Government of Kerala constituted Communication and Capacity Development Unit (CCDU) in July 2005 for promoting reform initiatives introduced by Government of India in the water supply and sanitation sectors. CCDU plays a pivotal role and established a common platform of major players in WATSAN sector towards striving for a result oriented intervention and to materialize convergence in achieving better results in the sector. It functions as a Water and Sanitation Support Organization which is a registered institution under the State Water and Sanitation Mission to implement the support activities of National Rural Drinking Water Programme of Government of India.

The major functions facilitated by CCDU in the State:

• Planning, designing and implementing of State specific IEC/HRD/M&S strategy for water sector.
• Development of training modules for different target groups at State and district level.
• Implementation of State communication plan using press and electronic media’s.
• Provide monitoring support to the state Water and Sanitation Mission, to review the progress of implementation of projects in water sector.
• Document successful initiatives from within the State and other States/ agencies and disseminate the same for the use by field functionaries.
• Training on water quality and imparting awareness as well as training to all levels of workers.
• Provide capacity development of functionaries at all levels.
• Address the need of sustainability in water and sanitation.
• Promote new technologies which may be taken up under rural water scheme and total sanitation campaign.
• Take up advocacy on conventional and traditional water conservation and rain water harvesting.
• Undertake action research on various aspects of sanitation including new technologies, impact of provision of sanitation facilities on health indicators, IEC strategies etc

Funding

All funds available under 5% Support Fund of NRDWP w.e.f. 1st April 2008.

Major Activities of CCDU are 

• IEC Activities
• Community Involvement
• Training Programmes/HRD
• Water Quality Monitoring
• MIS Activities
• R&D Activities

IEC Materials Published and distributed.

Training workshops are arranged and conducted at Block Panchayath level for the officials of Grama Panchayaths, PHCs, NRHM, Kudumbasree project and School students etc. It has been observed that as we give trainings, we also need to supplement them with essential training materials like hand books/leaflets/stickers/name slip/posters etc carrying message on rain water harvesting and having text on water quality and related issues. The reading materials that we provide to them will help to cascade the knowledge to lower strata of people. Besides these hand books will also help them to acquire more knowledge on water and related topics. Having found this as a felt need of the participants, CCDU had taken efforts to prepare, print and publish relevant booklets/posters /stickers/ name slip/ leaflets/ notice/brochures etc on water and related topics. 

Details of various IEC materials such as booklets/leaflets/posters/stickers/name slips printed and distributed are given below.

Sl.No	Name of IEC Materials	Title of the material	Objective
1	Booklets	Mazhaykkumundoru kadha parayan	A collection of materials on water and related subjects.
		Jalasudhikkoru Terrafil Sankethikavidhya	To promote simple and cost effective terrafil technology for improving water quality
		Reprinting of book Jalavijanam	Importance of water quality and remedial measures for treating the water.
		Kinar Sambannam Parisudham
2	Leaflets/ folders	FTK – a prophase on water quality	Details on the use of FTK
		Terrafil- a Technology on water quality	Brief information of terrafil technology.
3	Posters	posters	Covering topics such as rain water harvesting, ground water recharge, water quality, well recharge etc.

In addition to the IEC materials, road shows, print media advertisements, hoardings, documentaries and exhibitions were also done. The above mentioned IEC materials were printed,published and distributed to all Grama Panchayaths, Block Panchayaths, District Panchayaths, Municipalities, Corporations, and Universities etc in order to spread the messages on the topic water. CCDU also distributed the printed material to all the educational institutions such as High Schools, Higher Secondary Schools, and Vocational Higher Secondary School in State as part of the formation of Jalasree club.

CCDU Kerala being one of the key institutions which can contribute to minimize the various complex issues in water sector launched the IEC oriented programme named as JALASREE CLUB. It was a novel step to form clubs at school level in association with General Education Dept., which proposed the effective participation of school students in the water related issues. The programme proposed to involve all the schools in Kerala state in the awareness programmes on water quality monitoring, rain water harvesting etc. and conduct surveys and camps.The state level inauguration of the JALASREE CLUBS in schools was arranged at St.Joseph’s HSS, Palayam, Thiruvananthapuram, on 20/11/2012. Sri. P.K.Abdu Rabb, Hon. Minister for Education inaugurated the programme. The function was presided over by Sri. P.J.Joseph, Hon. Minister for Water Resources. The other dignitaries present were Sri. K.Muraleedharan M L A, Adv. K. Chandrika, Worshipful Mayor of Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, Smt. P. S. Sarojam, Ward Councilor, Sri.P.J.Varghese, Principal, St.Joseph’s HSS.

Training Programmes/HRD
CCDU has been conducting trainings for Engineers/Supervisors/Technical Persons in Water Quality Monitoring. Grass Root Level Workers are trained in Water Quality Monitoring. Training for Schools/Colleges, PRIs , NGOs  are also  being done.

Water Quality Monitoring
As part of the water quality monitoring throughout the state of Kerala, CCDU has been doing the following activities.

• Providing Training to Grass Root Level Workers and Testing Water Samples by using FTKs and H2S Strips.
• Procurement of FTKs (Field Testing kits) and H2S strips for bacteriological testing and distribution to panchayaths for free of cost.
• Entering and updating WQT (Water Quality Test) results in the IMIS system of NRDWP.

CCDU has been conducting water quality training and testing utilizing the services of school students, college students, ASHA workers, Kudumbashree workers ,Anganwadi teachers etc. CCDU has been organized trainings and testing in association with the Rural Development Department, Suchitwa Mission, NSS of Schools, Jalanidhi , Raincentre of KRWSA etc. In this financial year CCDU has proposed the water quality testing in two blocks of a district. It is proposed to test 100 water samples from all the wards in each block. During the training sessions, water quality issues, methods of water conservation, remedial measures for water quality issues are discussed.