integrated water management for poverty reduction and ... · integrated water management for...

Integrated Water Management for poverty reduction and sustainable development amongst marginalized communi-

ties in Bundelkhand (Madhya Pradesh), Bihar and Jhar-khand

COUNTRY: INDIA

Annual Interim Project Report- March 2011 to February 2012

for submission to

Viva con Agua

Welthungerhilfe Project Number: AS 1520/IND 1234-10 to IND 1237-10

Project Duration: March 2011-February 2015

Deutsche Welthungerhilfe e.V., Friedrich- Ebert-Str. 1 , 53173 Bonn www.welthungerhilfe.de

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1. Project aim Same as reported earlier.

2. Method of Implementation

Same as reported earlier

3. Results of Project Implementation During the reporting period (January to December 2011), the project has been generally on track and shows promising results. After preparatory work as recruitment of staff, setting up project of‐fices and finalization of project villages by all partners, the project took off with a baseline survey and extensive PRA activities. To ground the action from the beginning and to develop community ownership, the focus, during the first year, was on building up community based institutions and their capacities. Pani Panchayats, Village Development Committees, SHGs, WASH Committees and Kisan Clubs were formed. Mass mobilization campaigns were conducted on the urgency of water harvesting, conservation, sanitation and hygiene through rallies, wall writing, local music, festivals, community meetings (Jan chaupal) and school camps. Training programmes were organized for the project staff and community on water use planning, rain water harvesting and storage, sustainable agriculture and water use efficiency, WASH, water testing and handpump repair. Capacities of the people were built up on entitlements and Central/ State Government development programmes. Multi stakeholder linkages were forged and meetings organized with Government and Panchayat functionaries for convergence and scaling up. Pilots on reviving traditional water harvesting systems have started with tremendous community contribution and promising chances of scaling up under Government programmes.

There have been no major deviations from the planned activities. Because of the decision taken in the initial planning workshop to focus on community building before others, there has been a slight delay in some activities. Most of these however, are scheduled for the first quarter of the second year and will not affect the project’s pace.

The main activities conducted and their results are as follows: 3.1 Baseline Survey- As reported earlier 3.2- Community Water Use Master Plans‐ Trainings were conducted by Welthungerhilfe to orient partner organizations on the use of PRA tools for enabling the community to plan for management of water resources and accessing water rights. Following the trainings, PRA exercies were complet‐ed in 28 villages and the Community Water Use Master are under process. These plans will be sub‐mitted to the local Government and District authorities for mobilizing Government support and scaling up the project initiative. 3.3- Awareness campaigns on water conservation- Partner organizations conducted awareness campaigns to sensitize the target community and all stakeholders including Panchayats, district officials and NGO representatives about the importance of water, water management, needs & methods of water conservation. During the campaign various activities like rallies, community open meetings (Jan Choupal), local songs & slogans, wall writing and children forum meetings were orga‐nized. 3.4- Campaigns, Technical Studies and demonstration of Traditional Water Harvesting Structures (TWHS) In the project area of SGVK in Jharkhand, one TWHS‐ Ilaichi Ahaar was taken up for renovation with tremendous community support. From the Ilaichi Ahar, it is expected that about 200 acres of land

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will be irrigated during the monsoon (kharif) season and one to two watering of farms will be possi‐ble for 40 to 50 acres during the winter (rabi) season. As an impact of the campaigns and demon‐stration, the Ahar Pyne revival demand will be generated in the surrounding villages.

3.5- Training programmes on Sustainable Agriculture (SA) and Water Use Efficiency (WUE) – Several trainings programmes on SA and WUE were organized by Welthungerhilfe and partner or‐ganizations on Low External Input Sustainable Agriculture (LEISA), System of Rice Intensification (SRI), System of Vegetable Intensification (SVI), System of Wheat Intensification (SWI) nursery rais‐ing, comparison with traditional method, use of agricultural equipment etc. The methods covered are expected to reduce substantially the demand for water in agriculture once it achieves a signifi‐cant scale. 3.6- Demonstration Farms- To promote SRI/SVI/SWI and LEISA practices the project has made model demonstrations on 14 acre land of twenty‐one farmers of project area in eleven villages. The beneficiaries for these demonstrations were selected through the Pani Panchayat. Before demon‐stration, the beneficiary farmers’ capacities were built and Package of Practices (POP) agreed upon. 3.7- Awareness campaigns on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)-

Awareness campaigns, particularly with school children were organized to spread awareness and sensitize the children on the issue of water and sanitation at village level. The objective was to in‐volve children as ambassadors of WASH, and to reach out to this critical section of the population. In Bihar, GPSVS organized demonstrations on water impurities through local techniques. Guava leaves (see box) were used to show the level of iron present in household water. ‘Jal doots’ or water messengers have been selected from every village, to spread the message of safe drinking water amongst villagers, especially using harvested rainwater.

