Your search found 48 records
1 Cornwall, A.; Edwards, J. (Eds.) 2014. Feminisms, empowerment and development: changing women's lives. London, UK: Zed Books. 332p. (Feminisms and Development)
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: 305.42 G000 COR Record No: H047661)
(0.32 MB)
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H047704)
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Watershed development facilitates in reducing the vulnerability of farm income to weather-induced shocks in rain-fed lands in India. The present paper estimates homogeneous as well as non-homogeneous effects of watershed development on farmers demonstrating a huge discrepancy in estimated values between two. It shows that initial differences in resource endowments, access to formal credit, education level, and caste membership can result in inequalities in the impact of watershed development programs on targeted parameters. The analysis also establishes the sensitivity of the estimates to the general level of multivariate imbalance as well as univariate imbalance in confounding covariates.
3 Mateo-Sagasta, Javier; Tare, V. 2016. Ganga water quality: dirty past, promising future? In Bharati, Luna; Sharma, Bharat R.; Smakhtin, Vladimir (Eds.). The Ganges River Basin: status and challenges in water, environment and livelihoods. Oxon, UK: Routledge - Earthscan. pp.222-237. (Earthscan Series on Major River Basins of the World)
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: IWMI Record No: H047816)
4 Dhungel, D. N.; Pun, S. B.; Mittra, S.; Mirza, M. M. Q. 2016. Ganges hydropower: status and challenges. In Bharati, Luna; Sharma, Bharat R.; Smakhtin, Vladimir (Eds.). The Ganges River Basin: status and challenges in water, environment and livelihoods. Oxon, UK: Routledge - Earthscan. pp.114-137. (Earthscan Series on Major River Basins of the World)
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: IWMI Record No: H047841)
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H047970)
(1.44 MB)
Community management has been widely criticized, yet it continues to play a significant role in rural drinking water supply. In India, as with other ‘emerging’ economies, the management model must now adapt to meet the policy demand for ever-increasing technical sophistication. Given this context, the paper reviews the history and concepts of community management to propose three typologies that better account for the changing role of the community and external support entities found in successful cases. It argues that external support entities must be prepared to take greater responsibility for providing ongoing support to communities for ensuring continuous service delivery.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: 333.73 G744 SRI Record No: H048060)
(2.91 MB) (2.91 MB)
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: 333.73 G744 SRI Record No: H048067)
(0.31 MB)
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H048085)
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Tribal peoples globally are among the most vulnerable groups to climate change and variability. This is due to a combination of their relative poverty and their dependence on agriculture and natural support systems (NSS). Hence programmes that simultaneously help to reduce poverty and vulnerability to climate change are needed. The Indian Government has launched the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), an incentive-based programme addressing vulnerability to poverty, climate change and NSS by integrating natural systems (water, land, soil) and human systems (employment opportunities). Here we show that the vulnerability related to climate variability, agriculture, water and household economic conditions has decreased significantly due to MGNREGA interventions. Specifically, water availability, diversification of agriculture, crop yield and income have all increased. Besides the decreased vulnerability to climate change due to better access to water, the intervention has also increased employment opportunities and daily wage levels have almost doubled, thus improving the economic status of tribal peoples. These changes have led to improved living conditions, facilitating better adaptation to both natural and economic stresses. This case study illustrates the potential of well-designed government programmes to contribute to sustainable development through improving adaptive capacity and by combating poverty and vulnerability to climate change among marginalised people.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H048098)
(2.15 MB) (2.15 MB)
