New Delhi: The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation today held a National Consultation on Information, Education and Communication (IEC) in the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) {SBM-G} in Delhi. This was the second such consultation under the Ministry’s plan to finalise IEC plans of all the States. In the first consultation, held on January 19-20, 2018, Gurugram, 15 States had participated. In today’s consultation, senior officials from 14 States (7 ODF and 7 non-ODF States) participated.
The participating States finalised and presented their Annual IEC plans for FY 2018-19, detailing out the proposed IEC activities and the earmarked allocations for the same. Specialists/experts from the World Bank, UNICEF and other Development Partners shared their inputs on various IEC interventions.
The Secretary, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Shri Parameswaran Iyer, in his address, spoke about the central role of IEC in the Swachh Bharat Mission. He added that, while amount of IEC expenditure is important, the quality of IEC spends is also crucial for sustaining the progress made. Encouraging the participants, he said that effective and well-planned workshops at the State/district level should be regularly conducted for sharing and learning best practices. Further, he added that special IEC funds may be earmarked for the ODF States/districts to achieve sustainability goals. He also expressed confidence that, with the sustained and focused implementation that the Mission was receiving by the State governments, the Prime Minister’s vision of a Swachh Bharat by October 2, 2019 would be realized.
It was noted at the Consultation that IEC expenditure in SBM-G countrywide has shown a substantial increase, thus strengthening the behavior change efforts at the grassroots. The Ministry also planned key innovative media campaigns and IEC interventions in FY 2017-18, such as Swachhata Hi Seva, Satyagraha Se Swachhagraha, Swachh Sankalp Se Swachh Siddhi, Swachh Shakti, ODF Week leading to Independence Day 2017 and many others where States participated enthusiastically, thus driving the behaviour change efforts.
