Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh

Water, Sanitation, Governance

Outline India was commissioned by Dasra to conduct deep-dive research into the work of two partners of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, in the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) space. 

The study aimed at building an understanding of the individual partners’ interventions and innovations as well as to assess which of their products and services Dasra could assist with. We, therefore, conducted deep dives to document the partners’ models and practices so as to enable Dasra to foster advocacy, combat information asymmetry and enable knowledge exchange. The chief objective of the study was to amplify the work and strengthen the peer learning of BMGF’s partners in the sanitation space to enable BMGF to develop a platform where its partners can exchange knowledge and innovation, replicating and scaling up best practices and fostering inter-organizational relationships.

The two partners shortlisted for the study were CEPT University, a research and advisory and teaching institute based out of Ahmedabad, Gujarat currently being supported by BMGF for the Performance Assessment System (PAS) Project which seeks to establish sustainable indicators and benchmarks on water and sanitation service provision for state and local governments in five Indian states. The second partner was Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI) an autonomous institution that provides management, research, and advisory services to the government and the corporate sector and has received grants from BMGF for the implementation of sanitation solutions in the city of Warangal. 

Through extensive secondary research and qualitative in-depth interviews, Outline India identified the best practices, challenges encountered, innovations as well as scalability of the programme based on organizational capacity and needs to determine the future pathways of engagement with Dasra and BMGF.