Lack of attention to spatial and temporal cross-scale dynamics and effects could be understood as one of the lacunas in scholarship on river basin management. Within the water-climate-food-energy nexus, an integrated and inclusive approach that recognizes traditional knowledge about and experiences of climate change and water resource management can provide crucial assistance in confronting problems in megaprojects and multipurpose river basin management projects. The Mahaweli Development Program (MDP), a megaproject and multipurpose river basin management project, is demonstrating substantial failures with regards to the spatial and temporal impacts of climate change and socioeconomic demands for water allocation and distribution for paddy cultivation in the dry zone area, which was one of the driving goals of the project at the initial stage. This interdisciplinary study explores how spatial and temporal climatic changes and uncertainty in weather conditions impact paddy cultivation in dry zonal areas with competing stakeholders’ interest in the Mahaweli River Basin. In the framework of embedded design in the mixed methods research approach, qualitative data is the primary source while quantitative analyses are used as supportive data. The key findings from the research analysis are as follows: close and in-depth consideration of spatial and temporal changes in climate systems and paddy farmers’ socioeconomic demands altered by seasonal changes are important factors. These factors should be considered in the future modification of water allocation, application of distribution technologies, and decision-making with regards to water resource management in the dry zonal paddy cultivation of Sri Lanka.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H048204)
Water security has become the new buzzword for water and development programmes in the rural South. The concept has potential to focus policymakers and practitioners on the inequalities and injustices that lie behind lack of access to affordable, safe, and clean water. The concept of women’s empowerment also provides an opportunity to do this. However, the vast majority of water security interventions using the term are apolitically and technically framed and fail to understand complex intersectional inequalities. We suspect that many of these interventions have been implemented following a business-as-usual approach with the risk of reproducing and even exacerbating existing gendered inequalities in access to and control over water. This article explores these concerns in the context of four villages in Western Nepal, where two internationally funded programmes aimed to empower women by improving access to water for both domestic and productive uses. They hoped to transform women into rural entrepreneurs and grassroots leaders. However, differences between women – such as age, marital status, caste, remittance flow, and land ownership – led to some women benefiting more than others. Water programmes must recognise and address difference between women if the poorest and most disadvantaged women are to benefit. Gender mainstreaming in the water sector needs to update its understanding of women’s empowerment in line with current feminist understandings of it as a processual, relational, and multi-dimensional concept. This means focusing on inter-household relations within communities, as well as intra-household relations. In addition, we recommend that water security programmes rely on more nuanced and context-specific understandings of women’s empowerment that go beyond enhanced access to resources and opportunities to develop agency to include social networks, critical consciousness, and values.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H048228)
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Rainwater conservation and soil erosion prevention are vital for the economic and financial sustainability of dry land agriculture. An integrated watershed development programme is thus a means of achieving these goals. Presently, integrated watershed management is receiving worldwide recognition as an effective model for watershed planning. A watershed is considered the basic geographical unit for developing any plan by integrating various social, economic, and policy factors with modern science. Hence, it is an approach to develop the basic resources for sustainable life support. The present study was conducted to assess the impacts of the watershed development programme on the social and biophysical aspects in a micro-watershed area of Cooch Behar district, West Bengal, India. This study confirmed that the project had positive effects that strengthened the socio-personal and economic characteristics of the farmers and improved the biophysical environment of the farms. The soil and water conservation efforts have increased the total cultivable area as well as improved the irrigation and drainage facilities in the micro-watershed units, thereby increasing the acreage and productivity of crops.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H048290)
(1.22 MB)
As most cities share their water basins with rural areas, an efficient and environmentally sensible urban water management system needs to consider the interplay between urban and rural water uses. This article analyses the three main challenges at this interface: increased competition for water resources (scarcity); flood management (abundance); and freshwater quality conservation (pollution). The merit of potential policy options is discussed from an economics perspective, taking examples from successful experiences in cities around the world. The benefits and challenges arising from enhanced coordination and integration between urban and rural water management are highlighted.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H048439)
(0.72 MB) (736 KB)
