Please learn more about Holi here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holi

A few of us at GDL were asked to speak on development at the grassroots level at BITS Pilani on Sunday February 7th. The Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership hosted an Entrepreneurship week and our panel discussion was one of the events. Fortunately we were also able to bring BEI’s Community Leadership team, a nine member team comprised of young leaders from Bagar and the surrounding villages, who had the chance to share their ideas on how to build trust with communities for the purpose of development. Above are a few pictures from the event. The people in the panel are Sahil Chaudry, Vivake Prasad, and Kaushal Rajoriya of the  Bagar Employment Institute, and Karthik Raman of  Source for Change. The guys in the uniforms are the BEI Community Leadership Team. It was a really great experience for the students who wanted to learn more about social enterprise and for the panelists who were able to reaffirm their commitment to development using business methodologies.

One of the goals of this website is to attract tourists to the town. This will allow people to experience just how great Bagar has become and will also help boost the economy here. Also, www.bagar.org is a great resource for volunteers who are considering coming to work at GDL. Within the next few weeks, certain projects will have their own pages on the site and will easily be able to make updates based on their latest achievements and accomplishments.

Tell everyone you know about www.bagar.org and take a look yourself at what is soon to become the best website for any rural town in the world!

The football camp, along with some of the GDL interns this summer, entered an open tournament being held in Bagar, and have achieved great success. The football camp team has been the sole representative for Bagar, and it’s progress is starting to create a buzz in the community. Here’s an article in the local newspaper featuring their performance:

The Newspaper: (click to enlarge)

The Article: (click to enlarge)

Good luck on the upcoming matches Team Bagar!

On the summer camp front, the advertising that our team (which includes the interns and members of GDL’s admin team) has done is paying off. We talk to three or four people every day who express serious interest in the camp. Naturally, it is hard. 17 year old students don’t want to give up the summer before their board exams!

We were supposed to start the camp today (Sunday), but due to a lack of people we’ve decided to launch the camp tomorrow with a parents’ meeting. The purpose of the parents’ meeting is to get the buy in of the parents. It seems like my initial project is coming full circle – I began by trying to promote Parent Teacher Associations (PTA) and now, one of my last attempts at making change during my two year stint in Bagar begins with a parents’ meeting!

So this is a big week for us, with recruitment being our biggest challenge. But thankfully the energy the new members bring is contagious and invigorating and is bound to spread throughout Bagar!

Summary
GDL Bagar aims to find and implement effective solutions for improving the street trash situation in Bagar. With the support of the municipality representative, the GDL team has chosen Ward No. 11 of Bagar in hopes of making it a model ward for safai. The proposed project will focus on primary trash collection (i.e. door-to-door trash pickup from households and businesses/institutions) in the ward. The collection will be done by one cleaner riding a cycle rickshaw, fitted for collecting garbage. The project is tentatively slated to begin May 15th, 2007 and run as a pilot for four months (through the summer and monsoon season). This proposal is for a funding request of Rs. 12, 350 towards the cost of purchasing and preparing the rickshaw, as well as the cost of hiring a cleaner for the four-month pilot period.
Project History
The GDL project in Bagar is a joint effort between the Piramal Foundation and Indicorps, with the vision of ‘Transforming Bagar into a model town as individuals realize their full potential’. When the GDL team first came to Bagar in September 2006, the team members collectively decided that in addition to their specified focus areas, it was important to improve the street trash situation of this town, which aligns with the vision of transforming Bagar into a model town.

Initially, the team conducted activities to raise the awareness around the issue of trash. We also had numerous interactions with the Nagar Palika and the community on this. One concrete development was the placement of 10 trolleys as trash bins at various spots in Bagar, decided upon by a discussion with the community held at the Nagar Palika. These trolleys did confirm the theory that if designated areas were provided for trash collection, the community would use them. The issue that arose then was the regular emptying of these trolleys by the Nagar Palika cleaning crew.

Early this year, the GDL team visited Jhunjhunu city to learn more about a door-to-door trash collection initiative being piloted in a few wards, where the community members were being charged an extra Rs. 15 a month to cover the cost of the cleaner. At the same time, the team also decided on a change of approach – instead of trying to tackle the whole town at once, the focus changed to concentrating on cleaning up a single neighbourhood/ward, and making into a model ward for the rest of the town.

Why Ward 11
To decide which ward to pick as a potential model ward for cleaning, the team met with ward members of all the 15 wards in Bagar. The main criteria were the support of the Ward Representative and the current cleanliness situation. Team members visited representatives of all the 15 wards, and collectively decided to pick Ward 11. The main reason behind the choice was the strong support of the Ward representative, Shri Girdhari Lal Ji Bundela. The ward also has around 150 houses, all of them tightly packed, making it ideal for door-to-door pickup of trash.

Needs Assessment
The team also conducted a brief needs assessment to ascertain the trash situation and possible solutions for it. The primary method was a prepared survey and census of houses and businesses. Based on the responses collected, most of the houses clean once in the morning, and once in the evening. They were willing to collect their trash in their house if someone did come daily to pick it up. Some of the residents currently dump their garbage in the big garbage bins/areas, whereas others simply throw it out in the street. There is a possibility of a correlation between the distance of the house from the big garbage bins and whether or not they throw it in there. The needs assessment also involved a closer look into
Operational Details

The basic premise of the project is going daily door-to-door to each house and business/institution in Ward 11, and picking up their trash for the day.
The equipment
One operator will be hired to operate a single cycle rickshaw that has a carriage in the back to collect the trash. The team debated for a while between a cycle rickshaw or a donkey cart (gadha gaadi). However, a few factors finally pushed the decision in the cycle rickshaw’s favour:
• Cost: A gadha gaadi would cost Rs. 6000-6500 to buy, versus a cycle rickshaw for Rs. 3000
• Maintenance: Rs. 300 a month would go towards feeding the gadha, plus any veterinarian or rickshaw maintenance costs. With a cycle rickshaw, only expect a worst case scenario of Rs. 50 a month for rickshaw maintenance
• Reliability: The cycle rickhaw is likely to have better availability, since a donkey is also prone to sickness/injuries.

