Multi-stakeholder Approach for Participatory Water Management in Rural and tribal Areas

 Team WinFoundation Jun 21, 2021  0 Comment  Water and Sanitation

Robust participatory approach for Water Security and Conservation can overcome the water challenge facing our rural and tribal areas. This encompasses: 

• capacity building of local communities through training of (i) village level hydrogeologists and water experts, and (ii) farmer and women groups for cooperative action
• Water security master plan through local participation
• Supply Side and Demand side interventions
• Cost effective Technologies to bring better practices and knowledge
• Knowledge management – development of processes and protocols for adaptation / adoption in other locations.

The Water Challenge

 “Water touches every aspect of development and it links with nearly every Sustainable Development Goal (SDG). It drives economic growth, supports healthy ecosystems, and is essential and fundamental for life itself. Some 2.2 billion people around the world do not have safely managed drinking water services, 4.2 billion people do not have safely managed sanitation services, and 3 billion lack basic handwashing facilities.”    – World Bank 

• Water shortages and its poor quality affect hundreds of districts. Our agriculture suffers from vagaries of water supply, seriously affecting the food and nutrition security of the country as well as livelihood of small farmers.
• The annual natural water cycle provides us limited fresh water. On the other hand, the increased demand for water due to modern lifestyle and industry have led us to over-use surface water and over-extract ground water. This has lowered water levels and increased salinity in ground water. Pollution due to human and industrial contaminants, has added to the water problems.
• As Water is basic to all life on earth, it is also important to use water in a manner which protects the living ecosystems around us. This is particularly critical for living beings which reside in water.
• Hence, the main objectives of governance model for water at various levels of government should be: (i) support conservation, (ii) optimized usage, (iii) recycling and reuse of water. 
• The Government of India has recognised the massive challenges in Water and Sanitation domain and launched the Swachha Bharat Abhiyan, Atal Bhujal Yojana and Jal Jeevan Mission.

It is necessary to adopt multi-stakeholder approach to bring value to grass root interventions with multiple innovations in technology and processes, community empowerment and knowledge management

To introduce innovations for social impact in a sustainable manner, requires multiple partners in the ecosystem to collaborate.

Institution and Capacity Building

• Local village level experts team – trained on geo-hydrology, Water Security planning,(may be called as Bhujal Jankar, Jaldoot, etc)
• Farmers and Women Groups in villages for institution building, farming practices through collective decision making

• Water Security Plan (WSP): Water supply and demand planning for all needs of village
• Supply Side:
  • Ground water recharge: in village water bodies, river-bed, abandoned well
  • Desilting, embankment repair for village water bodies
  • River / canal water planning and storage of excess water
• Demand Side:
  • Farming intervention support like drip irrigation, fodder crops, silt application, and so on
• Technology introduction at grass root (affordable and usable by communities)
  • field level soil quality and moisture measurement
  • field Water quality and availability measurements
  • village level Weather forecast station
  • Modular cold chain for storage and transport of perishables
  • Smart agriculture and water conservation data system
• Knowledge Management
  • Protocol, process development with community expertise built into the systems
  • guidance and support for Adoption of above in same hydrogeological region 
  • guidance and support for Adaptation of above in different hydrogeological regions

To Summarize, Multistakeholder collaborative approach brings synergistic benefits to community. Each stakeholder brings unique competencies, and enables accomplishing complete solutions significantly better than that achievable individually by each.

WIN Foundation has supported;

(i) Participatory Ground Water Management Project pioneered by Arid Communities and Technologies (ACT), Kutch, for water conservation. This project is also guided and supported by Coastal Gujarat Power Ltd (a Unit of Tata Power Limited in Kutch). CGPL provides on-ground support with its own team, logistics support and project monitoring and review support. 

(ii) Technology, products and process development projects with 4 IITs, covering water treatment, water distribution and waste-water processing, with further aim to translate the technology developed and apply in the field. 

(iii) It has supported several innovative startups in this domain, bringing their products through ACT and other NGOs to community, for the critical prototype -> test -> refine stage of product market validation.

If interested: 

Whether you are an NGO or Foundation working in water, or Gram Panchayat or a Government official working to improve water conservation practices, WIN Foundation and its partners are happy to share its knowledge. If interested in above, feel free to contact us at info@winfoundations.org

Training of Trainers – MATERNAL, INFANT AND YOUNG CHILD NUTRITION

 India is home to the largest number of hungry people in the world. The Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2018 ranks India at 103 out of 119 countries. Under recently released NHFS 5, 

A few important findings in the recently released NFHS 5 results illustrate this strongly:

1. Increased % Stunting among children, in 13 out of 22 states and UTs surveyed.
2. Increased % Wasting among children below 5, in 12 out of 22 states and UTs surveyed.
3. Over 50% of women are anaemic.

As traditional Supply based programs have shown inadequate results, we need to look at it from Demand perspective – to create strong awareness and demand or Pull for nutritious food from mothers and communities.

Opportunity:

The 1,000 days between a woman’s pregnancy and her child’s 2nd birthday offer a unique window of opportunity to shape healthier and more prosperous futures. The right nutrition during this 1000-day window can have a profound impact on a child’s ability to grow, learn, and rise out of poverty. It can also shape a society’s long-term health, stability, and prosperity. 

