and rules available in India, to ensure children’s safety in schools. It also deals with how teachers have to deal with girls when they start menstruating and that the girls should be provided all possible support.

Recently, some girls at a government school in Fazilka were allegedly forced to strip by two teachers after a sanitary pad was found dumped in a toilet.  The manual, under the topic ‘Behavior Change Activities’, says, “Girls must be taught menstrual hygiene management by women teachers in a sensitive and supportive manner also also take steps to encourage and support girls during menstruation so they do not miss school.”

The manual also directs schools to provide facilities such as sanitary pads and incinerators for proper disposal of sanitary napkins during menstruation. It says, “Other steps include stockpiling extra sanitary pads and clothes (such as school uniforms) for emergencies, along with enhanced training programme for teachers.”

Schools should also be equipped with other facilities such as private space for girls and disposal facilities. The manual states, “Menstrual hygiene management facilities include soap, adequate and private space for changing, adequate water for cloth washing and disposal facility for menstrual waste, including incinerators or dustbins must be provided by schools.” It adds, “Hygiene messages may be integrated into the textbook curriculum or maybe imparted through supplementary reading material, activity-based learning methodologies or even during morning assembly sessions.”

The 88-page manual lists the rules and guidelines which schools have to follow to ensure safety of children in each category – divided into categories such as infrastructure, health and hygiene, psycho-social aspects, roles and responsibilities of teachers, child safety checklist for schools among others. The manual has to be followed by all government, private and other schools across the country.

Speaking to The Indian Express over phone from Delhi, Madhulika Sharma, technical expert, NCPCR, said, “The manual has been prepared as a handbook so that schools can access all rules and laws that have to be followed for safety of children in schools. We have tried to cover all aspects related to child safety in this manual. It has to be followed by all government, private and other schools across the country and has been sent to all states.”

Many government and private schools in Punjab are still without incinerators. The promise to provide free of cost sanitary napkins to all girls in government schools of Punjab has remained unfulfilled for two consecutive financial years till now- by SAD-BJP government in 2016-17 and then the Congress government in 2017-18.

source: The Indian Express

A student of class X of Madrassa Islamia, Chahat Mohammadi is a determined girl. She sets out with her friends on a journey to educate women and girls in her locality and adjoining rural areas about the importance of menstrual hygiene. She learnt about the significance of sanitation, hygiene and maintaining healthy habits during menstruation from the Kanyashree Club in her school — “Khwaish Kanyashree Club”. An active member of the Club, she knows it won’t be easy to convince the women, who follow the age-old traditions when it comes to menstruation. However, she is keen to change their mindset. “Initially, the women, were hesitant to even talk about these issues, but we were able to convince them to adopt the proper use of sanitary pads and other healthy habits that we need to follow during menstruation,” says Chahat.

The Kanyashree Clubs comprise of 30 to 35members and there are a total of 400 clubs over 20 blocks of West Bengal’s Purulia District, the number of which is expected to increase in due course of time. The girls, popularly known as the “Kanyashree Girls” are taught about menstrual hygiene and use of sanitary pads, that are easily accessible in their schools. Moreover, the instructions received, are then carried forward by the girls to other women who are not aware about the healthy practices of menstruation.

“We buy the sanitary pads from the Self Help Groups (SHGs) in our Kanyashree Club, both for our personal use and for those, whom we sensitize. The pads are affordable and we sell them at a nominal rate. The girls are now happy and feel comfortable even during those days of discomfort,” adds Chahat.

The major obstacles to education of the girl child is absenteeism due to early marriage and menstrual cycle. Parents feel that a girl should be married off as soon as she attains puberty, thereby increasing the rate of dropouts and creating severe health problems among the girls.

Riya Chandra a member of “Pratyusha Kanyashree Club”, and a student of Class XI, was aghast when she found that girls of her age were married off and even bore children while they are still adoloscents. “We carry out awareness campaigns among the masses about the ill-effects of child marriage and encourage the parents to send their daughters to school. Here, in our club we learn about various social and health related issues, and make an effort to reform society,” says Chandra.

