In order to meet the objectives of this policy and to create a ‘critical mass of change champions’, ASCI proposes to introduce a certification program in non-sewered sanitation for practitioners from some of the Indian states. Governments in these states are keen to make these policies operational and have solicited support in building urban local bodies (ULBs) capacity. In order to suitably address the requirements of sanitation practitioners, there is a need to develop a customized certification program, which will include materials suitable for practitioners involved in the planning, execution, and monitoring of activities relating to non-sewered sanitation. The target group for the certification program is (i) commissioners (city managers) and mayors (elected representatives and policymakers) of ULBs who will have a 2-day face-to-face training program, and (ii) municipal engineers (technical teams) and sanitary inspectors (field implementers) who will have a 3-day face-to-face training program. The program will be delivered to mayors, commissioners, municipal engineers and sanitary inspectors across 110 ULBs in Andhra Pradesh and 72 ULBs in Telangana. This program will create at least 782 change champions for promoting non-sewer options. It will enable the holistic delivery of sustainable and equitable sanitation solutions for FSM by accelerating the impact of education and training in non-sewered sanitation in both the Telugu-speaking states and will potentially impact 30 million people in 182 urban areas in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Further, ASCI proposes rolling out the certification program to five states (Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand) by not only collaborating with urban training institutions and BMGF grantees in these states but also conducting programs to train trainers. ASCI will also introduce this program at Lal Bahadur Shastry Academy for Administration (LBSSNA), a premier institute for training state and city administrators, for high-level impact. Additionally, 125 resource personnel through the trainer training courses and 150 administrators through the LBS academy would be directly impacted.
