Partners on
Livestock, Environment and Watershed Project

he “Livestock and Environment Interactions in Watersheds in India” project is supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) India, and the Livestock, Environment And Development (LEAD) programme of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The project is being implemented by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) in collaboration with CALPI (Capitalization of Livestock Programs in India) initiative of SDC, the Government of India and several NGOs in water-scarce watersheds in semi-arid regions of India.

SDC has been supporting Livestock development programs in India for the last 40 years and developed a considerable experience in participative watershed and resource management programs. SDC Natural Resources Management concept paper for India states as its goal to “contribute to the sustainable improvement of livelihood systems of the rural households in the rain fed areas through increased productivity of natural resources by improved land use management, including livestock production and dairying”. In pursuit of this goal SDC has been a pioneer in introducing innovations and new concepts in watershed development since the mid-nineteen eighties, through Participative Integrated Development of Watersheds. The merging of the land use and livestock development programmes under one natural resources management sector is of particular relevance for the watershed development programme. Various collaboration programmes on watershed development have been launched, with Government and Non Government partners, in the States of Karnataka, Andrah Pradesh and Rajasthan.

LEAD is an multi institutional initiatiave of bilateral and multilateral donors. Its mission is to analyze global hotspots of Livestock – Environment Interactions in order to provide decision support to tackle livestock, environment and development issues as well as focusing on policy-technology interfaces. For LEAD one of the critical "hotspots" of the livestock and environment interaction is the watershed and land degradation. To achieve a sustainable livestock production and to encourage stewardship of resources, the people that depend on the land for their livelihood must have a say in, and more responsibility for its management. Measures must also be adopted to improve marketing and institutions for drought preparedness and to ensure access rights to grazing and water resources. For more information regarding livestock, environment and watershed please visit us at http://www.virtualcentre.org/en/

INTERCOOPERATION, through its CALPI Support Office is a programme of SDC-IC focused on livestock based livelihood systems in India. It seeks to capitalize on SDC - IC’s rich experiences in the livestock sector so as to significantly influence the policy frame conditions in such a way that the priorities and challenges of the rural livelihood systems are effectively addressed and the rural poor, particularly women, benefit from the emerging opportunities. This objective is envisaged to be achieved through projects focused on seven thematic fiels namely:(i) Livestock Policy Development, (ii) Livestock Service Delivery, (iii) Livestock Environment Interactions, (iv) Professional Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Education, (v) Knowledge Networks and Research Partnerships, (vi) Livestock Products Marketing and (vii) Human and Institutional Development. CALPI supports its project partners through a variety of forms ranging from conducting studies, promoting contacts, networking, stimulating dialogues, supporting events, facilitating discussion platforms, testing approaches or models through pilot activities, strengthening the work of strategic partners, addressing specific needs of collaborators etc. For more information please visit us at : http://www.intercooperation.ch

The International Water Management Institute (IWMI) is a non-profit research and development organization dedicated to providing practical solutions to a range of water management problems through the application of state of the art management tools. To its partnerships in South Asia, IWMI brings more than 15 years of experience in dealing with water issues across the developing world. All research outputs and tools are freely available to those working in the water and development sectors.Research is organized around five key themes--addressing issues critical to South Asia's water and land future. In India IWMI has completed research in the areas of irrigation performance, satellite remote sensing, irrigation management transfer, gender analysis, and malaria control and water savings through alternating wet and dry irrigation. Current work includes research to improve the productivity of water in agriculture, promote successful strategies for sustainable groundwater management, and improve the situation of poor farmers. In 2000 the IWMI-Tata Water Policy Program has been launched thanks to the generous support of the Sir Ratan Tata Trust. The objective of the Program is to help the country address key water management challenges such as sustainable groundwater management, water scarcity and rural poverty by translating research findings into practical policy recommendations. For more information please visit us at : http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org

The project is carried out in coordination with selected organizations dealing with watershed development in the project areas.

