The ‘Government of India’ has embarked upon a journey to ensure availability of clean drinking water, sanitation and hygiene facilities through its landmark ‘Swachh Bharat Mission,’ ‘Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT)’ and ‘Smart Cities Mission’ programs. Ensuring clean drinking water, sanitation and hygiene facilities will have direct impact on public health, economic growth and thus GDP of a country. Conducive policies, coupled with dedicated urban infrastructural development programs are in place to achieve the goal of an Open Defecation Free (ODF) India by 2019. However, the issue of open defecation and the lack of availability of clean drinking water and sanitation facilities require integrated efforts and looking beyond conventional solutions. In order to tackle these problems, India needs to develop innovative, affordable, sustainable and scalable solutions with special focus on technology & innovation. In this context, Elets Technomedia is organising ‘National WASH Innovation Summit’ in New Delhi on 20 November 2018. ‘NIUA’ ‘IHUWASH’ are the ‘Host Partners.

Innovation Hub for Urban WASH Solutions (IHUWASH)

Innovation Hub for Urban Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Solutions (IHUWASH) is aproject implemented by National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) in association with Ennovent since October 2016. The project is supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). IHUWASH supports the development of scalable solutions for urban WASH in India within the national, state and city framework.

The primary goal of the project is to improve the urban WASH sector performance through incubation and acceleration of innovative solutions, technologies, programs and service delivery models within a collaborative framework by building partnerships at the local level. The project implements this theory of change in three cities i.e. Faridabad in Haryana, Udaipur in Rajasthan, and Mysuru in Karnataka. In each city, an enabling ecosystem is created by building partnerships among urban local bodies, academic institutions in form of WASH Labs, private sector engagement through industry associations, civil society and citizens’ participation through WASH Forums. The project also endeavors to create innovative public sanitation facilities that are inclusive for differently abled andwill be gender sensitive.

The project objectives are directly contributing to Government of India flagship programs like Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) and SMART City Programs. The project will significantlycontributeto achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), especially Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation for all.

For more details on IHUWASH, please log on to https://ihuwash.niua.org/

National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA)

The National Institute of Urban Affairs is a premier institute for research, capacity building and dissemination of knowledge for the urban sector in India. NIUA conducts research on urbanization, urban policy and planning, municipal finance and governance, land economics, transit oriented development, urban livelihoods, environment & climate change and smart cities.

Established in 1976 through registration as a Society, it is an ‘autonomous body’ under the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Government of India. The institute was set up to promote integrated solutions for Urban India and to develop new research and expertise for supporting effective innovations in the urban sector, and their dissemination through knowledge exchange, training and capacity development.

The Institute supports policy formulation, programme appraisal and monitoring for the MoHUA and other Ministries and Departments of the Government of India and undertakes research and capacity building projects with multilateral and bilateral agencies and private sector organisations.

Amongst many ongoing projects, NIUA is the center for SmartNet; an initiative of MoHUA to support the development of cities across India and to create a resource-rich ecosystem of learning, sharing and disseminating for city managers and primary stakeholders in the urban transformation of India.SmartNet helps evolve a comprehensive framework to visualise and articulate the government’s urban sector missions such as smart cities,Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation(AMRUT), Housing for All, Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY) and SwachhBharat Mission (SBM).

The Urban Data Centre at NIUA promotes research and evidence based planning and management of the urban sector in India. NIUA publishes Urban India, a bi-annual journal; Environment Urbanization ASIA – Journal (E&U-Asia) and ‘सम्वाद्’ “Samvad” (Grihpatrika/ In-house Hindi Journal). The Library at NIUA houses more than 20,000 books and periodicals.

For more details on National Institute of Urban Affairs, please log on to https://www.niua.org/.