Toilets and Training

A recent news item in the Economic Times reveal that of the 10 Million new toilets built under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in the last one year since the program was launched only less than 50% is used for the purpose for which these were built. Not that this is happening only in the rural areas, even in the urban areas the trend is no better.

We know that in India government spending on social welfare often misses the target. However, unlike the Public Distribution System for food grains, sugar or kerosene, toilets cannot be sold in black market. So why is it that even in such a non-tradable product only half the users benefit from the initiative? It is not that the other half families are not using these toilets. Many of them use these new structures for storing food grains and other agricultural items. They think a nicely built enclosure is not to be desecrated by the daily dose of excreta when there are enough greener, bushy and airy open spaces available for the job. Sound logic it may sound!

Probably there was some defect in the problem definition. The problem got stuck with the toilet. The problem was seen as a large number of Indian families not having ‘pucca’ toilets. Therefore, the solution was straight forward. Set a target to build a certain number of toilets within a specified time. Budgets allocated, contractors identified and the job done! This is not to show the initiative in poor light. The initiative is very laudable and the 50% success made a big difference to five million families. The initiative involved acknowledging an acute basic need, financial planning and physical implementation.

When we broaden the problem to define the need as health, hygiene and safety of the citizens the solution will not stop at the toilet door. The solution should result in using toilets for the intended purpose. That would need a change in the behaviour and eventually developing new habits in life. Behaviour modification often needs much more than physical infrastructure and budgets.  

Psychologists and training managers know this. Behaviour modification is no easy task for any one, leave alone the government agencies. Corporate companies with defined KRA’s (key result areas) and incentives find it difficult to change the behaviour of people. Everyone is comfortable the way one has always been.  

Over two millennia ago Plato found that ‘human behaviour flows from three main sources: desire, emotion and knowledge.’ Notice that even the great philosopher places knowledge at third place when it comes to human behaviour. Repeated communication and demonstration of benefits, along with adequate incentives would be required to break the gravitational orbit of entrenched habits. That would probably kindle the desire for a new behaviour and eventually lock in the new habit with some emotional glue.

Let’s come back to the toilet revolution. Changing a daily habit is surely not a day’s task. It needs many attempts and continuous motivation. Trained and motivated village level officials or volunteers working with the beneficiaries could have achieved higher usage of the newly built toilets. Motivating the motivators is the bigger challenge in the government bureaucracy as well as in the corporate hierarchy. Training without motivation results in wasted resources.