During menstruation, the girls usually use clothes and other primitive methods which is not hygienic and may lead to infections. “We try to sensitize the girls and women in our locality who still rely on clothes. We inform them about the use and disposal of sanitary pads and avoid unhygienic methods. Initially, they felt shy talking about periods and never dared to go to a chemist to purchase a packet of sanitary pad. However, now they feel comfortable discussing with us and frankly ask for pads whenever they need it,” adds Chandra of Shantani GirlsHigh School.

“Kanyashree Prakalpa”, is a scheme undertaken by the West Bengal Government for the uplift of the girl child. It is a conditional cash transfer method, where an adolescent unmarried girl between the age bracket of 14 to 18, receives a certain amount to continue with her education thereby making her independent and empowered. The project is not solely confined with the monetary support to the girls, rather it is also a holistic step to transform the adolescent girl into a confident person.

According to a systematic review on Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) in India, by UNICEF in 2015, 24 percent of school girls remain absent during their menses. In another report by the National Family Health Survey, NFHS 4- 2015-2016, around 52 percent of girls in India were unaware of menstruation before they have their first period and only 58 percent of women were using hygienic methods.  These figures underline the importance of MHM to girls in school in support of health and education outcomes.

The adolescent girls in the Kanyashree Clubs are provided friendly counselling sessions on menstrual hygiene through Adolescent Friendly Health Clinics (AFHC) and free health sessions at Anwesha Clinic. The sessions are conducted in close co-ordination with ICDS and UNICEF members. Along with counselling session, a comic book is published for the girls, where information about menstruation and hygienic menstruation management is given as a self-reference for adolescent girls that help them prepare for the physical changes in their bodies and practice safe and hygienic ways of dealing with menstruation.

“Initially, it was uneasy to attend school during those days on a bicycle, I was obsessed with the fear of getting my clothes stained, but not anymore. In our “Sapnadisha Kanyashree Club”, we are given a detailed insight on menstrual hygiene like — maintaining proper diet and cleanliness, using and changing pads within 4 hours and this has made our lives much easier. We also have provisions in our school to change pads. Moreover, we openly talk with our instructor without any hesitation, in case if we face any problem during menstruation,” says Pompa Mahato, of Hutmura Harimati Girls’ School.

District Magistrate of Purulia, AlokeshPrasad Roy talks about the objectives of the Kanyashree project — to increase educational attainment, prohibition of child marriage and providing financial assistance to the girls. “We thrive to make them self-reliant by converging various departments like skill development and employment generation with the project. Fiscal awareness programme are also conducted in consultation with various banks for the benefit of the girls which enable them to handle their own accounts,” he says.

In yet another breakthrough initiative, the Purulia district administration has implemented its own brand, namely “Udaan”, a project on sanitary napkin for MHM programme. The pads manufactured by Udaan are totally biodegradable, quality tested and priced Rs 5 for two pads. UNICEF and the state government has supported this project of Purulia, which is now replicated in all districts of West Bengal.

“Menstruation”, is a topic which has always been a taboo subject. Not many, especially in rural areas are aware about the habits to be rigorously followed during their menses. Adding more complications to these monthly cycles are stomach cramps and discomfort, lack of awareness, and access to sanitary napkins. The most affected are the adolescent girls who tend to miss out school, thereby increasing the rate of dropouts. “Earlier the women used clothes and cow dung as absorbents during menstruation. These created severe health implications. Then we started propagating various campaigns on menstrual hygiene involving adolescent girls. At present there are 80,000 Kanyashrees in Purulia, who themselves are practicing and encouraging their family, locality and rural areas to adopt the healthy habit of using sanitary napkins,” Roy says.