SAMUHA is a registered society that operates functionally as a network of people in development. In the past years its operations have grown from 24 to 124 vilages and over 300 slums across Karnataka. From a small-integrated rural developmetn project, SAMUHA has grown to develop core competencies in the following areas: environment and people, integrated village development, community-based rehabilitation of people with disabilities, preventative, counselling, care and support interventions in HIV/AIDS, participative information processes with people living in slums and finally IT for development. It's main goal is that of improving the quality of life of the vulnerable people within defined periods of time. These include children, women, people living with/vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, rural communities living in rain-dependent semi-arid lands, people living with disabilities, people living in slums and the digitally disadvantaged. For more information please visit us at : http://www.samuha.org/

SAMPARK is a voluntary organization registered in 1990 as a society which started by addressing the survival needs and developmental aspirations of the people. Along the years it has evolved by making two important decisions which have defined the target and mode of work. First of all needs to be done only with the weaker sections of society and second a participatory approach needs to be adopted for all programme formulation and implementation. Under these principles, SAMPARK has given its contribution in 90 villages covering 6700 households through the following programmes: community mobilisation and empowerment for social change, promotion of sustainable livelihoods and natural resources management, microfinance, promotion of environment friendly technology, environmental education and functional literacy, making the community healthy, information education and communication (IEC), conducting participatory research and advocacy and networking. For more information please click here.

WOTR is a committed development support team that motivates and empowers rural men, women & children and other organisations for integrated watershed development and enhancement of quality of life on a sustainable basis in order to eradicate poverty. To achieve this objective, WOTR, together with its partners, seeks to mobilize the creative potential of the watershed dwellers so that they come together to regenerate their environment, in a comprehensive and integrated manner. For more information please visit us at : http://www.wotr.org/

WASSAN is a network based, non-profit, professional support organisation providing capacity building and support services for watershed based development initiatives in natural resources management. Capacity building, support services and action research, networking , resource centre for pooling, documenting and disseminating experiences, and policy advocacy are the five core areas of work. At present, around 5500 watershed development programs are at several stages of implementation in 12 districts in Andhra Pradesh becoming the single largest rural development program in the state. For more information please visit us at : http://www.wassan.org/

SEVA MANDIR is a non-government voluntary organisation working on rural and tribal development issues in and around Udaipur district, in the southern part of Rajasthan (western India). It has a presence in over 583 villages and its work focuses on strengthening sustainable livelihoods of village communities, capacity building to achieve well-being in terms of health, education and gender equal relations and creating autonomous village level institutions and supporting organic leadership. It's mission is to make real the idea of society consisting of free and equal citizens who are able to come together and solve the problems that affect them in their particular contexts. For more information please visit us at : http://www.sevamandir.org

The Indo Swiss Participative Watershed Development Project Karnataka (ISPWDK) is a Natural Resource Management project supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation(SDC) and implemented through Intercooperation (IC) which began in 1995. The overall goal of ISPWDK is to reduce poverty and to enhance the choices and opportunities of the population in the project watershed areas of northern Karnataka through the restoration, improved management and sustainable use of natural resources. As such, the project aims at developing successful models of poverty alleviation through holistic watershed development for replication and policy influencing. Specifically regarding actvities in Kanakanala watershed, ISPWDK provided SAMUHA with full information on the rules and regulations governing tree patta, plantations and natural forests. The key issue requiring resolution was the maintenance of roadside plantings and block plantations in phase I areas. For more information please visit us at : http://www.ispwdk.org

The CWDP is based on the bilateral Agreement between the Government of Denmark and India.Phase I was for a period of 5 years upto March 2002 while Phase II is extended upto March 2007 with the objective to facilitate land-users to practice dry land agriculture, range management, horticulture and forestry on private and common land on a sustainable basis. As a first step the programme requires the capacity building of farmers and other land users in priority villages in the identification, prioritisation and adoption of sustainable and more productive land use practices. Selected villages adopt improved cultivation practices on private land and take charge of the development and management of natural resources on common land. For more information please visit us at : http://cwdpmp.nic.in/

The drought Prone Areas Programme (DPAP) is one of the areas development programmes launched by the Government in 1973-72 to tackle the special problems faced by those fragile areas which are constantly affected by severe drought conditions. These areas are characterised by large human and cattle populations which are continuously putting heavy pressure on the already fragile natural resource base for food, fodder and fuel. This continuous biotic pressure is leading to fast and continuous depletion of vegetative cover, less and less rainfall, increasing soil erosion and fast receding ground water level due to continuous exploitation without any effort to recharge the underground acquires. The basic objective of the programme is to minimise the adverse effects of drought on the production of crops and livestock and productivity of land, water and human resources there by ultimately leading to the drought proofing of the affected areas. The programme also aims at promoting the overall economic development and improving the socio-economic condition of the resource poor and disadvantaged sections inhabiting the programme areas. For more information please visit us at : http://www.rural.nic.in