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Participatory Irrigation
Management (PIM) |
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SOPPECOM pioneered PIM in Maharashtra by helping organise and stabilise the first Water Users Association (WUA) on Minor 7 of Mula Project in Ahmednagar and another 15 WUAs on Distributary 4 of Mula Project (See Farmers' Participation in Irrigation Management - A Case Study of Maharashtra brought out by SOPPECOM and Horizon India Publishers in 1994). By 2005, before the MFMIS made WUAs mandatory, SOPPECOM had helped NGOs set up more than 200 out of the more than 500 WUAs registered by then in Maharashtra.
Subsequently, SOPPECOM prepared, at the request of the Ministry of Water Resources, GoI, a report on amending Irrigation Acts for Participatory Irrigation Management, prepared manuals for PIM for the Maharashtra and Central Governments, studied the issue of tailender and other kinds of deprivation in the command areas, interacted with the Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory Authority (MWRRA) along with other NGOs on various issues and has actively supported and helped innovative PIM initiatives within a broader framework of integrated and participative management of ecosystem resources, of water security for livelihoods and of equity that includes access for the landless and women.
SOPPECOM helped Samaj Parivartan Kendra (SPK), Nashik, organise three WUAs in the Waghad project covering 1100 ha, pioneer novel ways of conjoint use of surface and groundwater, of volumetric supply through timely delivery to farmers and methods of levying charges on wells in the command area. Similarly, it has helped and actively supported the South Maharashtra Movement for Equitable Access to Waters in a pilot effort at setting up equitable and integrated irrigation systems in three talukas. It has also helped the Chikotra movement plan and pursue the restructuring of the Chikotra dam irrigation system along equitable lines incorporating integration of local and canal water.
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Watershed Development |
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SOPPECOM is involved in watershed development related research and some piloting besides constructive engagement with practitioners and policy makers on the importance of sustainable and equitable approaches and strategies for addressing the concerns of rain-fed agriculture along watershed lines. As part of this engagement SOPPECOMhelped set up Forum for Watershed Research and Policy Dialogue (ForWaRD), a collaborative initiative of three institutions, namely, SOPPECOM; Gujarat Institute of Development Research (GIDR), Ahmedabad and Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Environment and Development (CISED), Bangalore now part of AITREE. These three organisations have undertaken a number of initiatives in the area of watershed research and policy dialogue at national and state level especially in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka. Most of these efforts followed from the major findings of a comprehensive review of watershed projects in the country by K. J. Joy and Suhas Paranjape. As part of the Forum, the major activities in the area of watershed development undertaken by SOPPECOM are: 1) A desk review of coverage of watershed development projects and their major impacts; 2) A GIS based information/data set on all the micro watersheds in the three states under all major programmes; 3) Rapid assessment of intervention, status of biophysical and institutional assets and outcomes/impacts of the intervention covering 400 micro watersheds from 20 districts of the state of Maharashtra and from seven major modes; 4) Post-facto research of watershed development and its impact on livelihoods, biophysical and institutional indictors. The issue of upstream/downstream hydrology was studied at a sub basin level with catchment of around 45000 ha of area where more than 60 percent of the area is treated. Eight micro watersheds from two different modes were taken up for detailed socioeconomic and biophysical analysis. The study used a multidisciplinary methodology involving different tools and techniques. Use of RS/GIS tools to assess change was integral to this study
The findings of these studies were disseminated as research reports and through national level dissemination workshop held in collaboration with CRIDA, Hyderabad. These are also available on the websites of all three institutions. SOPPECOM and ForWaRD were actively involved in the public consultation of the New Common Guidelines (CGL) for Watershed Development through our contribution to Parthasarathy Committee, by organising a national level workshop, along with WASSAN, after the issuance of the CGL and through research articles in Economic and Political Weekly.