Capacity was one factor that would work in the gadhaa gaadi’s favour, however, with a 1-2 feet wall on all four sizes of the carriage, the cycle rickshaw should be able to carry the load of 150 houses (currently, one rickshaw can carry the load of a 100 houses).

The Route
The operator will go through the accessible gullies every day for a total of eight hours to collect trash, stopping at about 6 houses (three on either side) at a time. The route will cover all the paved streets of Ward 11 (including ones where only one side one side falls within Ward 11 territory). A horn (along with the operator himself) will announce the operator’s arrival and the residents will be instructed to associate this horn with their daily trash pick up and come out to throw their trash on the rickshaw. For smaller gullies that the rickshaw cannot tread, the operator will wait at the mouth of the gully and residents will have to come to the rickshaw. Until routine is established with residents, the operator will wait for residential compliance before proceeding along the route. The operator will follow the same route through the ward each shift to reinforce routine. After collecting the entire ward’s trash (in each shift), the operator will proceed to the landfill behind Nagar Palika, where the current Nagar Palika clean up crew dispose of the trash. Only one trip to the landfill seems feasible in each shift, due to the time it would take to go to the landfill, empty the rickshaw and come back.

Initially, the operator will focus entirely on trash collection. After assessing operational time requirements, the operator will add street sweeping as a second priority to his job responsibilities if determined to be feasible. If/When the operator begins street sweeping, the morning shift will be dedicated to trash collection while the afternoon shift will be primarily for street collection although the horn will still be blown for residents that require a second collection.

Naalis (Gutters)
One of the major components of cleaning a ward is the cleanup of the naalis (gutters). Currently, Nagar Palika comes around once every 15 days (or earlier on an as needed basis) to clean the naalis, and then the following day to pick up the dried-up naali trash. However, naali cleaning is outside of the scope of this project. Girdhari Lal Ji has promised to convince each of his ward constituents to clean up the naali in front of their own house, thus eliminating the need for outside cleanup.

Awareness campaign
An awareness campaign will be launched in conjunction with establishment of the primary trash collection system in this ward. In the process of informing residents of the new system and requesting their compliance, subsidiary effects of irresponsible trash habits will also be conveyed with emphasis on health. The ward representative has promised full support in helping convince the locals to collect their trash and deposit it everyday in the truck once routine gets started.
Duration and Operation Hours
Project duration will be roughly four months, with beginning target date May 15th, 2007 and ending day September 15th, 2007. This duration was decided to incorporate enough time for the initiative to become fully operational. This would also provide valuable lessons learned with regards to trash pickup through the peak summer (May, June) and monsoon (July, August) months.

Trash collection operation hours will be from 6:30AM-10:30AM and 3PM-7PM, every day with no holidays. The two time slot format is mainly to allow for trash pickup both in the daytime and the evening (which is when, according to our needs assessment results, people clean their houses). Furthermore, it allows for a break from the afternoon sun.

As stated earlier, the morning shift will be primarily devoted to door-to-door pickup of trash. The evening shift will be primarily for street cleanup, but residents can also empty their trash a second time if they wish.

Monitoring and Evaluation
The operator will be monitored and evaluated in the following areas: attendance, timeliness of reporting, completion of route, and cooperation with residents. Five registered checkpoints will be established throughout the route, where residents will mark off the appropriate box on the operator’s register. The operator’s daily wages is contingent upon producing a fully marked register for both shifts. The first checkpoint resident will monitor the operator’s timeliness in beginning the shift. In order to monitor the operator’s coordination with residents, random residents will be questioned throughout the ward. In addition to the checkpoints and registered card, someone from GDL staff will accompany the operator during the first month.

The system will be fully evaluated at two points during the project duration: after the first two months of implementation and after the monsoons. At these points, the effectiveness of the system as well as full analysis of all logistical and operational factors will be conducted and changes will be implemented immediately.

Payment
The operator’s wages will be linked to the monitoring and evaluation system. A set wage of Rs. 1800 a month will be set (equating to roughly Rs. 60 a day). For days that the operator is absent, the daily wages will be substracted from the monthly wages. The operator will not have any holidays, but can send a substitute for days when he is sick etc. In such cases, no amount will be subtracted from the monthly salary.

Furthermore, a bonus structure will be in place to provide an incentive for superior performance. Upon satisfactory performance, based on the overall cleanliness of the Ward, plus the evaluation areas (as stated above), the operator may earn upto Rs. 300 a month as a bonus. This would take his maximum total monthly wages to Rs. 2100 a month.

If possible, the operator would be hired from Ward11 or the adjacent wards (10, 12) itself
Exit Strategy
Residents will be informed that the funding is available only for four months and that if the system proves successful, all attempts to convert it to a self-sustainable system will be made with cooperation from Nagar Palika and possible guidance with the NGO ‘PRIA’, who prepared a solid waste management plan for the city of Jhunjhunu. Possible options after project duration are to elicit funding collectively from the community to continue service or work with Nagar Palika to have the system represented on the next year’s contract.