I represent Megh Pyne Abhiyan – Cloud Water Campaign (MPA), a functional network of four grassroots organizations (Gramyasheel i

I represent Megh Pyne Abhiyan – Cloud Water Campaign (MPA), a functional network of four grassroots organizations (Gramyasheel in Supaul and West Champaran, Kosi Seva Sadan in Saharsa, Samta in Khagaria, and Ghoghardiha Swarajya Vikas Sangh in Madhubani) and social development professionals working in 22 flood distressed panchayats across Supaul, Saharsa, Khagaria, Madhubani and West Champaran districts in north Bihar. MPA works with the modality of a campaign on water management through sustainable technological innovations and adaptation of conventional wisdom. The Abhiyan’s motivation is about inspiring a behaviour change among the flood affected rural population of north Bihar in order to construct a congenial social environment and stimulate collective action and accountability towards a ‘shared good’ amongst the local habitants. However, much beyond that, the wider mandate is to stimulate collective action and accountability towards a ‘common good’ amongst the local habitants. MPA has been addressing safe drinking water concerns since 2006 with the help of following practices: 1. Developing an argument through a field action research (beginning March till December 2005), with the fundamental motivation to understand the existing survival mechanism/s adopted by local communities in the flood prone region of north Bihar.2. Deciphering the nuances of social, economic, political and governance insecurities and challenges through frequent and regular interactions with villagers3. MPA was aware of the challenges it would be confronting in laying down process and practice in the villages. Therefore, it decided against re-inventing the wheel of existing social and economic issues, instead it agreed upon highlighting the issue of safe drinking safe drinking water during floods. Inability to access safe drinking water during floods is one of the most serious problems confronted by people staying in safe locations during floods. The prevailing disgruntlement and impression of hopelessness amongst people, dissuaded MPA from addressing a complex problem, due to the possibility of it could becoming counter productive4. It is imperative to mention that rainwater harvesting as a technique to access safe and secure drinking water in north Bihar had never been explored because of the assumption that water is in abundance irrespective of its quality and its impact on health well-being. Therefore, the campaign had taken up the challenge of treading an undiscovered path, which was expectedly strewn with suspicion, skepticism, and evasiveness. Secondly, introduction of an alternative technique for accessing safe drinking water during floods was also a medium for initiating a process of swa-nirnay (self-decision), swa-prabandhan (self management) and swa-raj (self governance) in the region.5. During the initial phase the campaign had adopted a multi-faceted approach towards bringing about a behaviour change through varied activities. The activities extended from door to door contact, focus group discussions, public meetings, jal samvad yatra (a journey to promote a dialogue on water), rainwater harvesting demonstration, building association with people, especially women (as they are the household managers when the male members migrate in search of livelihoods) and enhancing capacities of field associates regarding the complexity of water related problems. Demonstrations of temporary rainwater harvesting systems were set up to propagate the technique in 20 strategic places in each panchayat of the campaign districts. The demonstrations were situated at the hamlet level in· Prominent public space – temple/mosque/village market· Panchayat bhawan (office of the decentralized governance unit)· Primary and secondary schools· Private areas selected by the community on the basis of their accessibility by a larger section of the population6. The campaign created an opportunity and space for discussion with and amongst the villagers to share their concerns and especially to relate them with water. As a result, people started to acknowledge water related problems existing in the region, correlating them with their health and economic conditions and their socio-political environment7. The basic approach of institutionalizing strategic planning and implementation based on samvaad, vichar vimarsh and paramarsh with the rural communities as the campaign’s modus operandi, helped in creating an inclusive environment in the campaign panchayats. Though this modus operandi is a universal norm in the development sector, the political-economic-social and physical character of north Bihar had largely restricted the evolution and intensity of the social development processes in the region8. Developing access to the villages with the vision of swa-nirnay, swa-prabandhan and swa-raj was bound to have repercussions. Therefore, to avoid a conflict situation, the campaign had strategically planned the intervention wherein the involvement of these self-appointed guardians was limited to village level deliberations and their efforts to hijack the process were dealt in a calculative manner. The campaign had taken a collective decision of limiting their interaction with the middlemen at a community level, establishing personal relationships, accepting their sops, and moreover considering/highlighting them as village leaders was completely restricted. The first phase of the campaign was a new beginning for all involved in it, therefore it was a challenge to develop a common coherent understanding largely amongst the field associates (FAs) about the social dynamics and its impact on the campaign’s processes.9. The fact that all the field associates were locals and were adequately exposed to the strength and potential of the middlemen, made them skeptical about the alternative processes that the campaign was trying to develop. It was observed that most of FAs did agree with the campaign’s argument of marginalizing the middlemen, but they were unable to transform the argument into action for obvious reasons. They felt threatened because for the FAs this was a new approach of working in the villages. In