National Workshop on IEC JJM presenation by Assam

This presentation, dated 9 December 2021, provides an overview of the IEC framework and implementation experience of Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) in Assam. It begins with the State's water situation, including its dependence on groundwater, groundwater recharge trends and the prevalence of fluoride, iron and arsenic contamination in several districts. It also highlights the public-health context, including diarrhoeal disease concerns. The presentation describes the IEC Activity Plan for JJM in Assam, comprising both mass IEC activities and targeted IEC activities. These include hoardings, bus branding, television spots, radio broadcasts, newspaper advertisements, social-media outreach, village announcements, wall writings, interpersonal communication (IPC), community meetings, focus-group discussions and Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA). It presents the achievements of these activities, including extensive IPC, announcements, meetings/FGDs, PRA activities, social-media updates and awareness activities in educational institutions. The presentation also highlights the convergence between IEC Coordinators and Implementation Support Agencies (ISAs), with ISAs supporting interpersonal communication, announcements, community meetings, PRA and dissemination of messages through women-led Field Test Kit (FTK) groups. A case study from Sivasagar district demonstrates how sustained IEC and community engagement helped resolve land-related challenges for piped water-supply schemes. Through repeated discussions with villagers, PRI members and officials, families ultimately donated land for schemes in 40 villages. Another case study from Kamrup district illustrates how the District IEC Coordinator adapted engagement strategies to local circumstances and involved school students in PRA activities. The presentation also outlines the IEC budget and expenditure, institutional structure and key enablers, including State and district IEC teams, ISAs and Jal Mitras. It identifies challenges such as Assam's regional and linguistic diversity, limited social-media reach in rural areas, insufficient PRI focus on IEC and O&M, capacity gaps among Jal Mitras, and disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and elections. The presentation describes measures adopted to address these challenges, including customised messages, use of local resources, school-based communication, training and increased monitoring.