The most difficult part is obviously Question 3: how to have a gender impact? Success largely depends on finding the best entry point. In this respect women’s traditional roles can be an advantage rather than a hindrance. Looking at the experience of World Bank funded projects in Punjab/Haryana/Himachal Pradesh there seemed to be a notable success in formation of women’s groups created with the task of collecting money to maintain drinking water systems installed by the project as a component of a wider watershed rehabilitation and development programme. While these had started with this limited aim some at least had developed into rather wider informal savings and loans societies and clearly seemed to have resulted in significant women’s empowerment. Provision of safe water supply is always a high priority for all communities. A water supply component more or less guarantees community support for a project and is an important catalyst for it’s success. It is therefore important that such water supply projects be carefully targeted as part of a more general area development approach. Self-standing initiatives may be successful in solving the drinking water problem, but there is so much more that that catalyst could achieve – if only it was given the chance.
Mr. John Weatherhogg