order to inculcate confidence and develop resilience within them towards the campaign’s modus operandi, the district coordinator along with the development practitioner regularly visited the campaign villages to demonstrate the mobilization process. Alongside, constant guidance was provided to the FAs for clarifying their doubts and queries. The frequent visits, interaction and support prompted the FAs to overcome their tentativeness.10. Authenticating the quality of rainwater for drinking purpose through scientific testing11. Motivating individuals to further innovate and simplify the rainwater harvesting technique12. Developing cadre of Jal Doots (Water messengers) to popularize the concept of ‘temporary rainwater harvesting’13. Establishing Jal Samitis in villages as a facilitation platform for people to openly converge at the community level to deliberate on local development patterns and practices14. Introduction of the concept of do-it-yourself at the community level15. Eliciting women’s partnership to highlight their perspective in managing water16. Nurturing the field associates with additional required knowledge and skill17. Sensitizing the media regarding the potential of rainwater harvesting in context to the flood prone districts of north Bihar18. Developing pamphlets, and manual on rainwater harvesting along with a testimony on people’s own experiences of drinking rainwater As the campaign grew from four to 21 panchayats, the following strategies were adopted.The planning and designing of the second phase meant building up a strategy that was addressing the challenges experienced during the first phase and incorporating the constructive and critical feedback coming fromTeam membersPrimary stakeholdersRepresentatives from donor agenciesDevelopment practitionersSenior bureaucrats. During the interim period between the first and the second phase, as a preparatory strategy, MPA’s core team organized internal training on SWOT analysis for the FAs in all the four partner organizations. The reason was to facilitate an improved understanding of the impact of the first phase amongst the FAs. While the campaign partners were advocating for comprehensive plan involving water and sanitation issues, on the other hand, there was a shared understanding that rainwater harvesting in isolation cannot change lives, but it can provide an alternative survival mechanism to the locals. This standpoint reiterated the campaign’s belief of addressing small yet genuine issue in the beginning and later adapting a wider approach. While ensuring that the feedbacks were being adequately addressed in the strategy, the campaign simultaneously had to prepare itself to deal with following internal challenges:To stand by its conviction of ‘changing mindsets’ in a space and time when the local people continue to increase their perpetual reliance on external support for survivalThe present social and economic environment of dependency, instigated by the annual recurrence of ‘floods’ and the modality of relief work, getting manifested in the expectations of the locals from MPA despite its continuative presence. MPA’s second phase was designed based on the experiences, observations and learnings of the first phase along with the crucial feedback from different stakeholders. The core principles of the campaign remained the same just that the approach was broad based. Apart from propagating rainwater harvesting system, the campaign as per the initial planned strategy intended to:Monitor water quality and quantity during monsoon/floodsBuild a database of water source in villages and its impact on the health of the local population – MayPromote temporary rainwater harvestingContextualize the introduction of the temporary rainwater harvesting system in the flood prone villagesDialogue on rainwater and its potential as a drinking water source keeping in view the specific village problems with the locals in all the 21 panchayatsIdentify the public spaces for installation of temporary RWH with help from the village communityMass awareness campaigns throughJal Goshthi – With all key panchayat workers, opinion leaders, government functionaries and representatives of different civil societies at the panchayat levelJal Mahotsav with women in all 21 panchayatsJal Samvad YatraJal Bhaithak - Meetings at only those block where the campaign is being executedInstallation of rainwater harvesting systems through local contributionMaintenance and management of the RWH system by the people and field associatesMotivating people and the jal samitis to take up water harvesting at individual levelsAll partners to compile panchayat level database of the rainwater users’ along with the inputs and suggestions of Jal DootsJal KatputliJal Siksha for school childrenParticipating in local melaWater testing in all the 21 panchayatsDeveloping capacities of the field associates and other members of the AbhiyanCarrying out the water testing at the village levelPhysicalChemical andBiologicalCompilation of data and preparation of consolidated reportHighlighting the issues of water contamination at block and district authorities and state levelDeveloping matka filters for filtering iron from groundwater for drinking purposeDevelop the technology at the organizational levelTest the water qualityIntroduce the system at the village levelDevelop capacities of the locals to constantly monitor the water qualityMotivate the villagers for adopting the system at the individual level. Disseminate the potential of matka filter to mitigate the problem of groundwater with excessive iron contentMonitoring the increase of matka filter users in the communityIntroducing the concept of ecological sanitation in the flood prone regionDeveloping a culture of personal hygiene and sanitationBringing attitudinal change for sustained use and maintenance of the asset by the local communitiesGenerating awareness building local capacities for attitudinal transformation amongst the workers and village communitiesGenerating awareness amongst the village communitiesRainwater harvestingSODISMatka filterEcological SanitationLocal water management planning and executionNREGABuilding capacities of the campaign workers on following issuesSocial mobilization and group formation