The last few months witnessed a major setback in the Indian Economy and the overall work space, especially the informal sector bearing the brunt. The COVID19 pandemic hit hard on the daily wage earners and the migrant labour. Work opportunities coming to a standstill, has constricted the livelihood of the labour class of people belonging to the construction industry working as masons, plumbers, ground diggers, tile fitting workers, painters, etc. who on an average, earn Rs.400 – Rs.500 per day.
Even while this adverse scenario continues to stay, a considerable contribution towards the livelihood of the people from this segment comes from Shelter Associates’ ‘One Home One Toilet’ initiative. This cost sharing sanitation model of facilitating household toilets to the families of urban slum settlements came into existence in the year 2013 and has now impacted the lives of over 1 lakh individuals directly through the facilitation of over 22000 home toilets. Not only has it led to healthier families through an improved sanitation facility, but also proved to be a livelihood opportunity for the skilled and unskilled labour mostly residing within the communities who are a part of the toilet construction process.
Cost of toilet construction
While the pandemic led to unemployment and a halt in the construction projects, having a home toilet gained greater prominence considering the safety & hygiene threats involved with community sanitation. During such a crisis when the daily wage labour had to face financial miseries, the OHOT model of Shelter Associates provided livelihood to many skilled and unskilled labour who could see a source of income through the toilet construction work. The toilet construction further incentivised renovations and reconstruction of houses as a step towards an elevated standard of living, adding to the income of masons and other casual labour involved.
Toilet construction work in progress
For the construction of 22000 household toilets, nearly 13,53,000 manhours were utilized. This meant more employment opportunities and a reduction in the transport cost as most of the masons and other labour involved in the toilet construction stayed in the immediate vicinity. Shelter Associates could thus leverage nearly 15.6 crores towards labours charges for drainage led toilets and close to Rs. 2.75 crores towards the labour for construction of septic tank toilets. Overall, Rs. 18.3 crores have been a revenue for the skilled and unskilled labour involved in the construction of 22000 individual household toilets, which is still counting.
“I have been working as a mason for several years. The situation of COVID19 and Lockdown impacted my work greatly as I had no job for almost 6 months. Shelter Associates’ intervention of donating toilet construction materials to the families was a major source of livelihood for me. I started getting regular income as the families approached me for their toilet construction work.”
– Kapanna Laxman Pathrut, Mason (Kanan Nagar, Kolhapur)
The ‘One Home One Model’ has proved to play a dual role in community development. One being the assurance of safety, hygiene and well-being to the toilet owners and the other to provide income opportunities to the labour community involved in getting a beautiful home toilet available to the needy families.
Completed beneficiary toilets