Recently SOPPECOM was selected as a resource organisation by NIRD to conduct evaluation of impacts of watersheds in two states namely Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. In Gujarat SOPPECOM worked in collaboration with GIDR. The study covered 135 watersheds from two states. The report is appreciated by the Centre for Water and Land Resources (CWLR), NIRD |
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Gender and Livelihoods |
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SOPPECOM considers the issue of gender understood in its diversity and natural resources a cornerstone of its perspective on equitable access and integrated management of resources and from its inception has actively worked with and supported various research programmes as well as grass roots initiatives in natural resource management that promote gender equity.SOPPECOM encourages, participates in and supports interventions that can help bring gender concerns at the centre of policy, practice and research in the area of NRM, specifically land and water management
SOPPECOM’s first major initiative in this direction was a pilot action project `Securing Livelihoods’ through establishing water rights for landless women in village Khudawadi, Osmanabad district of Maharashtra through negotiations with the Water Users Association (WUA) formed on a minor canal of a medium irrigation project.
This experiment added immensely to our understanding of gender and water concerns and it was after this that SOPPECOM actively engaged in policy dialogue on this question. Ever since then the organisation has actively pursued the agenda on women’s participation in WUAs
During 2006 and 2008 a research in collaboration with Utthan, Gujarat and TISS, Mumbai which looked at decentralization in water governance and its impact on women was done. One of the major outcomes of this research has been to pilot a capacity building initiative with the elected women members on the managing committees of WUAs. As per the new legislation more than 4000 women would now be on Managing committees of WUAs all over Maharashtra, a huge potential which has to be developed. Currently SOPPECOM is involved in a year long capacity building programme for women members of managing committees of WUA in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra
In the area of gender and water another stride that SOPPECOM has made is in the area of women water professionals (technologists, engineers, and social scientists). Considering that there has been little research done on the concerns of women professionals working in the water sector, SOPPECOM in its ongoing work has undertaken a study titled ‘Situational analysis of women water professionals in South Asia’. The study supported by SaciWATERs, is located in four South Asian countries, Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
At present the gender unit is actively engaged in developing a social and gender equity gauge for assessing inequities in the water sector across social groups. This is a South Asia study currently being done on a pilot basis in India and Nepal. It is supported by the Gender and Water Alliance (GWA), Netherlands.
The other area that SOPPECOM is actively involved in is livelihood concerns of single and deserted women. It has undertaken studies in collaboration with the Women’s Studies Unit of Tata Institute of Social Sciences and Women’s Studies Centre of Pune University to understand the extent and nature of desertion in Maharashtra. These studies have helped bring in visibility to the neglected question of livelihoods of deserted women.
In an innovative experiment in Bahe village of Sangli district which was the first village in Maharashtra to get housing plots for single women, SOPPECOM developed and implemented a plan towards meeting housing and livelihood needs of 23 single women. This work holds demonstrative value not only from the point of view of sustainable livelihoods for single women but also from the point of view of an alternative vision of biomass based development.
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Technology and Energy |
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SOPPECOM believes that the choice of technology in development can have a significant bearing – directly or indirectly - on sustainability, livelihood, equity and participation. We believe that technology choice should prioritise:
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Equal or comparable performance or function as compared to conventional technology; |
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Some cost reduction; |
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Large energy saving; |
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Increase in component of local labour and
local materials; |
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Amenability to modular design and modules that can be fabricated or manufactured in dispersed rural industries or work places and assembled at site; |
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Opportunities for local skill upgradation
and development; and |
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Last but not least, potential to be understood and accepted
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SOPPECOM and its members have therefore also been involved in technology development in the areas of low external input, sustainable agriculture, optimal equitable access systems for water source development and distribution as well as rural infrastructure technology. We see these as playing a dual role: firstly, bringing down the economic and energy cost of development for the poor and secondly, also laying the basis for a dispersed industrial system that can join up with a sustainable agriculture to take us to a sustainable prosperity for all.
