Gujarat

Internship programme for rural Youth and students on Groundwater Management in Kutch district

forwater — Tue, 03 Jan 2023 06:26:29 +0000

Internship programme for rural Youth and students on Groundwater Management in Kutch district forwater Tue, 01/03/2023 - 11:56

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Sustainable exploration, development and management of groundwater requires a specialized human resource base. However, there is a dearth of specialisation in this field. In this project, ACT created an internship to train people from local communities to understand geohydrology better and plan water management based on that. This programme helped them formulate strategies for management of groundwater on the basis of mapping and identification of aquifers with practical training in Mundra Taluka.

Outputs

A total of 15 para engineer graduates (Parabs) from three batches were trained.
Development of a curriculum for a 45-day programme for parabs that includes 20 days course work that alternates with 25 days field work.

Focus Area

Participatory Groundwater Management

State

Gujarat

Implementing Partner

ACT

Outreach

Duration

Tue, 01/01/2008 - 12:00 - Sat, 01/01/2011 - 12:00

Path Alias

/our-works/internship-programme-rural-youth-and-students-groundwater-management-kutch-district

Demonstration of Participatory Groundwater Management in Bhuj – a step towards building a Water-resilient city

forwater — Mon, 26 Dec 2022 09:39:31 +0000

Demonstration of Participatory Groundwater Management in Bhuj – a step towards building a Water-resilient city forwater Mon, 12/26/2022 - 15:09

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The project aimed at mainstreaming groundwater concerns in Bhuj and integrating decentralized and community based groundwater management into the town’s planning and development. The interventions involved both social processes and technical processes. On the social front a cadre of para professionals and community representatives having knowledge on urban watershed and groundwater management was created and citizens’ action group was created to enable their participation. On the technical front a number of interventions were carried out such as demonstrating groundwater management at a decentralised level in residential areas and institutions, revival and strengthening of traditional water resources in Bhuj, and assessment and monitoring of groundwater resources in the city to manage the water resources better. A water pricing study was also taken up in order to understand the water supply scenario of Bhuj city, it’s economics, policy and regulatory framework of state and gaps and opportunities to achieve financial sustainability.

Outputs

Citizens’ groups at various levels – Jalstrot Sneha Samvardhan Samiti (JSSS) at the town level, 3 watershed committees, several lake committees and a Bal
6 local youth trained in groundwater management.
JSSS recognised by the Municipality as a CBO for social mobilization and technical planning and implementation of various water management works. Housing societies and communities seek services of JSSS.
Groundwater recharge demonstrated in 2 artisans communities, 2 housing societies and one college.
Established a groundwater monitoring network consisting of 74 wells (each well represents a 300X300 metre area around it) is established for the town
A study to understand investments, economics and pricing principles of drinking water in Bhuj and prospects of local water resource development
Feasibility study in 35 cities across different hydrogeological zones of Gujarat to develop strategies for sustainable urban water management.

Focus Area

Urban Water and Sanitation

State

Gujarat

Outreach

150000

Duration

Wed, 01/01/2014 - 12:00 - Sun, 01/01/2017 - 12:00

Path Alias

/our-works/demonstration-participatory-groundwater-management-bhuj-step-towards-building-water

Response For COVID-19 in Bhachau Block (Kutch) of Gujarat

forwater — Mon, 26 Dec 2022 09:28:52 +0000

Response For COVID-19 in Bhachau Block (Kutch) of Gujarat forwater Mon, 12/26/2022 - 14:58

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In the wake the COVID-19 Pandemic, Samerth Charitable Trust is working to provide relief and rehabilitation in the Khadir Region of Kutch, an island sharing a border with Pakistan and comprising 14 villages with semi-arid areas in the north-west corner of the island and covered by the greater rann of Kutch. The people living in these villages belong to Koli, Parkara Koli, Muslims, Ahir Koli and Bharwad communities. They are mainly involved in agricultural activities during the monsoon, or in charcoal making, cutting stones, trees, migrating to salpan for other work including agriculture, gypsum-mines, construction and small-scale industries.

The region also has no direct water supply through the Narmada PipeLine and is dependent on borewells or water supply through tankers by the government. The Govt. supply is once in two days during extreme dry seasons and is insufficient in meeting the families’ needs. Currently, people purchase water (Rs 600 for 3500 litres) through private tankers and this need is going to increase with the onset of summer.

