Success story: Mahak Agrawal, 2019 Local Pathways Fellow

Project: A Dream of Open Defecation Free Urban India

Fellow: Mahak Agrawal, 2019 Local Pathways Fellow (New Delhi, India)

CHALLENGE

This project aims to address the multi-faced challenge of sanitation deprivation and consequent open defecation in urban India, particularly the National Capital Territory of Delhi.

SOLUTION

The power of urban narratives to Decolonize and Innovate Urban Sanitation in ensuring no one and no place is left behind.

IMPACT

Mahak has developed and inspired actions for improving the public health of urban India, focusing on girls' sanitation. Motivated to build an open-defecation free India, she has also initiated an online petition supported by Change.org Foundation. The petition holds the Government of Delhi accountable for the human right to sanitation. Globally supported by over 200,000 people, the petition seeks audit facilities' usability and has led Mahak to dialogue with the Cabinet Minister of Delhi for Health and Urban Development to initiate actions. In September 2019, she presented the project at a world planning congress in Jakarta, influencing an audience of over 800 urbanists to re-imagine planning guidelines from sanitary and human rights perspective. 

A WORD FROM THE FELLOW

Change is never easy. It is a journey a true spirit should never be afraid to embark.

Mahak Agrawal, Local Pathways Fellow (New Delhi, India)