“A government resolution says men and women can use public toilets free of charge, but women have to pay for using toilets. We object to this bias.”
Rahul Gaikwad, Leaders’ Quest Fellow (left), as quoted in the Indian newspaper Daily Bhaskar
Our Quest Fellowship Programme in India is in its fourth year. More than 300 fellows have graduated and a further 195 are receiving intensive training. We have current and former fellows working in all but two of the 35 districts of Maharashtra state, as well as five districts of Karnataka. Over 100 organisations now form part of our network.
A large and growing fellow community brings with it many new opportunities. In Maharashtra, fellows are working together to lead campaigns on key issues, mobilising NGOs and community groups and collaborating with local government to secure basic rights.
In Mumbai, the chosen campaign is ‘Free to Pee’, which promotes the right of women to use free public toilets. In Mumbai, there are four times the number of men’s facilities than there are women’s – and women often have to pay to use them. This is despite a 2003 government resolution stating that public toilets in the city should be available free of charge.
When you consider that 44% of Mumbai’s residents have no toilet at home, and that Mumbai’s unofficial toilets are its creeks and rivers, it is a situation with wide-reaching consequences for public health and the environment. Not to mention the issue of personal safety for local women….
Last autumn, 60 of our Mumbai fellows (from throughout the four-year programme) came together and mobilised 35 local NGOs around the issue. In November, they met with the Mumbai Municipal Council (BMC) and presented a list of demands. This included a request to begin surveying existing facilities, ensure blocks are well-maintained and attended by female cleaners, and put up boards confirming that the toilets are free of charge (an effective anti-corruption measure).
After the fellows secured the backing of the Chief Engineer for Sanitation, the surveys got underway in ten wards of the city. The aim is for free and hygienic women’s toilets to be built every 2km throughout Mumbai, with the NGOs working with the BMC to manage and maintain them.
Fellows are getting organised in other places, too. Last summer, they got together in each region of Maharashtra to decide on an issue of great local importance for their campaign. In Western Maharashtra, its equal distribution of water; in Northern Maharashtra, it’s the civil rights of the Pardhi tribe, who face significant discrimination.
In Konkan and Marathwada, it’s implementation of the Domestic Violence Act and the campaign against female foeticide, for which they have already secured the backing of the State Minister for Women and Children.
In Vidarbha, the campaign centres on community claims to forest lands. Mobilised by our fellows, 130 villages have submitted applications to be officially recognised as owners of the forest within their village boundaries, enabling them to manage the area sustainably and earn their livelihoods from selling fruits, bamboo and timber products.
Across the state, campaigns are bringing together fellows, mentors, communities and local organisations, expanding the Leaders’ Quest network, multiplying our impact and bringing about sustained change on vital issues.
Sujata Khandekar, LQ’s India Fellowship Programme Director, says: “In this way, fellows’ leadership gets more rooted and recognised in their own communities. The regional campaigns are sowing the seeds for a grassroots movement in Maharashtra.”
Read more about the Free to Pee campaign on dailybhaskar.com