Market Research, Brand consulting in India

Multi Dimensions Research

DATA, DIALOGUE, DELIVERY AND OWNERSHIP

Ensuring sustainability through participative dynamics

Nayantara Chakravarthi
Kalpana Kar

Bangalore, located in Karnataka State, South India, is called the 'Knowledge Capital' and the 'Silicon Valley' of the country. The urban population is cosmopolitan and successive state governments have consistently projected Karnataka's image internationally as a technology focussed centre. Today, the city is home to several information technology and business process outsourcing centres. This has fuelled 'in migration' into the city for employment, with unintended consequences, viz: an increase in population from 4 - 5.5 million in less than a decade, with a huge burden on infrastructure services, urban congestion, and inadequate health facilities. This paper highlights the pioneering methods adopted by the state government, in tandem with private enterprise/stakeholders and citizens, to generate sustained change in infrastructure service delivery. This Public Private Partnership (PPP) Experiment has been a resounding success with all the stakeholders as well as the citizens rising to the needs of the day. Research, for its part, has played a critical role through feedback and feed forward effects.

'A country cannot develop unless one has faith in the intelligence of its people.' - Ariaratne

INTRODUCTION

Bangalore has over 150 engineering and medical colleges and the maximum number of qualifying professional graduates every year - hence the 'knowledge capital' epithet. The citizens are largely easy going, peace loving, but enterprising too.

The city has been ranked by a recent UNDP survey as the world's fifth technology hub measured over several parameters and has over 300 software and computer firms. Home to Intel, Sun Microsystems, IBM as well as GE, Philips, Oracle, Microsoft and the like, there have been enormous job opportunities in recent years.

This has caused 'in migration' into the city and given rise to several unintended consequences of fast paced development. The rapid and haphazard growth of the city in the last two decades has crippled its infrastructure, polluted its air and water and eroded the capabilities of its civic agencies that once had an enviable reputation.

Two faces of the city now emerge:

• The first portrays a vibrant, innovative and modernized industrial arena.
• The second shows mushrooming townships, inadequate public services and huge disparities in income and health facilities.

'There can be no economic development without environmental reform. There can be no environmental reform without economic development.'
Frank Popoff, CEO, Dow Chemicals.

Despite the buzz around it, a city is finally defined by the roads, water and living conditions of its people. The mutual interest and the goal of sustained economic prosperity have made both the government as well as private industry develop a vested interest in remedying the frayed infrastructure of the city.

Harnessing Human Capital

Moreover, urban mega-cities, which have a large literate populace, would need to harness the participation and goodwill among its citizens to ensure sustainable better quality of life.

The state government has put in place ambitious plans to make Bangalore a 'world class city' by 2004. This was the genesis of the Bangalore Forward Movement. Several e-governance initiatives have stemmed from this.

THE EMERGENCE OF THE BATF

One of the e-governance initiatives was the creation of the Bangalore Agenda Task Force (PPP - Private Public Participation).

The Task Force itself was visualized as a partnership that would draw upon the intellectual capabilities, knowledge and civic consciousness of citizens complemented with the administrative strengths and capacities of the agencies concerned.

The fifteen members of the Task Force included prominent citizens from various professional fields and representatives from government.

The various fields, represented from the private sector were:

• Management Consultancy
• Architecture / Urban Planning
• Financial management
• Information Technology
• Education and Civic Affairs
• Marketing and communications

The government representation on the Task Force was from the Urban Development Department and the Commissioner of the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (Municipal Department) as the ex-officio secretary of the task force.

Mandate of the BATF

The mandate of the BATF was to:

• Work with stakeholders to achieve the vision of a world class city by 2004/2005
• Upgrade and modernize the city infrastructure for visible impact
• Modernise the legal systems and processes for citizens
• Adopt best practices and implement use of appropriate technology
• Secure greater involvement of the citizens, individuals and corporations for enhancing quality of life
• Providing intellectual and professional skills for ensuring sustainability of the PPP experiment

BATF considers sustainability to be a long-term concept. Sustainability addresses the citizens' central concerns and values, looks to the future, strengthens a community's ability to deal with change, develops processes for finding common ground, strives to benefit all members of the community, emphasizes citizen involvement, improves accountability, develops a vision for the future, keeps track of the progress, and meets the basic resource needs.

DATA, DIALOGUE, DELIVERY AND OWNERSHIP
- THE MANTRA OF SUSTAINABLE REFORM

The participants in the PPP Experiment were the BATF, stakeholders, citizens and the government nodal agencies.