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Water Conflicts |
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SOPPECOM, along with World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), helped found The Forum for Policy Dialogue on Water Conflicts in India (henceforward Forum). The Forum is an effort to bring together all those interested in working on issues related to water conflicts in India into a loose network for action and interaction. The Forum began its work towards the end of 2004 as a collaborative effort of eight organisations and a few independent researchers and was supported by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). Presently the Forum has more than hundred organisations and individuals as members. The Forum's work covers four broad areas: 1) Conflict Documentation, 2) Conflict Resolution, 3) Conflict Prevention, and 4) Networking and Outreach. Forum is presently financially supported by Arghyam, Bangalore. One of the major contributions of Forum has been the book, Water Conflicts in India: A Million revolts in the Making, published by Routledge in 2008. The Forum has also set up two state resources centres -- Kerala and Orissa – in collaboration with Chalakudy Puzha Samrakshana Samithi and Shristi (and Orissa Water Forum). The Forum is also working as a knowledge partner to the wider initiative on right to water and sanitation. For details visit conflicts.indiawaterportal.org |
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River basin studies |
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SOPPECOM is currently involved in LiveDiverse, a three-year EU project aimed at studying the interactions between livelihoods and biodiversity in four river basin centred regions in developing countries that include protected areas and nature reserves. The regions are the Terraba river basin in Costa Rica, the Babe and Na Hang nature reserves in Vietnam, part of the Kruger Park and its surroundings in South Africa and the Warana river basin in Maharashtra in India.The project is coordinated by Prof. Geoffrey Gooch of Linkoping University and involves six other institutions from different countries including SOPPECOM.
LiveDiverse aims at an interdisciplinary approach that concentrates on studying various dimensions of vulnerability – bio-physical or environmental vulnerability, the socio-economic vulnerability and the cultural-spiritual vulnerability – that arise from the interaction between biodiversity and livelihood in the region. Based on this study and an interactive process of consultation with stakeholder through scenario building it will also attempt to evolve socially acceptable policy recommendations to minimise these vulnerabilities.
Presently SOPPECOM is also involved in two other river basin studies and initiatives: 1) Multi - layered Planning and Management of Water Resources in Bharar River Sub-basin in Bundelkahnd in Madhya Pradesh basically providing support to the local organisation Haritika and 2) A Programme on Developing Practicable Scientific Approaches on Water Governance and Livelihoods and On Contributing To Policy Dialogue on Basin Issues and the study is being carried out in the upper portion of the Bhima basin in Maharashtra
Earlier, SOPPECOM was involved in another EU research project STRIVER coordinated by Norsk Institutt for Vannforskning (NIVA), Norway and involving two European and two Asian river basins (one of them was the Tungabhadra basin in India) and involving thirteen institutions across the globe. STRIVER aimed at interdisciplinary methodologies to address four key issues in integrated water resources management (IWRM): (i) transboundary issues, (ii) environmental flow, (iii) land and water use interaction, and (iv) pollution. STRIVER experience is now available in two books: 1) Science, Policy and Stakeholders in Water Management published by Earthscan and 2) Integrating Water Resource Management published by IWA Publishing
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Remote Sensing and GIS |
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Since last few years, SOPPECOM has started using geo-informatics techniques as a research tool in different projects. Basin level studies about the changes in distribution of total landuse/landcover classes – change detection studies – have been undertaken for different projects like the post facto analysis of the impacts of watershed development, characterisation of wastelands as part of wasteland mapping and measurement of bio-physical vulnerability as part of the ongoing LiveDiverse project
We have also tried to use RS/GIS techniques in combination with Participatory Resource Mapping (PRM) and create and analyse database for further planning at various scales like cadastral, micro-watershed and sub-basin. This has helped us to go beyond the limits of both these methods and integrate data that is generated by scientific and participatory methods at different scales. This method has been in the action research project on IWRM in the Bharar sub-basin of Bundelkhand in Madhya Pradesh and characterisation of wasteland around the Deep Nagar thermal power plant near Bhusawal, Maharashtra
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