Background

The soul of India resides in her villages. Rural people constitute more than 70% of India’s total population. The march of independent India for assuming its rightful place in the comity of nations is not complete unless it is associated with significant improvement in the quality of life of its rural population. The MoRD and its constituent wings namely, Department of Rural Development, Department of Drinking Water Supply and Department of Land Resources are committed to improve qualitatively as well as quantitatively the life of rural people through a series of well structured and demand driven rural development programmes in the country.

Lack of information and awareness are major obstacles for disadvantaged rural communities to reap the benefits of the many programmes of the Ministry of Rural Development such as SGSY, SGRY, NREGP, NFFWP, NSAP, Swajaldhara, TSC, DPAP, IWDP, DDP, Hariyali etc.

In this context, there is an urgent need for action on creation of public awareness about various programmes and schemes of MoRD, most importantly on water conservation and management and its related issues. Government’s effort alone on this issue may not yield desirable results since it is difficult for the government to cover vast areas and all aspects of water management. So the participation of the common people and civil society organizations in this aspect is very essential. For this there arises a need of national campaign to propagate awareness about various programmes and schemes of MoRD and most importantly on water conservation and management amongst the people in general and youngsters in particular is to be launched shortly.  

Realizing the significance of mass awareness on the issue, a series of meetings and discussions with experts from the field were held. It emerged from the discussions that Non Government Organisations can play a pivotal role in this regard. Through interactions with the local people they can mobilize them and create willingness to participate and contribute to the efforts of the government and other agencies for the cause of water.

OBJECTIVES:     

v     To build/generate “Mass Movement” (jan andolan) on water conservation and management;

v     To train the PRIs, SHGs, village youth, Government Servants & traditional water experts and to sensitize them about the need for water conservation. The campaign will focus on reviving the traditional water conservation methods and supplementing it by modern water management practices.

v     To spread awareness on conservation of traditional/ indigenous water harvesting systems and practices and supplement it by modern scientific approach;

v     To educate the people about the traditional and scientific techniques of water conservation methods;

v     To create a pool of resource persons in every panchayats as “Watch Agency”, to train and facilitate them to act as pressure group for implementing the developmental programmes of the Ministry of Rural Development effectively; 

v     To educate school and collage students on indigenous and modern knowledge systems of water conservation in the country;

v     To generate awareness in checking contamination of water sources (surface/sub surface) from human excreta, fluoride, arsenic, nitrate, other heavy metals etc;

v     To create awareness and disseminate information regarding all other programmes / schemes of the Ministry of Rural Development, GoI.

 

TARGET GROUPS FOR THE CAMPAIGN:

• General Public in the rural areas
• Representatives of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs)
• Self Help Groups (SHGs)
• Community Based Organization (CBOs)
• Village Youths
• Educational Institutions of rural areas
• Representatives of Voluntary Organisations
• Officials from Government Departments like DRDAs etc
• Traditional Water Experts

 

STRATEGY:

In the first phase the Morar block from Gwalior district that falls under dry/arid/semi-arid zone would be selected for implementation. The rest of the districts would be taken up in the subsequent phases.

Training

Two day training programmes will be organized at the block level. All the elected members of Panchayats, 5 youths from every panchayat, 3 members of SHGs, 5 members from other target groups will be imparted training in batches of 50-55 participants. Efforts will be made to ensure that 50% of the participants are women. Proportion of participants of different categories from a panchayat will be as under:

Traditional water experts / Water Conservation Team       :           10%

SHGs                                                                           :           10%

PRIs                                                                             :           50%

Village Youths:                                                              :           20 %

Government Officials:                                                    :           10%     

(School teacher/literacy campaign/health mission/SSA)              

The selected NGOs will carefully select the participants other than panchayat members of the training. The criteria of selection: (i) the participants shall possess leadership ability; (ii) the trainee shall have communication skills, (iii) participants should have interest in developmental activities. A database of the trainees will be prepared for future reference at the Regional Centers of CAPART.

Formation of ‘Vikas Sarathi Group’

For every three panchayats, Sambhav will constitute a Vikas Sarathi Group comprising of around 15 youth and other interested members who have been trained at the Block level training programme. The Vikas Sarathis Group will be formed during the conduction of training programme at the block level. The Vikas Sarathi Group will take the responsibility of maximum 3 panchayats for rural campaigning by making Pad Yatra. The group will start the Yatra (Procession) named as Vikas Yatra from a particular village where they will spend the entire day and engage themselves in various activities such as prabhat pheri (morning procession), flag hoisting, exhibition, folk song, dance, theater, experience sharing, dissemination of traditional and modern techniques of water conservation, management and quality, to make people aware of all the programmes of Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), Government of India (GoI). On the same evening, the villagers along with Vikas Sarathi Group will carry the flag to the neighbouring panchayat where the same process of campaign will be continued.

Networking:

In continuation of the campaign the NGOs will ascertain networking with PRIs, Block and DRDA. Sambhav will also facilitate the watch agency to coordinate with PRIs, discuss various issues of the panchayat and find an appropriate solution in the interest of the community.

Watch Agency:

The trained five youths from every panchayat will serve as resource persons and watch agency for ensuring social participation in the development works of the PRIs. This group of 5 members will act as pressure group in their respective panchayat to facilitate, expedite and oversee the proper implementation of the development programmes.         

      Advocacy Campaign:

The advocacy campaign would be carried out at all levels starting from the CAPART headquarters and percolating to the grass root level. The media campaign at CAPART headquarters will cover distribution of bytes/nuggets of information to the NGOs/news channels/ policy makers/ general public through TV channels/radio/ print media about the forth-coming initiatives. There will be a brand ambassador at the national level for the campaign. Information will be disseminated by launching advertisement films (promos) on television and by broadcasting a special programme (in all regional languages) on radio. The campaign will also be taken up by publishing news, articles on national and regional news papers and also by organizing periodic seminars, exhibitions at local haats, street plays etc.

Bicycle Rally:

Bicycle rally will be one of the important components of the Awareness Creation Campaign. Sambhav with the help of Vikas Sarathi Group will organize rally in the panchayats to ascertain the works done by the village community and generate an enabling environment on the issue of water conservation and also sensitize the rural people on various programmes of Ministry of Rural Development. They will be provided with materials such as T-shirt, caps, banners, leaflets, posters etc for the rally to create mass awareness.

Follow up Action:

After completion of the campaign, the Watch Agency will organize “Vikas Pathasala” in every village of the panchayat. Vikas Pathasala is a forum for discussion and finding ways for effective implementation of developmental programmes in the village through PRIs and DRDAs.  The Watch Agency will ensure social participation in the development works of the PRIs and act as pressure group in their respective panchayat to facilitate, expedite and oversee the proper implementation of the development programmes.

Program Brochure (Hindi)