With the focus on achieving National Action Plan on Climate Change and the Millennium Development Goals, Center for Social Research (CSR) in affiliation with Hanns Seidel Stiftung initiated “Water Conservation and Climate change Training Program in Rural Rajasthan” that focused on achieving water conservation and to mitigate the effects of climate change in rural Rajasthan through capacity building of Elected Women Representatives on various existing government schemes and tools.
In the month of September 2017, CSR undertook three days’ technical training of trainers program in Jaipur. The training was presided over by Water Experts and the Program team for those participants who administered Hand-holdings at the community level in 2016. The technical training was considered to be advanced training for those who have been affiliated with the project over a period of time and were aware and aligned with its objectives and content. The training was culminated with a field visit to observe ideal practices of water conservation and technical configuration of its methodology. The training participants were given scientific and technical knowledge on mapping water purity and hygiene of water sources. They were encouraged to not only ideate on the micro water conservation initiatives but also to understand how rainwater harvesting and watershed harvesting can be undertaken at the village level. The participants were given tips to make proposals at the Gram Sabha and Gram Panchayat level to not only prioritize water conservation as a burning issue but to also mobilize the community for the same.
In order to reinforce learning from the technical training, an exposure visit to Laporiya village near Jaipur was undertaken. The elected women representatives who participated in the exposure visit were the ones who were administered technical training earlier. The objective of the exposure visit is to enable participants to interact with and learn from each other, allowing them to view practical examples of successful integration of sustainable practices in water conservation undertaken by another elected woman representative (EWR) or villagers of an ideal village. This was designed to enable EWRs working in their areas to bring change as building practical understanding on the methods and approach towards building an ideal village so that they can view and learn about the experience of the EWR so that they themselves can adopt those best practices.
Mr. Jagveer Singh from Gram Vikas Navyuvak Mandal (GVNML, Laporiya), Ms. Richa Audichya from Jan Chetna Sanstha (Abu Road) and Ms. Kamla Mishra (Jaipur) led the exposure visit which was attended by 15 EWRs. Field visits were undertaken to observe water conservation infrastructure and cultivation of grazing land for livestock that were built in Laporiya village which led it to be considered as an ideal village.
