Opinions and voices for change
Navigate the blogs from our experts, water, sanitation and hygiene sector colleagues and guests. Narrow down your search by using the filters.
Problem tree analysis is a good tool to plan, assess and adapt WASH programmes. Lessons from Watershed India. Read more...
Quality WASH training is only given to state level officials while training at lower levels is sub-standard and sparse. Read more...
Mr Belwal is a community facilitator with the Himalaya Institute Hospital Trust, an NGO that, amongst others, develops water supply systems in the Uttarakhand Himalayas, through a programme supported by Himmothan Society. His main responsibility is ensuring that villages that have been "phased out... Read more...
Sangeeta Ramola is the former Pradhan (president) of the Gawana Gram Panchayat (local government), in the State of Uttarakhand, India. Her work and effort shows the importance of local political leaders in achieving access to rural water supply that lasts. Read more...
Two years ago, I posted a blog summarizing discussions on whether insuring rural water supply systems is a good idea. But these remained largely theoretical discussions, as there are few examples of such insurances put in place. During field work for the Community Water Plus project in the State of... Read more...
Mr Ragunathan, the ex-President of Ramianahalli village, proudly explains how his community had come together when facing a water crisis in 2004. But in subsequent years of 'times of plenty', much of the good practices of the village water and sanitation committee were lost. This is due to the... Read more...
Ultimate success in water service delivery is defined by the service level received by households. There can be excellent infrastructure and impeccable administration, but if households don't receive enough water of good enough quality without spending an excessive amount of time collecting it,... Read more...
Saraswati Halder, the president of the Durganagar Kanchantala water committee, shows me the committee's bank booklet. It shows only one transaction: 100 Rupees (about 1.50 US$) deposited in 2011, more than 3 years ago. Read more...
Uttam Majundar is a successful Jalabandu (handpump mechanic) in Digambarpur (West Bengal, India). But now he risks becoming a victim of his own success. Following a day in his life explains why. Read more...
We were here to find out what the water committee does about water supplies, but only a local government official was around to explain it all. Read more...
"Everyone forever" may be ahead of schedule in India, but where is the will to achieve it? Read more...
Independent state regulators will not be able to solve the deep-rooted water governance crisis in India, says India Country Director Dr. V. Kurian Baby. After a decade of failure, a new approach is needed: a bottom-up process of social and participatory regulation. There are enough successful... Read more...
Sagar is an island at the mouth of the river Ganges where it meets the Bay of Bengal. Every year in January, about half a million pilgrims visit the island to worship at the holy Ganges. The hundreds of mobile toilet units standing on the empty festival terrain during the rest of the year are... Read more...
Could lack of definition be undermining the impact of effective but costly support? Read more...
A field note by the Water and Sanitation Program - South Asia (WSP-SA) documents the evolution of three large, river-based schemes in Aliparamba Gram Panchayat near Kozhikode in the north of Kerala state, India. Read more...
A paper from the Asia Research Centre at the London School of Economics and Political Science in the UK examines recent urban sector reforms and their implications for urban governance in India. Read more...