To achieve its objectives and create sustainable change, BATF followed the dictum - Data, Dialogue, Delivery and Ownership. Research was the fulcrum of the approach, as the figure 1 reveals.

Figure 1
DATA, DIALOGUE, DELIVERY AND OWNERSHIP

VOX POPULI

As a precursor to setting up the reform agenda, a poll was taken to identify the key concerns of the citizens of the city in 2000. This revealed the top concerns of the citizens and a 'criticality analysis' provided the directions for interventions. (See table 1.)

Table 1
VOX POPULI - CRITICAL DISSATISFIERS

N= 1258
Note: The Problem Priority Index was a weighted index, assigning weights for different ranks from 0 to 10.

Among the critical issues prioritized by citizens were:

• garbage and public sanitation;
• road safety; and
• traffic.

The other interesting finding that emerged was the extent of civic consciousness among the citizens. Most aspired to be good citizens and one in five consumers was even willing to pay for services (across SEC).

Figure 2
CIVIC CONSCIOUSNESS OF CITIZENS

N = 1,258

This study set off several interventions into the priority areas. Only two such interventions - Solid Waste Management and Pay and Use Facilities - are elaborated upon in this paper.

PUBLIC SANITATION: THE SWACCHA BANGALORE
('CLEAN BANGALORE') INITIATIVE

This initiative entailed the setting up of an integrated garbage collection and transportation system. This was done in a collaborative and participative manner with the Bangalore Government Municipal corporation (BMP) as well as the stakeholders and citizens.

This system was innovative in that it entailed segregation of plastics and biodegradable garbage at the point of collection.

Methodology

• Listing operations, mapping of the terrain, identifying garbage types,sources.
• Household surveys.
• Logistics analysis (digitised maps of the city and garbage dumps/sources).
• Advertising pre testing for household garbage segregation and community help.

Data: Defining the magnitude of the task

The task of creating a relatively more efficient solid waste management system that would ensure garbage clearing of almost 1.2 million households everyday was a daunting one. Households apart, commercial areas and marketplaces had their own garbage, as well as construction debris.

This initiative called for the synchronized working of the implementers, people, and the cleaning agencies.

A study was commissioned to understand current household waste generated and disposal mechanism of households in key identified locations. This revealed that an average household generated at least two kgs of waste each day.

Simultaneously a mapping of litter bins and exposed waste dumps was conducted. The total garbage to be cleaned per day was estimated around 1,700 tonnes. The break up was as follows (see table 2).

Table 2
GARBAGE

Another interesting finding that emerged was that the garbage was currently not segregated into wet, dry and recyclable, even among upper income households.

This necessitated education of the consumers in tandem with the measures that were to be put in place to implement this on an everyday basis. Simple posters were developed to encourage this behavior.

An analysis of the total waste generated revealed that out of the wet and mixed waste, nearly 65% could be composted, and 60% of the total dry waste consisted of recyclables, which were segregated. This was the innovative and sustainable solution that was hit upon.

Dialogue

For a task of this magnitude, the logistics were critical. The logistics was conceptualized and coordinated for effective implementation and institutionalization by a dedicated project team of environmental scientists specialized in the field of solid waste management, sociologists, urban planners, architects and civil engineers at the BATF. They addressed issues such as:

• application of appropriate technology;
• upgrading of existing infrastructure;
• understanding the chain of collection, transportation, processing and disposal;
• learn from international/national best practices;
• community participation for effective monitoring of the system (neighborhood watch volunteers);
• internal capacity building of the stakeholder for ensuring sustainability.

Corporate houses and philanthropists donated pushcarts and automatic tippers. Government officials helped in implementation and ensuring timely clearing cycles.

Delivery

The SWM Initiative covered 126 wards included under the Bangalore Municipal Corporation. This introduced:

• door to door collection of garbage;
• source segregation of waste;
• pushcart lorry synchronization to minimize waste handling (as a health precaution to the personnel handling it);
• once a day clearance of garbage;
• citizen participation in monitoring.

Consumers were requested through simple ads and banners to segregate the waste and to cooperate in handing over the waste to the personnel by the stipulated time.

Logistics and processing

Garbage collection from different sources had to be treated differently, i.e. apartments, hawkers, debris and commercial areas. Separate collection cycles were worked out for daily collection and processing.

