Impact of Water Supply and Sanitation Activitieson Social Change A Study of Simle Kusunde Community Lekhnath–9, Kaski

Abstract

The Impact study of water and sanitation activities at Simle Kusunde commuity has been conducted to explore, explain and analyze on social changes and impacts on health, hygiene and sanitation among the people before and after water and sanitation activities. The study has been focused on the pattern of personal, household and environmental sanitation as well as improvement on social status after adaptation social activities by the people of community. The major objective of the study is to explore and find the impact of Water and Sanitation Activities as well as changes by WASH activities over human lives focusing particularly its social impact on the study area before and after the Simle Kusunde water supply and sanitation project implementation. At the end,research questions were raised and combinations of qualitative and quantitative methods were adopted. On the basis of the research objectives, the trend of social change and impacts on personal, household and environmental sanitation were analyzed and explained comparing on the issues of social change trend and status of health, hygiene and sanitation before the project and after ten years of the project implementation. Further,organizational development of socio-economic institutions and behavioral change among the people, trend of occupational structure have also been explored extensively. The other major task was income generating activities and the pattern of decision making role at household as well as community has been examined and explained. Household survey,observation, a schedule interview, case study and focus group discussions were adopted as part of techniques of sociological research so as to collect data. However, the primary data played a dominant role into drawing a valid conclusion. Some relevant and useful secondary data were also incorporated. To give a vivid picture of social changes and trend of behavioral change on health, hygiene and sanitation, the comparison of social status and sanitation status among the people of Simle Kusunde community before the water and sanitation project and after ten years of implementation were depicted. The concept of natural resource management has shown the best way of safe water resource management for their healthy and hygienic life in the study area. Nepalese society can fitwell into increasingly emphasized grassroots level for domestic and community level decision–making, participatory development and fair equity distribution. Here, in the Simle Kusunde community, the using water from traditional pond, lake and stream, have been XI replaced by safe water from water taps near their surrounding with the adequate planning of water management, biodiversity conservation and the future sustainability of industries like agriculture, mining, tourism, fisheries, and forestry which helps to save time for water fetching. Local people have been utilizing their saved time for social works, animal husbandry, farming and children education. They are improving their health, hygiene and sanitation using safe drinking water, proper use of latrine, applying personal, household and environmental sanitation measures. The major traditional Income generation activities like fishing, goat keeping and agriculture has been changed to Bee keeping, small shop operation, hotel business and kitchen gardening along with agriculture.The concept of modernization has affected the Simle Kusunde community from traditionalism to modernity in a decade. They have updated traditional methods of water fetching, applied new means of occupation, institutionalization of community activities as a product of human planning and action, an active process capable of being both changed and criticized.The theory of social change isan alteration of social order, change in the thought process in humans, access a paradigmatic change in socio-economic structure and driven by cultural, religious, economic, scientific or technological forces, people at Simle Kusunde community has alteration of occupation, extension of socio- economic organizations, change in role of decision making,change in health, hygiene and sanitation,adaptation of income generation activities and change in status of awareness. However, compared to the yesteryear lifestyle, health hygiene and sanitation, involvement in social activities, occupational practices, involvement in income generation activities and decision making role for household and community decision trend of the community, the study has found that the water and sanitation activities along with time, technology and awareness has massive change the lifestyle, health, hygiene and sanitationand so on.