Roy informs that there are around 31,000SHGs in Purulia where women are well-trained and provided with the machine for the production of sanitary napkins. The benefit of its use has reached even the most backward areas of Purulia. There are two production houses in Purulia where mass production of these sanitary napkins are carried on and supply chain are done by the women of SHGs. As per the requirements, these pads are supplied to the nodal teacher of the Kanyashree Clubs, from whom the girls can purchase.

The concept of selling the sanitary pads at a nominal rate was adopted to empower the SHG women. Kalpana Kuiry, Supervisor of the SHG, “Agragami Prathamik Samabai Samiti, says, “I have been associated with this group since last ten years where we used to produce the sanitary pads manually. After the implementation of the project Udaan, we were provided with the machine from the district administration. The raw materials used in the making of the pads are procured by us; it usually consists of non-woven fabric, wood gel, dry net, release paper and packet. The annual production capacity is 12 lakhs, and per day 3,000 pads are prepared. As amonthly incentive Rs 2000, is deposited in our bank accounts.”

Widespread awareness and ground level advocacy by action oriented Kanyashree club members in Purulia have created a strong impact in combating child marriage. Moreover, emphasis has been laid for the overall development of the Kanyashree Girls. “The girls are provided with an opportunity to explore their skills in sports like football, archery, karate, taekwondo. Under the skill development programme “Swabalambi”, they are given training in various courses like — beautician, handicrafts, catering and hospitality, and preparing organic colours from Palash flowers. Awareness campaigns are also conducted by the Kanyashree girls, against vector-borne diseases, use of plastics, and road safety,” says Leena Mondol, District Nodal Officer for Kanyashree Prakalpa.

The Kanyashree and the Udaan project is giving a new ray of hope to the young girls and women of Purulia, who are the harbingers of change in the society.

In accordance to the second edition of the media initiative undertaken by the South Asia Women In Media (SAWM) and UNICEF India, a group of journalists interacted with the Kanyashree Girls and women from SHGs about the implementation of MHM programmes in Purulia

source: Thumb Print

School begins early for Pompy Biswas, Nitraban Hazarika and Krittika Das as they don the hats of ‘swachh sevaks’ to check whether the water tank has been filled, hand washing area cleaned and soaps put in place.

The three students of Azara Keotpara Lower Primary School, along with their fellow mates, have set an example in Kamrup (Metro) district, near here, by taking upon themselves the responsibility of maintaining hygiene and keeping the environment clean, not just around classrooms but homes too.

At Sajjanpara Lower Primary School, nearby, children keep a check on their parents and relatives too. They take time out to impart lessons on cleanliness to their neighbours and other members of the community.

The Assam chapter of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, along with UNICEF, has piloted the cleanliness drive to ensure less absenteeism in schools, said Rajib Dutta, the project’s engineer for Kamrup (Metro) district.

“It is the schoolchildren who have become role models for the community at large by moving beyond the confines of the campus to take their cleanliness initiatives to their family and the extended community,” he said.

A UNICEF report had pointed out that there was consistent evidence that hand washing with soap at critical times – before eating, while preparing food and after using the toilet – can reduce diarrhoea risk by about 45 per cent, Dutta added.

Likumoni Das, a Class III student of Azatpara school, said they were keen on passing the knowledge they have acquired to their parents and relatives.

“After learning the basic rules of hand washing, we found out that our parents did not follow the methods. We have now taught them how to maintain hygiene,” she said.

The headmaster of her school, Kamal Chandra Goswami, said he has built separate toilets and hand-washing facilities for boys and girls.

“I am happy to see that students have become torch-bearers of the cleanliness drive here,” he stated.

The parents, too, have joined the initiative by donating soap cakes to the school.

“We are learning something new every day from our children. These hygiene practices have become a part of our daily routine,” Amila Das, a mother and member of School Management Committee, said.

Echoing similar sentiments, Subhan Chandra Bodo, the headmaster of Sajjanpara LP School, said it was the children who convinced their parents to install water filters at home.