3.8- Trainings on Water Testing- Water quality testing trainings for project staff and key commu‐nity leaders were organized by Parmarth at KVK Teekamgarh for 35 participants in January 2012. The objective was to train selected community leaders as master trainers who would test water sources in the villages. Following the training, water testing kits were provided to participants, who worked out detailed plans for water quality testing in their respective villages.

3.9- Trainings on rain water harvesting and storage- In Bihar, GPSVS conducted demonstrations of simple rainwater harvesting methods using cylpolin sheets with sixty households in fifteen villag‐es.

3.10- Training of potters and demonstration of pitcher/matka filters- In Bihar, GPSVS con‐ducted 15 trainings with 450 beneficiaries on making the earthen pitcher filter or Matka filter. (De‐tails in Annex 1 Case Studies).

3.11-Trainings on handpump repair- In MP, Parmarth conducted training programmes on hand‐pump repair for seventy six women participants in January 2012. The trainings aimed at building the capacity of Pani Panchayat members and women leaders on hand pump operation & management to reduce their dependence on external sources for repair. As part of practical training, the partici‐pants repaired the dysfunctional hand pumps of their villages.

As a result of this training, 11 women have emerged as handpump repairing technicians and have committed to ensure that all hand pumps in their villages are functional. In two panchayats in MP, initiatives have been started to appoint the women as hand pump mechanics under the Panchayats.

The other organizations will conduct handpump repair trainings in the second year.

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3.12- Training and exposure visit on Ecosan and construction of pilots- In February 2012, Welthungerhilfe organized training cum exposure visit for twenty‐two participants on WASH in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The participants comprised mainly opinion leaders from the community, Panchayat members including Sarpanch and project staff.

3.13- Meetings with Government officials on convergence- To sensitize the community, other stakeholders, PRIs & Government officials towards water issues, Parmarth in MP conducted work‐shops with stakeholders for two days on Dec 14th 2011 & Feb 6th 2012. The workshops were attend‐ed by Panchayat representatives, Block Development Officer, Agriculture Development Officer, representatives from Health Department, Horticulture Department, Revenue Department, Educa‐tion department, Pani Panchayat leaders and community members.

Issues related to water crises, problems of women in accessing water, sanitation, irrigation prob‐lems due to lack of water sources, inaccessibility to social security schemes, MNREGA, Total Sanita‐tion Campaign (TSC) programme, nutrition, and distress migration were put forth by the community members. Need of revival of traditional water sources like Chandela tanks were also presented during the meeting. Some problems were addressed on the spot by the Government officials and commitment given on others.

In Bihar, regular meetings with Block Development Officer were conducted and he visited the pro‐ject site. Elected members from the village Panchayat are also represented in the Village Develop‐ment Committee and the Panchyat elected heads‐ Sarpanches‐ regularly attend the VDC meetings. Good relations are maintained with Line Departments particular with the Disaster Management Unit, PHED. In collaboration with the Agriculture Department, joint trainings were organized on System of Wheat Intensification (SWI) under the ATMA programme.

In Jharkhand, as part of the awareness campaigns conducted by SGVK, meetings were organized with the Zila Parishad, the District level local Government authority. The Zilla Parishad agreed with the rationale behind revival of the Ahar Pyne System in Palamu District. SGVK submitted the Ahar pyne revival plan for the fifteen project villages to them as well as to the local Member of Legisla‐tive Assembly (MLA). The Vice president of the Zilla Parishad visited the site of the Ilaichi Ahar Pyne and acknowledged people’s contribution to revive the system.

It is expected that from the following year of the project some of the work would be done through MGNREGA. The Zilla Parishad will take up the issue at the district level.

3.14- Formation of Community Based Organizations (CBOs)-

Organization CBO Members

GPSVS 13 Village Development Committees 169

Parmarth 38 Pani Panchayats 486

SGVK 30 SHGs, 11 WASH Committees, 18 Kisan Clubs, 18Youth Clubs

SHGs‐ 300

WASH Committees‐ 165

Kisan Clubs‐198

Youth Clubs‐193

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MP/Parmarth‐ To ensure better management of water resources, promote access and control of community over common resources and to lead collective efforts in resolving community livelihood related issues, village level Pani Panchayats have been formed during the open meeting of the Gram Sabha with priority to women, SCs and STs. They have been formed in all the thirty‐eight villages of twenty Gram panchayats in the project area. These panchayats have 486 community members (187 from SC community, 57 from ST community, 205 from backward community and 37 from Gen community), out of which 204 are women and 282 men.