Given the remoteness of the location, the vulnerability of the communities in the region and Samerth’s presence and co-ordination with the locals including the authorities, they have reached out to Arghyam for financial support as well as to leverage other resources that can enable them to be more effective in the relief work during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the current project, Samerth will provide essential items that are not included in the Govt. supplies for BPL/APL families which includes a kit worth 1162/- per HH. (food items + hygiene materials – soaps) and also disseminate information on maintaining social distance and hygiene in the community.

Outputs

Relief from the distress for rural poor community in 3 GPs of the Khadir region
Food security to 438 households in the region
Documentation of the impact COVID and the lockdown has had on vulnerable population especially migrant labour and scheduled tribes
Documentation of the best practices of the communities to cope with COVID and Lockdown (severe disruption), and associated learning
Learning related to water stress and livelihood opportunities for migrant labour and other rural population and ideas for new livelihoods strategy in the post pandemic situation

Focus Area

COVID-19

State

Gujarat

Outreach

2000

Duration

Wed, 01/01/2020 - 12:00

Path Alias

/our-works/response-covid-19-bhachau-block-kutch-gujarat

A systemic approach to manage India's largest groundwater program

fasmin — Mon, 19 Sep 2022 06:05:09 +0000

A systemic approach to manage India's largest groundwater program fasmin Mon, 09/19/2022 - 11:35

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Arghyam has been a long-term knowledge partner of the Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation to strengthen the Atal Bhujal Yojana - scheme launched by the prime minister Narendra Modi in April 2020 to improve ground water management that includes community sensitization and followed by systematic supply side and demand side interventions.

With a large footprint covering 8562 Gram Panchayats over seven states, the scheme aims to empower communities and institutions to engage in efforts to plan and manage groundwater resources to arrest the rate of decline of groundwater levels.

While the approach itself has been embraced by states and demonstrates a significant shift in the way the Center and States can engage in better groundwater management that results in better life and livelihood outcomes for participating communities, our engagement of the work done on the ground has raised the possibility of strengthening the operating model, governance, and verification of outcomes, while ensuring that the process also strengthens the ability of community level actors to contribute, engage and sustain efforts.

One key actor in the scheme is the Community Resource Person, at every Gram Panchayat, assisting the Direct Implementation Partner (DIP) in making groundwater management a community-owned exercise. The CRP belongs to the community and needs to be empowered with the science and social aspects of groundwater management, so that they are able to support the community with decisions about water management.

We partnered with Arid Communities and Technologies (ACT), our long term PGWM partner & a Civil Society Organisation (CSO) selected as District Implementation partner (DIP), and Socion - our technology and strategy partner to digitally re-imagine a program design for Atal Bhujal Yojana, in Nakhatrana Block in Gujarat. The objective of the partnership was to demonstrate a scalable model for creating participatory water security plans across 70 plus Gram Panchayats of Nakhatrana.

Through this partnership we are exploring models that would engage local actors, the Bhujal Jankars (or the community resource persons) and community institutions are adequately capacitated and have sustained access to content, tools and data to actively partake in the decisions that affect local outcomes. . The model aspires to provide them with clarity on their roles, build their capabilities on a continuous basis, help them prepare water security plans with community participation, and provide financial incentives for the work they perform. The partnership will also explore the use of digital technology to empower the CRPs, the community institutions, and the program stakeholders.

As a result of this exercise, the partners

Design a step-by-step process that provided clarity to all the stakeholders participating
Leverage digital technology to generate transparency, visibility and used data to strengthen quality of outcomes
Empower and motivate the CRPs and the program owners to enable more engagement, accountability and ownership at all levels

Since this scheme is a Program-for-Results (PforR) model of the World Bank, it incentivises or disburses funds every time a milestone is achieved by a gram panchayat in the scheme’s seven states. According to the Disbursement Linked Indicator 1 and 2, the pilot will mapp the task/session/function to generate the data on a runtime basis by leveraging the capabilities of the Participatory Digital Attestation (PDA) Platform (offered by SOCION , a partner organization who has developed PDA Platform) which will enable program team & DIP to generate data, enable data driven governance and strengthen program implementation

Watch how a female Bhujaljankar is mobilising the women of Kutch to manage their water resources sustainably.

Focus Area

Participatory Groundwater Management

State

Gujarat

Implementing Partner

ACT

DSC

Outreach

167

Duration

Wed, 01/01/2020 - 12:00 - Sat, 01/01/2022 - 12:00

Path Alias

/our-works/systemic-approach-manage-indias-largest-groundwater-program