“As part of the government and the UNICEF initiative, children have not just learnt about keeping themselves clean, they have also inspired parents and relative to build toilets and install water filters at home,” he added.

Sweta Patnaik, the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) specialist of UNICEF, said philanthropists, corporate houses, civic and faith organizations in Assam have been requested to join the drive to extend its reach to every nook and corner of the state.

“We have taken initiatives to mainstream ‘WASH in School’ programme through trainings of teachers and headmasters and orientation of School Management Committees members,” she said, adding that a “lot more” had to be done to ensure that maximum number of people benefit from the drive.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Students of Sajjanpara primary school are washing their hands in a group with a beautiful song before having their mid-day meal.

source: Business Standard

The South Asian Women in Media (SAWM), in collaboration with the Water, Sanitation & Hygiene Initiative (WASH) by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), organized a conference on the theme of ‘Gender & Sanitation’ on October 31, 2018, at Hotel Royal Plaza in New Delhi. The conference was part of the second edition of the media initiative undertaken annually by SAWM, and saw participation by 14 women journalists, hailing from different regions and states across India. The conference provided the participants with a platform to voice their opinions on issues related to the confluence of gender and sanitation in India, interact with governmental and non-governmental experts working in the field of sanitation and general healthcare, and most importantly, share distinctive perspectives on the state of sanitation and related issues, as experienced differently across the country. The vital role played by UNICEF India in facilitating the participation of all the delegates present was appreciatively acknowledged at the very beginning, by Ms. Jyoti Malhotra, President, SAWM India.

The conference began with Mr. Nicolas Osbert, Chief of WASH, UNICEF India, making an instructive yet interactive presentation on understanding the correlation between sanitation related issues, and the impact they seem to have on the general wellbeing of children and women. Broadly, the four parameters highlighted in the presentation, to showcase the potential of sanitation as a tool of empowerment, were Health & Nutrition, Education, Socio-Economic Development, and Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM). One of the gravest concerns emanating from the persistent lack of sanitation in any social milieu, is that of stunting, or a decelerated physiological growth of a child. Repeated transmission of infections by fecal contamination pathways that begin with eating infested food items, or eating without having properly washed one’s hands, damages the gut at an early age itself, causing eventual stunting.

One gram of human faeces may contain up to 10 million viruses, 1 million bacteria, 1,000 parasite cysts and 100 parasite eggs. Once the infection has taken root in the system therefore, nutritional food notwithstanding, the overall growth in height, weight and other physical features becomes severely delayed, leading to negative consequences for mental faculties as well. Presently, a glaring 38% of children in India are experiencing stunted growth, due to lack of sanitation, and fecally transmitted infections during early childhood. At the same time, there is strong evidence supporting the claim that in India, proper sanitation can massively reduce the burden of fecally transmitted infections, diarrheal disease and stunting. Furthermore, in rural India, access to toilet facility is associated with a 16-39% reduced odds of stunting among children aged 0-23 months. The issue of open defecation or OD, therefore, provides another linkage between the lack of proper sanitation and deteriorating public health. As per official statistics, a glaring difference can be found in the number of open defecation cases in India until 2014, and after the Indian government under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi launched the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. Open defecation explains 54% of international variation in child height, while the GDP of a country may only be responsible for 29%.

In the presentation, Mr. Osbert cited recently published reports that claimed that 22% of the schools in India did not have appropriately segregated toilets for girls. Additionally, it was also believed to be the case that 58 % of preschools in India had no toilets at all, while 56 % of the preschools had no water on the premises. Understandably, the lack of basic toilet amenities in many such schools, coupled with a general lack of sanitation has had a troubling impact on the education outcomes in India, especially for girl children. Due to the unavailability of toilet facilities on school premises, a disturbingly high number of girls, especially in rural areas, have been found to miss school regularly. Moreover, in the case of a general lack of sanitation, stunting caused due to fecally transmitted infections such as diarrhea and worm infections, has majorly affected cognitive development and content retention abilities among children. Having said that, improvement in the supply of water, and toilet facilities, and other sanitation related issues at the age of 1, has been found to be associated with significantly higher language scores at age 5, serving as an important example of how proper sanitation can bring drastic change on the literacy front.

