Keystone Foundation, a partner in the Tamil Nadu Urban Sanitation Support Programme (TNUSSP) organized a District level multi-stakeholders workshop at the Residency towers on 16th December 2021. This workshop was conducted to present to various stakeholders the work done under the TNUSSP programme along the 6 years journey (2015 December to 2021 December). The Workshop was inaugurated by the District Collector Dr. G.S. Sameeran, IAS, Collector, Coimbatore District.
Tmt. Supriya Sahu, IAS, Principal Secretary, Environment, Forests & Climate Change Department, Govt. of Tamil Nadu addressed the gathering with a special address on the importance of sanitation in urban Tamil Nadu, through a pre-recorded video. Followed by that, the District Collector addressed the gathering on the importance of decentralized treatment and waste management systems. He also insisted on following such on-site waste management systems in and around the Peri-urban areas of the district.
The Collector then visited all the stalls and exhibitions presented by the TNUSSP team and discussed further developments and scaling up of initiatives at the district level. The team presented to the gathering the six years journey of the project, challenges, and key miles stones achieved. A wide range of stakeholders like government officials, NGOs, corporate companies, education institutions participated in the workshop. All the participants actively participated, shared insights and thoughts on urban sanitation and waste management.
TNUSSP was launched in the year 2014 to aid the government in its Tamil Nadu Sanitation Mission. Keystone Foundation since then has acted as the City Technical Support Unit (TSU) supporting the government in ground level implementations aiming to improve urban sanitation in the State by demonstrating innovations in two urban locations — PeriyanaickenPalayam and Narasimhanaicken Palayam Coimbatore.
Over six years, Keystone Foundation has implemented various technical and community level interventions across the sanitation value chain.
Implementation of a pilot Fecal Sludge Treatment Plant – 25KLD- promoting decentralized management of fecal sludge with a cluster town panchayat outreachWorking with the government officials for training, capacity building and enabling a strong environment for development in improvement of water, sanitation and hygiene
Working with the Urban Poor settlements, schools students on WASH- Water, Sanitation, Hygiene
Working with women group for enterprise development thereby improving their livelihood and empowerment
Working with women and adolescent girls on Menstrual Hygiene ManagementWorking with sanitation workers and septic tank lorry operators on their health , safety and social security.
Read related Stories here (link to stories under Water and Sanitation)
