What we do
How WASH runs in a SEARCH village.
On the sanitation side we focus on schools and panchayats together. Sanitation block construction is paired with student-led hygiene clubs, monthly menstrual-hygiene sessions for adolescent girls, and a maintenance fund managed by the school management committee. Open-defecation-free declarations are followed up with quarterly verification visits for at least two years — the harder problem is staying ODF, not getting there once.
Behaviour change is the longest arc of all. We invest in panchayat-level awareness campaigns, ASHA worker training, and household-level visits during the post-monsoon water-borne disease window.
Our approach
Four principles hold the WASH work up.
Infrastructure plus institutions
Every pipe and toilet block is paired with a committee that maintains it. We build less if we cannot also build the institution that keeps it running.
Schools as anchors
School sanitation programmes carry the longest behavioural reach. Children take what they learn home, and the school management committee provides accountability the household level cannot.
Quality before coverage
A water source that fails fluoride or coliform testing is not a working source. We test before we hand over and again every quarter for two years.
Dignity for women
Menstrual hygiene management is core to the WASH portfolio, not an add-on. Adolescent girls are involved in design decisions for school facilities from the start.
Featured project
School WASH Retrofits Programme
Krishna and Guntur districts, Andhra Pradesh
“The girls used to leave school during their period. Now there is a clean room with running water and pads in a dispenser. They stay.”
P Lakshmi, Head Teacher — Mandal Parishad School, Krishna
Take it further