Rural WASH Partners’ Forum

           Rural WASH Partners’ Forum (RWPF) is a platform created by the Government of India, under Ministry of Jal Shakti, Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, to support States/ UTs in for their flagship programme, ‘Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM)’ and ‘Swachh Bharat Mission–Grameen (SBM-G)’. Over 200 Development Partners, UN agencies, Corporates, Civil Society Organizations, and sector partners have come together to supplement the efforts of the government through their presence and activities on ground. The Forum consists of government institutes, bilateral and donor agencies, development, and sector partners. Through RWPF the Department aims to bring stake holders working in ‘WASH sector’ under one umbrella. These Partners will in turn facilitate collaboration and engagement with the community at national, state and field level to make rural India a swachh and sujal desh. 

         The key objective of RWPF is to drive innovation in WASH sector through technology, developing knowledge products, information sharing, financing, and building the capacity building of those associated with the programme. The platform will support in easy exchange of ideas and enhance communication with the public through national and state government to address important challenges encountered on ground.

The work within the RWPF has been categorized into 13 themes as below:

  • Water Quality Management
  • Capacity Building
  • Source Sustainability
  • Faecal Sludge Management
  • Skilling
  • Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
  • Plastic Waste Management
  • Grey Water Management
  • Operation & Maintenance (O&M), WASH in institutions & Gender
  • IoT & Cloud based computing
  • Innovation and R&D including use of Technologies, and
  • Information, Education & Communication
  • Digital Public Infrastructure & Artificial Intelligence

     Each of the thematic area will be led by a development partner as the Thematic Lead. The Lead Partner will support the Department in the successful implementation of the flagship programme. In addition to it, the development partner will lead the activity in the States/ UTs where they are already working or has activities/ projects on ground. These select few agencies as termed State Leads. The State Leads will be the one-point contact for the States/ UTs who will in turn communicate with other partners in the Forum for any collaboration, activity, campaign to enable ease of working.

          Rural WASH Partners’ Forum has been set up by the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DDWS) in collaboration with KPMG India to act as the Platform Coordinator. The RWPF Secretariat in Delhi works with DDWS at Ministry of Jal Shakti and is managed by KPMG India. It provides targeted assistance and knowledge sharing for the department to accelerate the SBM-G and JJM programmes to help achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6.1 and 6.2. 

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