A study conducted by the World Bank in 2006 states that approximately 53.8 billion dollars are lost in India every year due to the negative impact of inadequate sanitation, on the socio-economic development of the population as a whole. In 2017, UNICEF too conducted a comprehensive study on the request of the Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation Government of India, which found out that a household functioning in an open defecation free environment could save up to 50,000 rupees per year, due to medical costs averted for gastrointestinal diseases and the like. In other words, adequate sanitation can be understood as being directly proportional to the socio-economic wellbeing of a society, as money saved on the medical front means more to expend on improving the quality of life, and increasing individual productivity. It is therefore, extremely important to consider how the link between poor sanitation and hygiene most directly impacts women and children. Women, being the primary caregivers face significant insecurity due to the unavailability of toilets, among other reasons, which is a situational crisis that gives rise to a cyclical process affecting social economic development in India, and in countries where issues related to sanitation exist.

“If menstrual hygiene was something affecting men, we would have solved the issue 200 years ago, but because it affects women, we are still struggling with the issues of maintaining menstrual hygiene like making sanitary pads readily available to begin with”, said Kevin Rudd, the Former Prime Minister of Australia, during the Mahatma Gandhi International Sanitation Convention, held in Delhi in September 2018. As mentioned by Mr. Osbert during the presentation, India has the largest adolescent population in the world at 25.3 crore, representing almost 20% of the world’s adolescent population, out of which 12 crore are adolescent girls. According to the findings of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4) conducted in 2015, about 54% of adolescent girls in India were unaware of menstruation before they had their first period, 77% did not know the uterus was the source of the bleeding, only a mere 45% believed menstruation to be normal, a vast majority observed socio-cultural, religious or food taboos during menstruation, and only 57.6% of women used hygienic methods for menstrual protection.

A systematic review of menstrual hygiene management (MHM) in India, undertaken jointly by UNICEF and The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSTMH) in 2015 observed that 24% of adolescent girls did not attend school during menstruation, and only 37% changed their absorbents in school. These figures underscore the importance of responsive WASH infrastructure in schools to enable girls to manage their periods safely. Moreover, the review shed light on the fact that the provision of improved, gender segregated toilets led to increased retention of female teachers, as well as an increase in the number of girls appearing for exams, with higher pass rates.

Given the statistics above, it is imperative for the government to invest in a menstrual hygiene management (MHM) system that educates and empowers the common female populace, to take ownership of the process of menstruation, and adopt practices that provide them with a safeguard against diseases caused due to unhygienic menstrual protection methods. Relentless advocacy of menstrual hygiene as a governance objective by UNICEF led to the development and launch of the National Menstrual Hygiene Management Guidelines in 2015, to start operationalizing menstrual hygiene schemes in urban and rural areas alike. On the larger issue of sanitation, a recent World Bank report shows how the Swachh Bharat Campaign has contributed to women empowerment, not only in terms of providing a clear environment to live in, but also an opportunity to secure economic gains. As per the report, women comprise roughly 30-40% of all Swachhagrahis or sanitation foot soldiers, who have led the process of ‘triggering a behaviour change’ vis-à-vis better sanitation and hygiene.

Following the first session, was the presentation on Maternal and Child Health, by representatives from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW). It began with highlighting the progress made by India so far, in reducing maternal and child mortality rates, and surpassing the Millennium Development Goals oriented target for Maternal Mortality Rate reduction. It brought to attention the renewed focus of the Indian government apparatus, on sectors like nutrition, early childhood development, adolescent health, and how all these are being address through inter-sectoral linkages. The recently launched program called Anaemia Mukt Bharat for instance, has been built by developing linkages with other governmental departments such as that for Women and Child Development, and organizations such as UNICEF, that are working in concert to eliminate unhygienic practices leading to anaemia. Another significant intervention by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has been in the form of Universal Health Coverage, or the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna (National Health Protection Mission), which emphasizes the fact that primary healthcare is not only about providing basic healthcare, especially in rural areas, but also about preventing diseases, helping people make lifestyle changes by improving their surroundings, where WASH has a big role to play. Therefore, it is imperative to foster partnerships if one wants to accelerate the positive reductions made on the various health parameters mentioned above.

