Advocacy Programmes

WaterAid India believes local government service providers should be accountable to the communities they serve. We support local civil society organisations to strengthen democracy by mobilising communities to demand their entitlements and make them active agents of change.

WaterAid India also believes there is a need to mainstream drinking and sanitation water into the larger integrated water resource management framework that focuses on augmenting water availability for enhancing livelihoods.

We currently run two advocacy programmes that support communities to access their right to water and sanitation; Citizens' Action and Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM).

Citizens' Action

Credit: WaterAid / Marco Betti

Citizens' Action supports civil society organisations to strengthen democracy by mobilising communities to demand their entitlements to improved water and sanitation services from their local government agencies. In this way, communities are not passive recipients of aid but active agents of change. 

In India, this programme is currently running in rural and backward districts in the states of Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh. The communities themselves are mapping water points and their functionality, discussing budgets sanctioned to them and asking questions. The programme has spread to other villages and other issues as well. The coming years will see a strengthening of communities and a demand-driven spread to other states.

Integrated Water Resource Management: prioritising and securing safe drinking water  

Credit: WaterAid

Securing safe water sources is vital to all of our initiatives. This brings with it a need to mainstream water needed for drinking and sanitation into the larger integrated water resource management framework which focuses on augmenting water availability for enhancing livelihoods.

Important components of this integration include improved water management and augmentation; assuring safe water quality; socially efficient and equitable water use; incorporating drinking water supply as part of irrigation/watershed management projects; and recognising women as primary stakeholders.

This programme involves both research and analysis, and the integration of drinking water and sanitation into IWRM.

At the moment, we are engaged in developing an integrated model for water resource management using a multi-layer planning approach for a sub-river basin in Madhya Pradesh.

As a part of water policy dialogue, state level networks being supported for policy change in Jharkhand, Bundelkhand and Andhra Pradesh.