Ahmedabad – The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Urban Management Centre (UMC) today hosted a half-day-long cultural event to celebrate their three-year partnership under the Ahmedabad Sanitation Action Lab (ASAL) program.

Mukesh Kumar, Commissioner of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, Ramona El. Hamzaoui, USAID Deputy Mission Director to India, and Manvita Baradi, Director of UMC, helped inaugurate the event.

The USAID-UMC joint program, ASAL, worked in partnership with the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, the Ahmedabad Municipal School Board and the Government of Gujarat to improve the quality and maintenance of toilets for boys and girls in select municipal school campuses. Under the program, more than 130,000 children have benefitted from access to safe drinking water, improved sanitation facilities and the adoption of Menstrual Hygiene Management practices.

Speaking at the event, Ramona El. Hamzaoui, USAID Deputy Mission Director to India, said: “At USAID, we strongly believe that clean sanitation is not a privilege, but a right that must be available to all, and USAID is proud to have partnered with UMC to help schools and communities in Ahmedabad improve access, cleanliness and management of their sanitation systems. This is just the beginning. The groundwork has been laid by UMC. I’m confident that the students, their teachers and the community members will carry this work forward and make sure that sanitation remains a priority.”

ASAL also worked in surrounding slum communities to help community members advocate for their needs, bring toilet connections to the neighborhood and instill the habit of using a toilet to discourage the practice of open defecation. UMC also developed an “E-Portal” that included 22 tutorials to train government officials in sanitation management and is currently being used by city managers in more than 1,000 cities.  

At the event, schools also received awards for their participation in Swachh School Survekshan 2017. Representatives from Gandhinagar Gujarati Shalla accepted the award for the Best Performing School in Ahmedabad.