A group of 30 young adolescent girls and boys from Rajnandagaon district of Chhattisgarh were felicitated in May by senior officials of the state Government, the CEO of Delhi Daredevils team and UNICEF for their special feat in making their respective villages free from open-defecation. These 'Team Swachh' champions also interacted with the members of Delhi Daredevils players. The interaction was held under the backdrop of the UNICEF and Delhi Daredevil's joint initiative, 'Dare to Care', which urges Indian citizens and the large support base of Delhi Daredevils to advocate for the rights of adolescent girls, especially those who are excluded and marginalized.

Rahul Dravid, mentor Delhi Daredevils team, Imran Tahir, Mayank Aggarwal, Rishab Pant, J.P Duminy and commentator Ian Bishop shared cricketing experiences with the young boys and girls from Team Swacch. They also discussed the importance of separate toilets for girls in all schools, so that girls remain in school and don’t drop out. Eighteen-year- old Bharati who is a leader-champion from Heeravahi village led the campaign by ensuring a toilet for every woman and girl of her village.  

According to Swachhta Status Report 52.1 per cent of people in rural India choose open defecation as compared to 7.5 per cent in urban India. Speaking to the media, Mr. M K Raut, Additional Chief Secretary, said, “I congratulate both Delhi Daredevils and UNICEF for the grand success of the initiative. I am confident, that our Team Swachh champions will help catalyse the larger public and create much-needed awareness on the importance of sanitation.” He added that the Government has made significant strides in making the state free from open defecation, ensuring safety and dignity for women. At the time of launch of the SBM-G in 2014, we had only 20 ODF villages in Churiya block of Rajnandagaon to begin with. Our efforts have resulted in making 1,850 villages open defecation-free across the state. Mr. Prasanta Dash, Chief of Field Office, UNICEF Chhattisgarh, said, “UNICEF will continue to lend support to the state Government in using Community Approaches to Total Sanitation (CATS) model to end open defecation with special focus on women and adolescent girls.”