In keeping with the sense of partnership in formulating and implementing strategies for better sanitation and hygiene, the Government of India is hosting the Partner’s Forum in collaboration with the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH), in December 2018, in New Delhi. The Partner’s Forum is a multi-country, multi-stakeholder event, for sustaining the global momentum generated for issues related to women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health worldwide. The Forum is expected to achieve the three key objectives of securing greater consensus and alignment among PMNCH’s 1000+ partners and constituencies on strategies driving the Universal Health Coverage (UHC), and the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals; promoting the sharing of ideas and best practices to support action and accountability, and inter-sectoral collaboration across health related departments; and solidifying political commitment for the ‘Every Woman Every Child Movement’ (EWEC).

Bhasha Singh, senior journalist and author, spoke to the journalists about possible media perspectives in reporting gender and sanitation. She highlighted the plight of the manual scavengers. Not a single city in India is 100 percent connected to a sewerage system. Hence manual scavenging is still a necessity. Ongoing government survey has already found 58 thousand manual scavengers. Though manual scavenging was outlawed in 2013, and their rehabilitation made mandatory, very few benefits actually reach the community.

The participants shared their own experience of reporting on sanitation and/or gender stories. Issues like the ban on menstruating women from entering the Sabarimala temple, to toilets for tribal women in forest areas, all came up. Swati Bhattacharjee, General Secretary, SAWM India, told the participants about the deadlines and the logistics of the Media Initiative. It was consensually agreed upon that the private sector ought to play a bigger role to sustain sanitation gains, to continue the process of scaling up development on WASH related issues, and to integrate women in the operationalization of sanitation schemes.
Henceforth, the delegates were encouraged to conduct research at the grassroots level, in an effort to try and incorporate the voice of the most deprived and vulnerable sections of the population, into mainstream ideas on the most viable sanitation mechanisms to be adopted. On the whole, the conference provided the participants with an opportunity to interact with experts in the field of WASH, and collectively take stock of the status of sanitation in India, brainstorm ideas on how to increase accountability and monitoring of the implementation of government programs, and aggregation of data on gender inclusion in sanitation programming. The linkages between sanitation, hygiene and gender therefore, must be explored and more importantly studied in extensive detail, to be able to understand, and adequately respond to the challenges they present to the health and wellbeing of children and women in particular.

List of participants:
1. Anwesha Banerjee – Assistant Editor – Ei Somoy (West Bengal)
2. Pooja Singh – Senior Reporter – Prabhat Khabar (Jharkhand)
3. Sharmistha Bhonsale – freelancer (Maharashtra)
4. Archana Satpathy, Reporter – OTV (Orissa)
5. Mumeninaz Zaman freelancer (Assam)
6. Durba Ghosh – Senior Journalist – PTI (Assam)
7. Rashmi Drolia – Principal Correspondent – Times of India (Chhattisgarh)
8. Lavanya Natarajan – Reporter – News7 (Tamil nadu)
9. Rakhi Roy Talukdar – independent journalist (Rajasthan)
10. Soma Ghosh – Independent journalist (West Bengal)
11. Divya Goyal – Principal Correspondent – The Indian Express (Punjab)
12. Priyanka Tupe – Reporter – eSakal (Maharashtra)
13. Aishwarya Paliwal – Correspondent – Mirror Now (Delhi)
14. Priscilla Jebaraj – Deputy Editor – The Hindu (Delhi)