Evidence on sanitation and hygiene program costs is used for many purposes. The few studies that report costs use top-down costing methods that are inaccurate and inappropriate. Community-led total sanitation (CLTS) is a participatory behavior-change approach that presents difficulties for cost analysis. We used implementation tracking and bottom-up, activity-based costing to assess the process, program costs, and local investments for four CLTS interventions in Ghana and Ethiopia. Data collection included implementation checklists, surveys, and financial records review. Financial costs and value-of-time spent on CLTS by different actors were assessed. Results are disaggregated by intervention, cost category, actor, geographic area, and project month. The average household size was 4.0 people in Ghana, and 5.8 people in Ethiopia. The program cost of CLTS was $30.34–$81.56 per household targeted in Ghana, and $14.15–$19.21 in Ethiopia. Most program costs were from training for three of four interventions. Local investments ranged from $7.93–$22.36 per household targeted in Ghana, and $2.35–$3.41 in Ethiopia. This is the first study to present comprehensive, disaggregated costs of a sanitation and hygiene behavior-change intervention. The findings can be used to inform policy and finance decisions, plan program scale-up, perform cost-effectiveness and benefit studies, and compare different interventions. The costing method is applicable to other public health behavior-change programs.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H048441)
(0.44 MB)
Ecological infrastructure (EI) refers to ecosystems that deliver services to society, functioning as a nature-based equivalent of, or complement to, built infrastructure. EI is critical for socio-economic development, supporting a suite of development imperatives at local, national and international scales. This paper presents the myriad of ways that EI supports sustainable development, using South Africa and the South African National Development Plan as a case study, linking to the Sustainable Development Goals on a global level. We show the need for EI across numerous development and sustainability issues, including food security, water provision, and poverty alleviation.
A strategic and multi-sectoral approach to EI investment is essential for allocating scarce public and private resources for achieving economic and social-ecological priorities. Opportunities to unlock investment in EI, both internationally and on the national level, are identified. This includes leveraging private sector investment into landscape management and integrating the costs of managing EI into public sectors that benefit directly from ecosystem services, such as the water sector and infrastructure development. Additionally, investing in EI also aligns well with international development and climate change funds. Investment in EI from a range of innovative sources supports global and national development, while complementing other development investments.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H048507)
(1.07 MB)
This article questions the criterion used by government of India to classify agricultural areas into ‘rainfed’ and ‘irrigated’, merely on the basis of percentage of area under irrigation, in spite of the vast differences in the biophysical and socio-economic characteristics between areas classified as ‘rainfed’. This criterion fails to consider the agro-climate and hydro-meteorology of the area, which decide whether crops can be grown under rainfed conditions or require irrigation. Watershed development interventions, which are usually prescribed for agricultural development of rainfed areas, are bound to fail when rainfall is low and aridity is high, and strategically, interventions should be based on agro-ecology and hydro-meteorology.
16 Rammelt, C. F.; Masud, Z. Md.; Masud, A. 2018. The waterways of Tangail: failures to learn from flood-control efforts in the Brahmaputra Basin of Bangladesh. Water Alternatives, 11(1):106-124.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H048521)
(0.95 MB) (976 KB)
Traditional non-structural approaches to water management and flood protection in Bengal disappeared almost entirely under colonial and national water planning. The 1950s saw the rise of permanent and centrally regulated infrastructures for flood control, drainage and irrigation (FCD/I). A nationwide Flood Action Plan (FAP) in the 1990s reinforced this structural approach and included as one of its flagships of the FAP-20 component in the Tangail District. While essentially remaining a form of FCD/I, FAP-20 attempted to pay attention to social and ecological concerns. During its implementation (1991-2000), however, FAP-20 became highly controversial on both accounts. Eventually, it was phased out and not replicated elsewhere. Revisiting this particular project is as relevant as ever for several reasons. First, the article shows that its negative impacts are felt long after the project ended. To better understand these impacts, the present article provides a historical and contextual perspective on water governance in Bangladesh. Second, there seems to have been little learning from the FAP-20 experience. The project was not adequately evaluated, and lessons are therefore not assimilated by the design of subsequent water-sector projects (e.g. the Blue Gold plan). The article argues that a thorough evaluation is needed and can provide valuable insights for the development of more adaptive and inclusive approaches to water management.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H048703)