Monthly meetings of the Pani Panchayats are being organized on regular basis and issues related to water, village developmental agenda and livelihood were discussed during the meetings. These meetings are expected to propel the community towards collective action and assertion of their entitlements.

As a result, these Panchayats have been emerging as a platform for raising the issues related to water & livelihood of the community members. Four new wells have been constructed in two Gram Panchayat under the Kapil Dhara Well Scheme.

Bihar/GPSVS‐ 13 Village Development Committees (VDCs) have been constituted. Each group con‐tains 11‐15 members from all communities and conducts meetings once in a month. Six trainings have been conducted for them on capacity building, enhancement of leadership quality, better management of groups, etc. Apart from VDCs, Self Help Groups (SHGs) of women have also been formed at village level. Members of these groups have supported in promoting the matka filter for safe drinking water, installations of devices for rainwater harvesting, PRA exercise, motivating vil‐lagers for sanitation etc. Some members have participated for exposure visits on LEISA and ECOSAN.

Jharkhand/SGVK‐ Formation of Kisan Samiti, Women S.H.Gs, Youth Clubs has been initiated. In this context their self help attitude has been built up resulting in the renovation of the Barkha Nala at Kararkala and repairing of Road at Ulman for better communication. Meetings conducted by SGVK with the different groups during the reported period are given in Table 11.

3.15- Training on leadership and CBO management- To capacitate the CBOs and to ensure their sustainability, trainings on different themes were organized and exchange visits conducted on good practices.

3.16- Village Resource Centers- To provide the community resource material related to water conservation, water management, agriculture and other development schemes run by Govern‐ment/Panchayat, three information Centres have been set up in the project areas. A number of books in local language have been placed in these centres for developing community understanding on water related and other social issues. Besides water issues, these centres enhance community’s access to information regarding entitlements. These centres are operated by the Pani Panchayats and volunteers.

3.17- Trainings on entitlements- In MP, to build capacities of the members / leaders of the PANI PANCHAYAT on Social Audit, MGNREGA & RTI, a two day training programme was organized on 12th& 13th Feb 2012. The training dealt with key provisions & norms of Government entitlements as the job guarantee programme (MGNREGA) and Right to Information (RTI); state specific provisions of MGNREGA (11 schemes); importance of micro‐planning and participation of dalits / women in the planning of MGNREGA; water resource management under MGNREGA and the process of Social Audit and its use in ensuring accountability & transparency in implementation of MNREGA and oth‐er development schemes in the village.

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4. Project Finances

Expenditure summery for the period Mar'11 to Feb'12 (1st 12 months)

Project No: AS 1520/ IND 1234 -10 to IND 1237-10 Budget

Budget line/Cost

Total Budget (in

Euro) Expenditure

(in Euro) Exp (in %) Position 10 Investments 15227 9407.11 61.78 11 Operational Costs 204077 25174.12 12.34 12 Personnel Costs 400043 61349.91 15.34 13 Project Support 35912 2217.34 6.17 14 Evaluation 21766 0.00 0.00 15 Public Relation 25147 116.09 0.46 17 Material Support 160888 1587.83 0.99 18 Transport 4940 0.00 0.00

Total 868000 99852.41 11.50 5. Appraisement

The project activities are on track. During the first year, focus was on building community institu‐tions, so that they can have ownership and take over the activities, especially those related to con‐struction and earth work.

The observations on outputs, outcome and impact as per the logframe are given below. Since it is too early to quantify these, it gives the trends.

Intervention logic

Objectively verifiable indicators of achievement

Achievements in Year 1

Overall Objective

To contribute to poverty reduc‐tion through integrated water management (MDGs 1 and 7) in selected states of India and to complement Government policies (National Water Policy) and programmes.