The concept of a relay was evolved: waste collection, transportation, processing and disposal. This created the need for backward integration and preparing the ground for a holistic solution. Landfills were requisitioned from the government for separate types of debris.

Frequent analysis of the process led to corrective measure such as wire meshes to be provided on the trucks to prevent garbage from falling out, correct synchronization of the trucks and pushcarts, and so on.

Databases capturing the sources and quantities of waste were dynamically updated. The entire process was integrated into a digitized health ward map outlining the logistics of the system.

Creating sustainability through ownership

1. Neighborhood Watch Program - Shuchi Mitra (Cleanliness Friend)
2. Swaccha Bangalore Helpline

In order to realize the principle of catching the waste at the source to minimize handling, as well as to sustain the visible impact that the initiative had created, citizens were asked to volunteer for participation in the programme. Simple advertisements were pretested and placed in mainline English and vernacular dailies as well as over the radio FM channel.

This brought forth initially nearly 85 responses which has now increased to 500 at recent count. These Shuchi Mitra's hail from several walks of life, including retired people, NGO workers, housewives, self-employed men and women, and college students.

A Shuchi Mitra's duties were fine-tuned to encompass spending 30 - 60 minutes a day:

• checking on the timing of arrival of the manpower for cleaning;
• ensuring proper cleaning of the area, pick up times of the garbage collection trucks, and
• supervision and reporting about the cleanliness /efficiency of the process, and whether guidelines /norms were followed.

The Swaccha Bangalore helpline

The Swaccha Bangalore helpline was set up through feedback from consumers and the Shuchi Mitras.

Airtel, a premier mobile service provider, is the company that has volunteered to handle this call centre service. This call centre handles calls relating to road sweeping, overflowing garbage bins, removal of dead animals and reporting of unauthorized banners and posters.

Consumers can also address their grievances by email to the redressal cell. Therefore, through enabling effective participation and a sense of ownership, the Swaccha Bangalore programme has been a resounding success.

THE NIRMALA BANGALORE TOILET FACILITY

The second initiative in public health and sanitation was the setting up of public toilets in the city. Sanitation is an individual ritual that has community repercussions in terms of health.

The city of Bangalore has at least 50 identified slums which are agglomerations of the poor who live in congested shanty huts of 60 - 100 ft2. They have inadequate or no toilet facilities.

Another area of focus as identified from the Vox Populi poll was provision of toilet facilities in areas of high foot traffic such as bus terminals, interchanges, large commercial agglomerations, parks and the like.

The few toilets that existed in the city were old looking, not well maintained, and were considered welters of infections. This created a spiral of consumers not wanting to use these toilets even where they were available.

Thus the Nirmala Bangalore Toilet Initiative had a community welfare focus as well as a commercial objective. The project brought together best practices, systems, financial methodologies and management practices for high standards of cleanliness, maintenance and sustainability in public sanitation.

The objectives of this initiative were to:

• upgrade standards of sanitation by providing best in class toilets;
• access to good sanitation for the urban poor;
• ensuring sustainability through the 'pay n use' concept;
• build a distinctive Nirmala identity and give it a distinct branding;
• ensure greater usage and a wide user base through family passes for the poor.

Methodology

• Feasibility and area mapping study to assess areas of maximum foot traffic and real need (commercial areas, interchanges, taxi stands, near theaters, parks, slums).
• Wait times / queuing studies to understand scalability of operations and wait times.
• User experience studies to understand levels of satisfaction and areas of improvement, price sensitivity.
• Mystery user studies to check maintenance (as clean maintenance has a direct impact on sustainability, driving repeat traffic).

Data: Needs assessment

An assessment study was conducted to determine the areas where the toilets would need to be located. This had a community welfare slant (toilets to be set up in slums) as well as a business slant (in busy thoroughfares, bus terminals, central business areas) to ensure that they were self-sustaining.

This study identified 25 locations throughout Bangalore. These were a combination of slums/semi residential areas (25%), commercial areas/congested markets (40%), bus stops/terminals (12%) and busy thorough fares (23%).

Out of these locations, only five had any existing toilet facility in the vicinity. A phased roll out was conducted.

Although the earlier citizens poll had revealed that 20% of consumers were not averse to paying money for upkeep of services (across SEC segments) this was the first time a 'pay and use' concept was being set up. The other toilets were either free or did not insist on payment (hence the poor maintenance).

To ensure self-sustainability, price of usage is an important factor. Research identified an optimal price of Rs 1 for the urinal and Rs 2 for the toilet.