• During pregnancy, under-nutrition can have a devastating impact on the health if the mother and healthy growth and development of a child. 
• Babies who are malnourished in the womb or in first two years of life have a higher risk of dying in infancy and are more likely to face lifelong cognitive and physical deficits and chronic health problems. 
• Giving mother focused and continuous counselling during both pre and post child birth, through well trained and motivated field health workers:
  • Prebirth period: counselling for nutrition, prenatal vitamins,  appropriate intake of calories during pregnancy can halt the onset of malnutrition right from the womb. 
  • Post childbirth: counseling on breast feeding skills and nutrients-dense complementary feeding post 6 months, educating her on importance of vaccination, hygiene and sanitation.

By focusing on above, mothers and family members are empowered to seek healthy food and hygiene practices for themselves and the young babies. This will also create a strong pull or demand for healthy food items or ingredients as well as better hygiene practices.

Thus investing in better nutrition in the 1000-day window will help families, communities, and countries break the cycle of poverty. 

Long Term Goal of Training

To work towards the WHO Sustainable Development Goals targets 2025, and to improve

maternal, infant and young child nutrition by capacitating healthcare workers at the grassroots to

achieve:

• 40% reduction in the number of children under 5 who are stunted
• 50% reduction in anemia in women of reproductive age
• 30% reduction in low birth weight
• No increase in childhood obesity
• Increase the rate of exclusive breast feeding in the first 6 months to at least 50%
• Reduce and maintain childhood wasting to less than 5%

Overall Training Objective

The programme aims to:

• To empower Filed Health workers as master trainers with the technical knowledge of Infant & Young Child Nutrition & counselling techniques, including mother’s nutrition, breast feeding, and supplementary feeding after 6 months of birth.
•  To make them confident to impart the same training to their colleagues and to caregivers of young infant and children.
• To help caregivers to help their children to survive and thrive, so that they reach their

physical and intellectual potential, by improving their knowledge of health, hygiene and nutrition and child development.

• To reduce the incidence of malnutrition through regular data collection on child growth, prevention, raise alters for early detection and treatment; thereby reducing the incidence of stunting, wasting and associated ill health.

Training Methodology and Content:

SMDT has developed  “First 1000 Days” Training of the Trainers (‘TOT”) module tailored to the Health Care workers. The training approach is based on the principles of Skill development in breast feeding and complementary feeding counselling as well as nutrition Counselling in pregnant and lactating mothers. In-depth learning of the critical window period, pregnancy and nutrition and its role in the growth and Prevention of disease in a child is included. This comprehensive knowledge of the science of breast-feeding and complementary foods empowers the participants to deliver evidence-based dietary guidelines to tackle malnutrition at every stage of the first 1000 days of a child and beyond, and subsequently track growth of children at regular intervals. An interactive Training approach involves hands-on practicals to prepare them to impart high quality training to their co-workers as well as their beneficiaries. The module employs a variety of training methods, including demonstrations, discussions, case studies, critical thinking, team building, drama, role-play and problem solving. Participants are encouraged towards inquiry-based learning and sharing of experiences. The focus is on behavior change communication training, so that they feel empowered to convince caretakers to adopt the latest evidence-based advice. 

Learning Materials

Extensive pictorial and easy to use learning materials includes printed large format guides, charts and easy to use videos. These materials are useful for: .

1. Learning by Health workers / Master Trainers during the training, and to revise learning
2. Use same materials to counsel mothers on regular basis.
3. Videos are available to view or download which mothers can view by themselves later.

Topics covered during trainings are:

1. Science of nutrition
2. Importance of the first 1000 days 
3. Essential nutrition action (ENA)
4. Counselling techniques for behavior change
5. Pregnancy support counselling on health and nutrition
6. Breast crawl
7. Breast feeding technique 
8. Breast feeding difficulties
9. Breast conditions
10. Breast feeding counselling techniques
11. Not enough milk: usual scenario
12. New-born care
13. Minor illness of new-born/young child
14. Guideline of complementary feedings
15. Foods rich in minerals and vitamins, and their recipes
16. Nutrition guidelines in pregnancy and for lactating mothers
17. Behaviour issues of children during meals
18. Safe preparation of meals and importance of good sanitation
19. Myths busting
20. Growth charts
21. Growth monitoring and how to pick up if growth falters

Benefits/Anticipated Outcomes

• Empowerment of the whole community to promote and maintain health, through understanding the importance of early nutrition and hygiene practices  for infant and young child nutrition.
• Evidence-based skill building of breast feeding and appropriate complementary feeding, thereby preventing devastating acute as well chronic malnutrition in children.
• Understanding the techniques of breast feeding positioning and latching, thereby improving the weight and length gain in the baby.
• Understanding the technicalities of beast crawl and importance of colostrums, hence initiating breast-feeding within half hour of birth.
• Increased demand for nutritious food and food ingredient, reduced consumption of junk food and empty calories, thereby improving both short and long-term health outcomes.
• With better nutrition, children will be more likely to reach their physical and intellectual potential.
• Understanding the importance of eating traditional foods and recipes not only for pregnant and lactating mothers, but also for children starting from 6 months of age.
• Knowledge of cooking techniques, which increases nutrient content as well as digestibility of food preparations.
•  Understanding the behaviour issues of children in relation to food and managing them effectively and confidently.
•  Understanding science- and evidence-based feeding practices to reduce myths and doubts.
• Make this knowledge and practices owned by community, to improve health and nutrition of the children and others, and pass on this knowledge for future generations.

