Monday 23 September 2013

Haritika: Confluence of Destinies


In 1990, I was in a team that conceptualized a unique, intensive programme called the Training Programme in Environment Education (TEE), a nine-month long, residential module that covered the science and socio-economics of Environment; Development, and Communications. I facilitated the same at the Centre for Environment Education (CEE), Ahmedabad for 9 long years. In August 2013, I visited one of the several development specialists that TEE hoped to produce. This inspired story is an illustration of how, unknown to most of us, our past actions done routinely, out of duty or ’job’ years ago, can actually have a massive impact on lives of so many today.

Preamble
The year is 1993. Avani Mohan Singh of Jhansi is one of the 15 post-graduates from all over India to have made it to the TEE. He has joined the training programme to have ‘a change from the boredom’ of his earlier, mundane job in pharma industry.

Around the same time, the poor in the drought-prone villages of Bundlekhand region of Madhya Pradesh were living a hopeless life. The water was either not available or not fit for consumption. The hand pumps did not work and the wells were dry. Men and women had to walk miles to get drinking water. In some tribal areas, they had to literally scrap the drying streams after walking 2 kms first; there was hardly any other activity nor was there any time for it! Survival was priority!

As the 9-month capacity building module got going, visioning processes started to develop in Avani’s confused mind; ideas emerged and crystallized, and soon, he had made up his mind what to do next - with utmost clarity of detail.  Lives were about to change forever– dramatically!

Events unfolded as if the destiny of Avani and those of the people of Bundlekhand were entwined without the knowledge of each other. In October, 1994, Avani registered his organization called ‘Haritika’ at Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh. And so began the journey towards transformation.

The Story so far…
Avani firmly believes in, and is actively involved in promoting dignity and gender equity through poor people's social, economic, political and human capacity building. As he went around scouting, he found that Bundelkhand district in north Madhya Pradesh (MP) is one of the most poorly endowed regions of the State as far as natural resources are concerned.  It had a very low agricultural productivity, characterized as it is, by hard rock with poor top soil cover and low ground water availability. Given the largely undulating topography of the area, the main problem faced in the project area is the soil erosion and shortage of water for irrigation and domestic purposes.

What struck Avani the most was the fact that the communities and populations un-served by water and sanitation services mostly belong to socially disadvantaged groups which have their separate hamlets usually located on the periphery of a village. Women and girl children were generally found to be among the poorest groups in the region, suffering the most from inadequate water supply and sanitation coverage.

After a few successful but tough initial attempts in Rund karari, a village in Uttar Pradesh, it was in 1995 with the support of DPAP (Drought Prone Area Programme) of MP Government , that Haritika constructed several hundred structures such as stop dams, check dams, tube-wells and dug wells, and storage tanks. After that Haritika worked on Integrated Water Resource Management and focused on NRM (Natural Resource Management) through partnerships, collaborations and networking. The activities included soil and water conservation, and intensification/diversification of agriculture.

In 1998, Haritika spread its activities further in Uttar Pradesh villages with support from the World Bank, and later, it established its Head Office at Nowgaon in MP on an acre of land. They also established several field offices including one each in Uttar Pradesh and Rajashtan In Madhya Pradesh, Haritika started first with engineering solutions, those that directly addressed the basic needs of people in the 39 villages of Nowgaon block of District Chhatarpur through its drinking water projects. Large areas of the region had underlying hard rock formation and remain uncultivated, primarily due to shortage of irrigation water. Haritika therefore adopted what is known as the ‘watershed approach’ for treatment of land in the project area.
Avani explaining the watershed approach


A school block with toilets & Water storage tank
What impresses a visitor is the fact that Haritika has synergized funding from several sources, and used them for different components of its model of sustainable development. This has water at its focus with inter-linkages to renewable power generation, toilet blocks, agriculture, horticulture and improved cropping patterns and practices. For example, in a single village in Nowgaon block, one can see 24x7 water supply (unheard of in cities) possible because of a stop dam, storage tank and solar energy; toilet blocks with water supply, and three crops in a year plus fruit bearing trees in thousands. Village committees operate and maintain the infrastructure so created, and the communities pay for operation and maintenance willingly. One can sense the dramatic increase in incomes and improved quality of lives – a feeling of total security, peace and of well-being.

At Patna tribal village: A Reservoir of Hope!
A visit to 90 tribal families in Patna village in Bijawar block is a lesson for intrepid entrepreneurs in development sector. It is a region where no one would possibly venture. The tribals were once steeped in poverty and prone to violence; their occupation was gathering wild plants of some medicinal value; there was little water in the drying streams. Today, they have two stop dams with huge water storage reservoirs, a bore well, and fence-protected farms with at least two crops plus vegetables. What more can these people ask for! And yet, Avani pursues them relentlessly, giving them ideas in an effort to create more demand which he says Haritika can easily meet.

In summary, Haritika has adopted a right-based approach for integrated planning and implementation of water, sanitation and hygiene in the backward districts of Bundelkhand. Availability of piped water supply has not only saved the time of the women that can be gainfully utilized, but also the availability of safe drinking water has saved many lives from diseases and disabilities caused due to polluted water. Besides, appropriate water recharge structures like check dams and stop dams have been erected along the water sources. Considering the erratic power supply in many of the villages, Haritika has developed models of solar energy operated water supply schemes.  These interventions have helped in improving the health status, and quality of life for the people in rural Madhya Pradesh.

For its absolutely commendable efforts, Haritika continues to receive financial support from NABARD, Coca Cola Foundation and Rockefeller Foundation, just to name a few. Small funding often comes from private trusts in UK and USA.

In Conclusion
The route to transformation had its own challenges yes, but looking back, and after all the hard work by Team Haritika, success could never have been so sweet, so fulfilling. Over past 19 years now, Avani Mohan Singh and his Team, have entrenched themselves in the hearts of grateful villagers and tribals in Bundelkhand.

Recollects Avani, “The 9 months spent  in Ahmedabad were incredibly full of practical lessons. We learnt something that we did not learn in the 9 years of formal education. That inspired me.” It was never easy though. “I must acknowledge the cooperation of fraternity of the Indian Administrative Services of Madhya Pradesh who extended their support and cooperation during the tough, initiation phase”, he adds gratefully.

Recognition has come in the form of ‘World Water Prize’ from the Japan Water Forum, and FICCI (India) NGO Awards. However, one can easily discern a sense of restlessness in this once calm, quiet person. He knows that as an NGO, he has just entered an equivalent of adolescence. Adulthood will surely follow as nothing spurs like success tasted. Haritika, with its pioneering efforts, will surely make the difference to enhanced quality of life as their model continues to replicate itself among the poor of Bundelkhand.

What a visitor learns is simple. Dreams do come true but only if one envisions goals, and then, honestly puts in dedicated hard labour to achieve them. Haritika is a modern-day proof of that maxim!



A Stop Dam..
40,000 lit capacity water storage tank..
A Solar Farm..

..and 24x7 water supply!

One of the agri-hoticulture bounties