Dialogue

Corporate funding through a charitable trust was obtained. The designers were asked to design a simple ergonomic layout that took into account the sanitary rituals of Indians - that of washing the toilet areas after use. It was critical to ensure that the water was not allowed to stagnate, and the area was wiped dry to prevent dirty floors! This called for the creation of a set of norms for maintenance as well as manpower allocation, especially in the high traffic facilities.

Delivery

The model developed was a simple, modular, functional and clean one. The placement of the hand wash, height of the urinals and area, were ergonomically designed and thoroughly checked out through simulated trials. Keeping in mind the environmental aspects, a cloth towel was provided on a towel rack near the wash basin (not provided by existing toilet facilities). A separate branding and catchy mnemonic was worked out.

Norms for maintenance were laid down in line with international best practices. A few of them were:

• cleaning of foot mats at regular intervals;
• replacement of wet towels;
• periodic cleaning of the urinals and toilets with disinfectant;
• removal of odours.

Several advertisements were placed using outdoor and innovative low cost media for obtaining trial (bus panels, road signages, posters).

The critical aspect influencing sustainability is the regular usage of the toilet facilities. This can be achieved only by good maintenance. Therefore user experience studies are done every six months to understand overt and covert drivers/inhibitors.

User experience study findings

A user experience study conducted between four to six months after the roll out of the toilets revealed interesting findings.

• Nirmala toilet loyalists: of all the customers who visited the Nirmala toilets, nearly a third had become core users / loyalists, i.e. who used it more than once a day.
• Self sustaining: The fact that the initiative was sustaining itself and generating new users was evidenced by the fact that, of all the visitors nearly a third were first time visitors.

Figure 3
CIVIC CONSCIOUSNESS OF CITIZENS

Core users: Defined as those who use the toilet more than once everyday
Medium users: Use two to three times a week
Occasional users: Use it once a week or when visiting the area
N = 505

Source of shifts

The early adopters were the users of other nearby toilets. The presence of this facility even changed behavioral patterns as seen from conversions of people who hitherto used 'open spaces' (20%). Those who had to 'stifle the urge' also (12%) felt that this was a godsend!

Figure 4
SOURCE OF SHIFTS - ADOPTERS (N=505)

Diffused User Profile

Interestingly, the users of the toilets were diffused across differentage groups, and SEC ranging from students to workers in the nearby petrol pump outlets, shift workers and the like.

That many of these facilities were fulfilling a community objective was seen in the reasonable proportion of SEC CDE users.

Figure 5
USER PROFILE (N = 505)

User Experience

Consumers were delighted with the usage experience and commended the cleanliness, dry floors/seats, provision of the towel and the courtesy and empathy of the staff.
' These toilets are like what you see abroad - Singapore or US' SEC A user.

Interestingly, 'willingness to go the extra mile' on the part of the attendants was the critical differentiator between the high vs. low traffic sites.
'When there was no water the lady attendant brought water in a big bucket from the neighboring hotel for me to use the toilet. I was really touched'. SEC C user.

Areas of focus in service delivery

The areas of improvement were also delineated through the user experience studies. It was found that two types of clues determined user perceptions.

• Mechanics: Clues emitted by things/objects
• Humanics: Clues emitted by people (on site attendants/cleaners on site)

The most critical 'mechanics clues' influencing satisfaction with the experience as well as determining repeat usage were:

• Dry Floors (no dirt patches/blobs) (85% )
• No odours (90%)
• Clean and dry towel (70%)
• Hardware, i.e. flush handles, unbroken (85%)
• Running water (99%)
• Good lighting (98%)

Among the humanics clues identified were:

• Presence of lady attendants for women (B, C, SEC - 90%) )
• Friendly, helpful nature of lady attendants (65%)
• Clean appearance and quick transactions with correct return of change (80%)

Norms were revised to ensure that these aspects were carefully monitored.

Regular maintenance audits and mystery user audits are done to ensure consistent service delivery on par with international best practices. Some of the guidelines laid down for ensuring the correct humanics and mechanics perceptions are checked at these audits. They are (see table 3):

Table 3
PARAMETERS CHECKED IN THE MYSTERY AUDITS

The audits have also been useful in giving strategic directions, viz:

• Structural faults were reported in some of the sites which were reported for correction.
• A separate maintenance cycle was worked out for sites where there was a temporary upsurge in consumers traffic on specific days. (It was found that the Brigade Road facility was deluged by users on weekends on account of the presence of four pubs in the vicinity.)

