Government of India (GOI) has launched the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) on October 2014 for making the country free from open defecation (ODF), by the 2nd October 2019. MDWS, GOI requested UNICEF India Country Office (ICO) to make an assessment of status of ODF sustainability in two districts. UNICEF ICO agreed to support the study and identified SIGMA Foundation as the partner

Maldah has been declared ODF in November 2017 and the next big challenge in front of it is to ensure sustainability of ODF status. SIGMA Foundation with support of UNICEF India Country Office has prepared this report where the focus has been on knowing the nature of access and usage of the sanitary facilities, both at the households and in the village level institutions and the barriers and gaps which exist in achieving a truly ODF community forever. Status of access to sanitation, use and maintenance of the facilities, behavioural changes for adopting sanitary practices as well as the barriers in sustaining ODF status were captured through surveys conducted in total 250 HHs in 50 Wards across 10 GPs of 2 Blocks. The survey eventually covered total 50 primary schools, 10 high schools, 50 AWCs and 10 HSCs in these GPs. The data was analysed using standard statistical tools and the findings from the analysis of the data as well as feedback from the IDIs and the field observations were used to finalize the report.