If you are keen to introduce Mother and Infant Child Nutrition training in your area or village for field health workers, and thus contribute towards fighting malnutrition, and want to know more about the above training, feel free to reach out to us at info@winfoundations.org

Integrated data monitoring for smart and sensitive agriculture

 

India is the largest extractor of groundwater, and about 90% of which is used for irrigation. The efficiency of canal systems is such that the tail-ender villages do not receive adequate water. Multiple crops per year, increased demand for other users, urbanisation, have all led to increase in groundwater dependence, over the years. This has resulted in overexploitation of groundwater, water quality degradation and salinity ingress.

Smart agriculture aims to help farmers to make decisions to maximise crop yield and quality, optimise water and other inputs, and maintain soil health. This is particularly important for livelihood of marginal farmers, cattle rearers and other allied occupations, especially in the context of climate change uncertainty. In addition to close understanding of the local agro-ecological zone, geomorphology, subsurface conditions, the local socio-economic conditions, it involves regular data monitoring of weather, water, soil, crop growth, and using this in an integrated manner for decision making.

Smart agriculture – Data system:

The following picture depicts Smart Agriculture System

 

 

Smart agriculture aims at increasing crop yield and quality, with efficient use of inputs through data based decision at farm level. The data collection will include:

One time or infrequently varying data:

1. Topography, aquifer, hydrogeology, geomorphology
2. Water sources in the vicinity, in village, in taluka,
3. Soil type

Regularly and frequent collected data collected throughout the cropping season, from pre-sowing to harvest, for:

1. Local weather conditions and forecast,
2. Soil quality and moisture,
3. Water availability from all sources, and
4. Crop growth status

The data may include that collected through automatic or manual measurements as well as publicly sourced data. The data is uploaded to an integrated system and stored, for viewing and analysis by experts as well as farmers or local agriculture extension workers or others. This enables expert advisory to farmers, at farm level as well as village level, and helps them make decisions at all stages of the crop cycle, make optimum use of inputs including water and nutrients and maintain soil health. The system also involves providing training to farmers and local village based trained persons for using technology and incorporating data guided decisions with their traditional agriculture practices.

The system will accumulate data, from large number of farms, over a long period of time, to develop a data repository which will help to improve decisions over time.  Data collection at localized scale will help to get a clear picture of field conditions; and such collection done at multitude of field points will enable to gather the regional scenario. And so the system will need data collection points at various scales, covering clusters of farms and spreading to villages, clusters of villages, talukas, districts and so on. This vast data, over time, will also help develop AI/ML (Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning) based improvements to decision making.

The system will also enable long term decisions like cropping pattern changes for various cropping seasons, irrigation pattern, village water budgeting, and developing village water security strategy.

Smart agriculture – Input-Process-Output Framework:

The following framework provides another view of a smart agriculture project and guides its various components.

 

As illustrated above, this consists of  input and process parameters which in turn affect the output parameters, as well as maintenance of health of basic input parameters, like water sources and soil health. The parameters include those from atmosphere – surface – subsurface areas, as illustrated in a diagram below:

 

Such a monitoring system as seen in the diagram will include measuring different parameters for water, soil, atmosphere and crop growth, either digitally or manually. Some of these monitored parameters Include:

Monitored parameters:

Weather:

• From locally installed automatic weather stations (AWS), monitoring weather parameters such as rainfall, humidity, temperature, UV index unit, wind direction and wind speed.
• Through public weather data from agencies like IMD, Skymet, for the region/taluka etc
  .Automatic weather station

Water Availability:

• Surface water:
  • water levels in village water bodies, availability of canal / river water, if any
• Groundwater level:
• through automatic electronic water level sensors
• though manual measurements

Water Use

flow meter: (if available) to estimate of volume of water used for irrigation.

Water quality:

Through on field water quality testing kit to test parameters like Arsenic, Fluoride, Nitrate, Total Iron, Sulphate, Chloride, pH, EC and TDS can be used.

Soil and water quality testing kit

Soil

• Quality: through the field testing kits for soil test parameters like Organic Carbon, Nitrogen, Phosphorous, Potassium and pH is used.
• Soil moisture: through the soil moisture meters (portable or fixed) for monitoring moisture levels at various points within the field.

Community Resource persons measuring soil moisture through portable meters

If interested:

WIN Foundation and its partner organizations are implementing this system in selected villages, in Kutch and Dwarka districts. If you are interested, contact us at: info@winfoundations.org.

Abbreviations:

AWS                          Automatic Weather Station

pH                              Potential of Hydrogen

TDS                            Total dissolved Solids

EC                               Electrical Conductivity

UV                              Ultra Violet