These audits also identified the sites that could be scaled up and which could sustain themselves. Three such sites were designated to offer more toilet facilities as well as separate bath areas.

To promote healthy behavior and improve sanitation, as well as make it sustainable for the slum dwellers, a 'family card' has been issued. With a nominal monthly payment (less than a dollar) this card entitles all family members to use the facilities any number of times. This has received immensely favorable response.

Creating sustainability through ownership

Another key influencer of sustainability is to create a sense of ownership with the project. In this Nirmala Bangalore initiative, it was decided that one person would lead the 'service delivery.' This has been done through creating franchisees that are the 'owners' of these toilets. A process of competitive bidding for selecting the owners is followed.

These 'owners' are in charge of maintenance and service delivery. Their adherence to the norms laid down for service quality is a prerequisite. Their performance, transparence in service delivery and accountability are monitored by the BATF through frequent surveys.

THE VERDICT - VOX POPULI

A recent study has highlighted the following achievements:

• Seventy-three percent of consumers saw an improvement in the general cleanliness of Bangalore as compared to last year, of which the key contributors have been the door to door collection scheme under Swachha Bangalore, and was due to the removal of garbage dumps.
• Consumers spontaneously cited the presence of garbage bins, as well as the cleaning up of markets as improvements in general cleanliness.
• Public toilets have improved according to 61% of the consumers and the key contributors to this improvement have been more toilets as well as an increase in the quality of toilets.
• The Nirmala Bangalore Pay and Use toilets have scored very high in the public perception in terms of provision of sanitation facilities. The graph indicates that on an average, Nirmala Bangalore toilets scored a rating of 9.2 on a 0 - 10 scale as compared to the older toilets, which scored a mere 1.9 rating.
• Users of Nirmala toilets were happy with the current prices, with most feeling that the current prices were fair.
• The situation of sewerage drains has also improved, with 53% of respondents seeing a change over the situation last year. This has been mainly possible through the diversion of sewage into sewage treatment plants and away from storm water drains.
• Facilities in slums have improved, mainly through the provision of drainage and public sanitation facilities.
• A road map for the decade (till the year 2015) is currently being worked on, keeping in mind the city growth rates and the resultant demands on infrastructure.

This paper exemplifies the role played by research in assisting decision making at every step and going beyond the traditional definitions.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR THE FUTURE

The success of the experiment underscores the fact that participation by citizens at various levels is essential to make public initiatives work. This has been amply corroborated by other initiatives in Africa and such populous democracies.

The Success Mantra

This success of the experiment lies in its bottom up approach. To keep it viable and sustaining there should be enough central direction and challenge (as in the stakeholders and domain experts consultations) and then it should be liberated it to meet the challenge (through volunteers, implementation agencies).

Figure 6
NIRMALA BANGALORE: PRIVATE, PUBLIC, PARTNERSHIP, PEOPLE

Further, as enumerated by Amartya Sen, investment in human capital, defined as the mechanisms by which peoples capabilities are enhanced, must be seen as an essential component of human well being, irrespective of the economic rate of return that that individual or society will experience.

Such a value system steeped in the centrality of human capital forms the basic building blocks upon which social, political and economic development can be constructed.

This PPP experiment is now being adopted by other states in India as well.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors would like to thank Ms Manjula and Mr Vivek Malhotra for their review of the paper and input.

REFERENCES

Burroughs, James and Aric Rindfleisch. (2002). Materialism and well being - A conflicting values perspective. Journal of Consumer Research.

Dasgupta, Partha. Human Wellbeing and the Environment. Oxford University Press.

Fournier, Susan. (1997). Cultural determinants. Harvard Business Review.

Sen, Amartya. (1998). How India has fared. Nobel laureate Hindu frontline.

Venkatraman, Dr., and Nisha Singh. (2002). Green marketing - A Sustainable Strategy. Indian Journal of Marketing, September.

(2002). Cases on Sociology. Oxford University Press

THE AUTHORS

Nayantara Chakravarthi is CEO, Multi Dimensions Research, India.

Kalpana Kar is Managing Member, Bangalore Agenda Task Force, India

Content of Archives

Researchers Checklist
Tips to Set a Good Report
Responsible Marketing (Paper Presented at ESOMAR Conference in Berlin, Germany (May 2004)
Financial Services (Paper Presented at ESOMAR Conference in London (February 2005)
Conjoint Analysis Tutorial