(5.40 MB) (5.40 MB)
Soil and water conservation (SWC) practices like that of erosion control and soil fertility measures were commonly practiced in the semiarid region of southern Mali since the 1980s. The SWC practices were mainly meant to increase water availability in the subsurface, reduce farm water runoff and gully formation and improve nutrient content of the soil, thereby increasing crop yield. Despite such efforts to promote at scale SWC practices, the landscape of southern Mali is still affected by high rates of runoff and soil erosion and low crop yield in farmers’ fields. Data are lacking on previous beneficial SWC practices that could be adapted for wider application. In this paper, a watershed approach to managing rainfed agriculture is presented to show potential benefits of SWC practices at field and watershed scales. The approach included (1) community participation in establishing and monitoring new sets of hydro-meteorological monitoring stations and field experiments; (2) studying the dynamics and consumptive water uses of different land uses over time; and (3) evaluating the biophysical and economic advantages of SWC practices implemented in the watershed. Results showed that over a period of 34 years (1980–2014) cropping area and consumptive water uses of crops (sorghum and cotton) increased at the expenses of natural vegetation. However, the yield of these crops remained low, indicating that soil fertility management and soil moisture were insufficient. In such cases, implementation of more SWC practices can help provide the additional soil moisture required.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H048709)
(0.26 MB)
With rising coverage figures and the advent of the Sustainable Development Goals, there is increasing attention given to assessing and monitoring the sustainability of water services. Previous efforts in the rural water supply sector have included the development of sustainability checks, while in the urban water supply sector, benchmarking of water services and the performance of utilities has become common practice. This paper argues that neither rural sustainability checks, nor urban benchmarking frameworks, are entirely suitable for monitoring small town water services. It presents a framework specifically developed and applied for assessing and monitoring small town water services. Application of the framework in seven small towns in Ethiopia shows significant discrepancies between the ideal and actual situations. It reveals specific challenges related to sustainable small town water service provision, including capacity at service provider (utility) level, asset management and regulation. The costs of sustainability checks and prospects for uptake as project and wider sector tools are discussed.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H048717)
(1.36 MB)
The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) developed the Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative (MRBI) program to improve the health, water quality and wildlife habitat within the Mississippi River Basin. Lake Conway Point Remove (LCPR) watershed was identified as one of the watersheds for the MRBI program implementation. The goal of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of the MRBI program in LCPR watershed using a computer simulation model. Seven best management practices (BMPs) (pond, wetland, pond and wetland, cover crops, vegetative filter strips, grassed waterways and forage and biomass planting) were modelled under four placement strategies: random placement in 30% of the watershed, random placement in 30% hydrologic response units (HRUs) of the high priority hydrological unit code (HUCs), placement in the top 30% of the high priority HUCs, and top 30% of the HRUs in the HUCs near the outlet of the watershed. The model was calibrated for flow for the period 1987–2006 and validated for the period 2007–2012. Sediment and nutrients were validated from 2011 to 2012. Out of the BMPs evaluated, grassed waterways proved to be the most effective BMP in reducing sediment and nutrient loads from row crop (soy beans) and pasture fields. Reductions at the watershed outlet ranged 0–1% for flow, 0.28–14% for sediment, 0.3–10% for TP and 0.3–9% for TN. Relatively higher reductions were observed at the subwatershed level, flow reductions ranged 0–51%, sediment reductions -1 to 79%, TP -1 to 65% and TN -0.37 to 66% depending on BMP type, placement scenario, and watershed characteristics. The results from this study provide the data to help prioritize monitoring needs for collecting watershed response data in LCPR and BMP implementation evaluations, which could be used to inform decisions in similar studies.
20 Nhemachena, Charles; Matchaya, Greenwell; Nhlengethwa, Sibusiso. 2017. Agricultural growth trends and outlook for Lesotho. Washington, DC, USA: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI); Pretoria, South Africa: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). 30p. (ReSAKSS-SA Annual Trends and Outlook Report 2016)
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H048751)
(1.05 MB) (1.05 MB)
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