I agree with Abhishek a single incident or event should not be over hyped.One should consider that every tool is critical for behaviour change, as behavior change is a very complex issue. Different tools can be used to trigger communities, individuals based on culture, region, religion and tradition. It is also varies from community to community, state to state and district to district. We have seen that tools like dignity of women and open defecation paving way for cows to eat human feces etc.. etc trigger the communities in Rajasthan, while tools linking toilets and marriage, gifting toilets on Rakshabandhan day, focus on the dignity of women etc have made impact in the state of Madhya Pradesh. We have also seen tools like economic gain after ODF, reduced diseases, saving the lives children etc impacted communities in Chhattisgarh. What is happening is that due to media hype, few tools get highlighted. Thus one cannot conclude that whether a particular tool is widely practiced or used to trigger communities.

Dear Elisabeth,
I am not a spokesperson for any of programmes.I replied to you in my personal capacity.Everyone will reply to you depending on areas where it works or not.I live in Rajasthan.In Rajasthan open defecation is still a practice.I told you the truth.The campaign is excellent it works out well in some areas.But to find out impact for single effort,the correct identification of areas needs lot of effort.This is only possible if you have any grant for research.
My advise is do not put so much of your mind in single effort of ours but our whole campaign is struggling as sustainable behaviour change is still a challenge.
International agencies are only producing good reports of their efforts hence cannot be trusted.These agencies are giving funds to Govt/NGOs they do not take ownership of reports but reports are actually funded by these agencies,their consultants prepare the report.Now they are getting challenged as they have started raising funds in our country.
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/...cleshow/53220835.cms

This is not a gender issue but a social marketing campaign.So do not try to make it a gender issue.
Regards,
Abhishek Mendiratta

Dear Abhishek,

Thanks for your reply which partly answers my questions about the effectiveness of the "no toilet no bride" campaign in India. However, I would like to receive more details, either from you or from others in the group.

You said:

None of our campaigns are successful until and unless their is sustainable behaviour change.Media is invited by international/national agencies to create hype.But hype is not an issue.

So do we have any evidence that this particular campaign is producing sustainable behaviour change? How effective is it in the states where it has been implemented? How well does it work?

You said:

Many reports.But I do not know any of them can be trusted as many activities are undertaken still sustaianble behaviour change is not happening.

Can anyone point us to the best report on this campaign, i.e. a report that is critical and looks at all the issues?

You said

4.Is it still being promoted now? If yes, in which states of India?
Ans:Yes,Many states

Where can I find out which states are using this campaign and exactly how they're using it?

I'd be interested to hear from anyone who could shed more light on this issue. It seems to be also related to the behaviour change work which we have talked about here on the Forum:
forum.susana.org/forum/categories/71-beh...er-psychology-issues

and most recently here in relationship with starting a new SuSanA working group on behaviour change:
forum.susana.org/forum/categories/69-rel...it=12&start=24#18859

Regards,
Elisabeth

Dear Elisabeth,
I am answering your questions on "No toilet No Bride"
1.Is this campaign regarded as a success in India or was it a bit of a hype that the mainstream media jumped on?
Ans:None of our campaigns are successful until and unless their is sustainable behaviour change.Media is invited by international/national agencies to create hype.But hype is not an issue.
2.If a success, has it been connected to other activities under the SBM umbrella?
Answered above
3.Are there any good quality reports (i.e. not just newspaper articles or blog entries) that have looked into the effectiveness of this approach?
Ans:Many reports.But I do not know any of them can be trusted as many activities are undertaken stll sustaianble behaviour change is not happening.
4.Is it still being promoted now? If yes, in which states of India?
Ans:Yes,Many states
5.For me it seems a bit odd, like a woman/wife can be "bought": just provide her with a good quality toilet and she'll be your bride (or vice versa): what do gender experts say about this campaign, does it reinforce sterotypes or does it empower women?
Ans:In India whatever works is tried so no need of any comments as it is one of the efforts to achieve clean India mission.Hence appreciated.We have srong laws to take care in case of any dispute.This is marketing strategy and works well in some areas of India.Segments need to be identified for targeting.
Best regards,
Abhishek

(this post and the first 4 responses were originally in this thread on the SBM Campaign in India:
forum.susana.org/component/kunena/263-th...f-ideas-for-success- )
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I am wondering if the so-called "No toilet no bride" campaign in India is regarded as a good practice example for achieving the SBM goals in India? (SBM = Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swachh_Bharat_Abhiyan)

I don't know very much about that campaign but for some reason it attracted a huge amount of media attention outside of India.
So much so that it is even mentioned on the Wikipedia article for pit latrines under the heading of "promotion" (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pit_latrine#Promotion)

It says there:

In the rural part of Haryana state in India the "No Toilet, No Bride" or "No loo, no "I do"" slogans has been used to promote toilets (usually pour flush pit latrine toilets) by encouraging women to refuse to marry a man who does not own a toilet.[11][12]

The second reference is from this Worldbank blog:
blogs.worldbank.org/impactevaluations/ha...-by-yaniv-stopnitzky

More references in mainstream media about this campaign are listed here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Pit_latrine#R..._campaign.22_in_lead

I have a few questions about this:

1. Is this campaign regarded as a success in India or was it a bit of a hype that the mainstream media jumped on?
2. If a success, has it been connected to other activities under the SBM umbrella?
3. Are there any good quality reports (i.e. not just newspaper articles or blog entries) that have looked into the effectiveness of this approach?
4. Is it still being promoted now? If yes, in which states of India?
5. For me it seems a bit odd, like a woman/wife can be "bought": just provide her with a good quality toilet and she'll be your bride (or vice versa): what do gender experts say about this campaign, does it reinforce stereotypes or does it empower women?

Looking forward to hearing from our Indian participants about this.

Regards,
Elisabeth