An East ZoneWinS meet
At the Wash in Schools Review Meet of the Eastern Zone comprising Districts 3240, 3250, 3261, 3262 and 3291, hosted by RC Bhubaneswar Excellence, D 3262 DG Narayan Nayak opened the meet saying D 3262 has received 5 Global Grants totaling Rs 2.22 crore for implementing WinS in 222 schools. Work has started in these schools to provide safe drinking water, gender segregated toilets, group hand wash stations and menstrual hygiene management and will be completed by May-end.
Rotary India WinS Vice Chairman P T Prabhakar made a SWOT analysis of WinS and explained how Rotary can implement WinS projects in hundreds of schools with CSR funds, and usher in behavioural modification.
He urged the clubs to continue working on WinS and upgrade the schools from one to three stars. WinS Member Secretary Ramesh Aggarwal gave a statistical brief of where India stands with regards to wash stations, toilets in schools and sanitation. Zonal coordinator, East Zone, PDG Sanjay Khemka presented a zonal review of WinS.
Addressing the meet Global WinS Chair and TRF Trustee Sushil Gupta presented a global outline of the WinS programme and reiterated that many Rotarians and Rotary clubs mistakenly associate the programme with toilets in schools. He said apart from tying up with GoI on Swachh Bharat Swachh Vidyalaya, Rotary is entering into an MoU with the Government for the Clean Ganga mission.
Gupta said just as in polio eradication, UNICEF can be a great partner in WinS and stressed on the need to put up group handwashing stations instead of taps on walls.
DG Rintu Niyogi represented District 3240, IPDG Bindu Singh (D 3250), PDG Ashok Singh (D 3261) and PDG Ashok Mohapatra (D 3262). Representative for Rotary South Asia, WinS Programme Officer Nida Hasan assured Rotarians of full support from the South Asia office. Wash Specialists from UNICEF Gabriel Rozario from West Bengal and Johnson from Orissa, shared their experiences to achieve an Open Defecation Free (ODF) India.
