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coconut and aarti) are testimony to               sanitation infrastructure with a   in this regard. Before Swades     by grey water from household taps
                                                                               the special place they hold in the                separate toilet for girls and boys   launched the Drinking Water     – fetched close to Rs 4,00,000. The
                                                                               lives of rural the communities.                   after high school, can help girls   Scheme in Angrekond in 2017,     produce has enriched the nutritional
                                                                                                                                 pursue education after hitting     the women here spent 2-3 hours    value of their own meals too.
                                                                               Education:                                        puberty. Swades has built school   each day fetching water. When the
                                                                               A 2020 Comptroller and Auditor                    watsan facilities in 248 schools so   water scheme installed a tap in each   Clean water and sanitation are
                                                                               General of India (CAG) survey                     far to address this problem.       home, the women found the time    corner stones to public health.
                                                                               suggested that out of 1,967                                                          and energy to engage in economic   Collectively they also hold the key
                                                                               coeducational government                          Livelihoods:                       activities. They received training in   to uplifting all areas of life and
                                                                               schools that they surveyed, 40%                   A Water Aid study suggests that 73   financial literacy from Swades, apart   empowering communities to take
                                                                               did not have a functional toilet.                 million working days are lost due to   from support to set up SHGs – this   charge of the change they wish
                                                                               A whopping 72 per cent had no                     waterborne diseases in India each   included SHG registration, branding,   to see. If we want to see our rural
                                                                               running water either. Lack of a                   year. Spending long hours to fetch   labelling etc.                  communities flourish, we must as
                                                                               sanitation infrastructure directly                water too leads to loss of work                                      governments, corporates and civil
                                                                               impacts attendance of children,                   hours for communities that rely on   Today, a group of 30 women in   institutions invest in their access
                                                                               especially girls. A 2019 report by                daily wage labour.                 Angrekond run three Self-Help     to clean drinking water and a
                                                                               Dasra suggested that 23 million                                                      groups - Asha Mahila, Samriddhi   functional toilet.
                                                                               girls drop out of school annually                 Access to water has real economic   and Pragati - that are engaged in
                                                                               due to lack of sanitation facilities              or monetary implications.  The story   kitchen garden, dairy, poultry and
                                                                               and no awareness around menstrual                 of Angrekond, a ‘Swades Dream      papad-making.In 2021, collective   All pictures featured in this article are
                                                                               hygiene. A functional water and                   Village’ is particularly heart-warming   sales from kitchen gardens-enabled   credited to the Swades Foundation.


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