The unsatisfactory performance of many of the government programs is attributed to the fact that such Programs are implemented with ‘least or no participation of the local communities’. Towards achieving sustainability and long-term success in drinking water programs, REEDS has been working in partnership with UNICEF and other national, state, and district-level agencies since 2005 in carrying out effective awareness programs among rural communities.

Our key interventions in this area include:

• Campaigns for the creation of awareness among the user-community and other stakeholders on the Operation & Maintenance of Drinking Water Schemes under Swajaldhara in over 1800 villages spread in Andhra Pradesh.
• Piloted a ‘Resource Center’ for providing knowledge and support for practical and commercial usage of renewable energy towards sustainable rural development and livelihoods promotion in cooperation with the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of United Nations.
• Hygiene education campaigns ‘Promoting use of the toilet, creating awareness on hand-washing at the right times and sharing tasks among school children’ covering over 3,00,000 school children at over 7,000 schools in Andhra Pradesh for Department of Rural Water Supply, Government of Andhra Pradesh, UNICEF.
• Total Sanitation Campaign in 55 Gram Panchayats towards making them ‘Nirmal Gram’
• As part of the Make in India initiative, conducted ZED (Zero Defect Zero Effect) Model awareness programs among MSMEs across all Telangana Districts in association with LSLSI and FISME.