Political

This working paper by Smita Mishra Panda, Institute of Rural Management (IRMA) on the case of SEWA’s water campaign in Gujarat that was presented at the CGIAR systemwide program on collective action and property rights (CAPRi).

The collection includes the following four case studies from India:

The water and sanitation management organisation (WASMO) works by empowering communities to manage their local water sources, drinking water supply and environmental sanitation in the state.

Forwarded to the Portal by: Sharadbala Joshi, UNDP India The Water for Asian Cities Programme is a collaborative initiative of the UN-HABITAT, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Governments of Asia. The WAC Programme was officially launched at the 3rd World Water Forum with a Memorandum of Understanding signed between ADB and UN-HABITAT in March 2003 in Osaka (Japan). The main objective of the programme is to promote pro-poor investments in water and sanitation to support Millennium Development Goals in Asian cities, specifically promoting pro-poor governance, water demand management, increased attention to environmental sanitation; and income generation for the poor linked to water supply and sanitation. Complete Terms of Reference / Job Profile: http://data.undp.org.in/jobs/UN-HabitatKarnataka.doc Description of Duties: Under the direct supervision of the Chief, Water and Sanitation Section II, WSIB, UN-HABITAT Nairobi and Regional CTA, South Asia WAC, the UNV will be responsible for implementing UN Habitat related activities as well as complement the wider activities under the Integrated Urban Water Management Programme in Mulbagal.

CEPT University has received a major grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to research urban water and sanitation issues. The aim of this programme is to develop better information on water and sanitation performance at the local level. This in turn will be used by the state and local governments for extending services to the poor, strive for financial viability, and improve reliability and quality of services.

The research will focus on the use of performance indicators and benchmarks to facilitate consistent reporting, monitoring, planning, budgeting, and investing in water and sanitation services in all urban areas of Gujarat and Maharashtra states. Lessons from the project will be disseminated to other states and at the national level.

CEPT University with its partners will work with state and local governments to develop a reliable and sustainable Performance Assessment System (PAS) for urban water and sanitation services. The PAS envisaged in this project includes: Performance Measurement, Performance Monitoring, and Performance Improvement.

Image and Content Courtesy: Central Himalayan Rural Action Group

Central Himalayan Rural Action Group (CHIRAG) is a non-profit grass roots development organisation registered under Societies Act (1860). CHIRAG is dedicated to empowerment of rural communities through their integrated development and has been working in the Indian Central Himalayas since 1986.

CHIRAG & the Ford Foundation offers an opportunity to work with a rural development agency in India for a year in the following areas: 1. Primary education 2. Primary healthcare 3. Rural livelihoods 4. Environmental regeneration Eligibility:

Anyone between the ages of 21 and 28, with a graduate degree or a diploma (after 12th standard) and 2 years of work experience. Individuals who are likely to have examinations between July 2009 and June 2010 are not eligible. Leave will not be granted to take examinations during the year.

Indicorps invites young Indian professionals interested in committing their time and skills to India to apply for its new sabbatical program: The Young Professionals Initiative (YPI). YPI is a pilot program designed to encourage young working professionals to contribute their skills and knowledge to the land of their heritage in a meaningful way. The core fellowship program aims to inspire a new generation of global Indian leaders through structured grassroot public service opportunities. Indicorps projects embody a firm and demonstrated commitment to promoting peace, inclusiveness, secularism, and the empowerment of Indians.

Water Initiatives Orissa(WIO) and the Indian River Network (IRN) organsied the Odisha River Conference during 18 - 20 April 2009 at Sambalpur, Odisha. Attended by about 75 participants which included activists, environmentalists, journalists, academicians, researchers and civil society representatives from across the country, the Conference has just concluded with a "Sambalpur Declaration" that calls for saving the rivers from the current fate of high rate of degradation and giving communities their traditional rights over the rivers, among other strong resolutions.

Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, hundreds of students of several schools along with senior citizens cleaned up Poiya Ghat Sunday morning, picking up rags and used polythene bags, to focus attention on river pollution which candidates of various political parties have chosen to ignore.

Brij Khandelwal, programme convener of the Yamuna Foundation and Rivers of the World Foundation, said apart from students involved in the My Clean Agra initiative, a large number of other voluntary groups and organisations were involved in Sunday's programme which specifically targeted the politicians for failing to clean up the cities and the rivers of India.

"No political party has bothered to say a word about how they would save a dying river and rejuvenate it or restore its original glory," said Subhash Jha and Haridutt Sharma of the Yamuna Foundation for Blue Water.

The Hesperian Foundation is a non-profit publisher of books and newsletters for community-based health care. Their first book, Where There Is No Doctor, is considered to be one of the most accessible and widely used community health books in the world.