• Household income due to higher agricultural production and im‐proved livelihoods increased by 20 %

• Community awareness regarding Integrated Water Resources Man‐agement increased by 70%

• People’s access to Government entitlements related to water in‐creased by 60%

Too early to assess

Specific Objectives

1) Models of improved water management practices are established and replicated amongst margin‐alized communi‐ties of selected

Over a period of 4 years in selected Gram Panchayats (30):

• Ground water extraction reduced by 30% amongst 10 randomly se‐lected households in every Pancha‐yat

• Water borne diseases reduced by 10 % per year

• Process of surface wa‐ter harvesting that has been initiated (e.g. Ahar Pyne system) will reduce ground water extraction

• 32 families that have started using the mat‐

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districts of Bun‐delkhand, Bihar and Jharkhand 2) Processes and mechanisms for community man‐agement of wa‐ter related re‐sources are insti‐tutionalized and access to enti‐tlements in‐creased

• Up to year 2 every year 10% new households adopt improved water management practices

• Food security of target beneficiaries improved to 8‐9 months from 5‐7 months as compared to baseline

• Fund availability for improvement of water resources through NREGA and other schemes increased by 5 % per year

ka filter & cylpoline sheets to harvest rain water and water stor‐age methods report re‐duction in water borne diseases

• 95 farmers who have adopted SRI/ SWI tech‐niques report higher yields and improved food security

• Effort has been made to mobilise funds from MGNREGA and some plans e.g. on desiltation of Chandela tanks and pond excavation are being considered by the Block offices

Expected Results

1) Water conser‐vation using traditional prac‐tices and modern technology im‐proved

Over a period of 4 years in selected Gram Panchayats:

• 70% people in target villages are aware about the necessity and methods of water conservation and involved in the elaboration of Com‐munity Water Use Master Plans (WUMPs)

• Availability of water for irrigation and domestic purposes increased by 30% for target beneficiaries through adoption of traditional/modern technologies

• In 19 project villages people participated in PRA exercises which is the first step to work out the WUMPs

• Out of 19 villages, plan‐ning has been complet‐ed in 11 villages

• Revival of Ahar Pyne system has started at Jharkhand and will im‐prove availability of ir‐rigation water

2) Water Use Efficiency (WUE) in agriculture and allied activi‐ties enhanced


• 75% of the demonstration farmers can reduce their irrigation water consumption per acre from 2011 to 2013 by 30%

• 50% of the farmers who participated in the trainings develop cropping calendars for the follow up years that include dryland farm‐ing/sustainable agriculture practices

• 20% households in target villages start using SRI/ SWI methods for paddy/ wheat cultivation

• Demonstration was done by 95 farmers on SRI, SWI and SVI show encouraging results in WUE

• Training and demon‐stration has been done and from the coming kharif season they will develop the cropping calendars

• Farmers from the demonstration villages are showing interest in adopting the methods

3) Availability of safe drinking


• School children got training on WASH

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water and sani‐tation improved

• 65 % of target beneficiaries use safe drinking water all year along

• 30% increase in coverage of target beneficiaries under WASH program

• 25% of target beneficiaries adopt Ecosan/ other sanitation practices

showing improved hy‐giene

• Training on ECOSAN has created interest and 19 family are in process for adopting ECOSAN

• Govt. Schemes are planned to be targeted in this regard

4) Multi‐stakeholder linkages with Government and Non Government agencies devel‐oped


• 60% of Ward Members and other PRI members are sensitized regard‐ing water related issues

• The Community Water Use Master Plans are presented to Block and District authorities and an average of 25% are accepted and financially supported

• 60% of Village/ Panchayat Water Supply and Sanitation Committees are activated in target villages and they utilize designated funds

• 50% of WARD mem‐bers and other PRI members participated in the WUMP planning exercises

• Some components of the WUMPs have been accepted by the village Panchayat for sanction‐ing at the Block level. E.g.‐ in Navtoli village level plantation under social forestry scheme and in Jhalipatti 3 solar street lights (GPSVS ar‐ea)

5) Community based institutions for ensuring Water Democra‐cy strengthened


• Number of times the water related issues are raised at GP/ Block/ Dis‐trict level forums increases by at least 80%

• At 90% of water related issues at village/ Gram Panchayat level, equi‐ty concerns are effectively voiced by WUA/ Pani Panchayats

• Transparency and accountability systems to monitor the government initiatives are established by the WUA/Pani Panchayats

• CBOs formed as Pani Panchyats, VDCs, WASH committees etc have raised their voices in Panchayat meetings

• CBOs include all sec‐tions of the people in the village

• People’s awareness about Government pro‐grammes has increased E.g. demand for jobs under MGNREGS has increased

6. Project Tales- Attached- Annex 1 7. Photos- Attached Annex 2 and separate pictures. Video clip has been sent earlier.

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