1. Women and Drinking Water: Do
Institutional Structures in
Jalswarajya Project encourage Good
Water Governance?
By
Aditya Bastola
Social Scientist
Institute of Rural Research and Development (IRRAD)
Plot No 34, Sector 44, Gurgaon.

2. Background
• Post 1990s India saw change in government’s role – reduced
welfare role.
• This was prominent in the New Delhi Declaration (1990),
followed by the Dublin Statement and UN Earth Summit
(1992).
• These international conferences called for institutional
reform:
decentralisation,
water as an economic good and
women had a central role in water management
• The 73rd and 74th Indian Constitutional Amendment provided
the platform for decentralisation of water governance.

3. • The Swajal Project was replicated as Sector Reform Pilot Project
(SRPP).
• State Governments implementing SRPP designed their
respective drinking water project based on demand-driven
approach.
• Maharashtra State Government implemented SRPP in 2 phases:
Aaple Pani (3 Districts - with German Development Bank) and
Jalswarajya Project (26 Districts - with World Bank assistance) in
2003.
• Women in Jalswarajya Project were an important actor, in O&M
and cost sharing of the project capital. Their participation was
seen as moving beyond their private spheres to being key
players in community decision-making process.

4. Methodology
• Through a mix methodology - the study aimed to understand
how effective was women’s participation to address gender
strategic needs or even to voice their concerns within the
framework of good water governance processes?
• Villages from Phase I Batch I category that had completed the
implementation of the Project and were declared as ‘exit’
were selected (12) in the study.

5. Gendered Framework on Good Water Governance
Drawn from Rogers and Hall (2003) (primarily) Cleaver and Franks (2008)
states for governance human behavior is essential, but it mediates through
norms, values and laws that are held by following factors:
• Resources – where people exercise power, determining inequalities and
draw rules for allocation.
• Mechanisms – is the way of organizing things that hold rules.
• Outcomes – these are factors which benefit women, the poor and the
marginalized to sustain their livelihood options in an ecosystem.
• Processes – it is the negotiation activity within the above factors which
could be positively or negatively affected.
• Actors or Agents – these are the leveraging component which includes
women, men, the community members, government officials, NGOs and
among others that shape the above factors.

6. Shaping Good Governance practices within
Jalswarajya Project
• Mandatory 50% women’s participation in committee meetings
• Strategically women appointed to handle financial matters within the
VWSC.
• The O&M of the water supply infrastructures to be handled by women’s
groups including collection of water tariffs.
• The local contractors are answerable to the VWSC members who in turn
are answerable to the community members.
• Each committee members with different roles including women are
assumed to take leadership roles to bring transparency and accountability
within the Project.
• Promotion of SHGs for building collective spirits amongst women and
improving their economic status to challenge household decision-making.

7. Implication of Jalswarajya outcomes on women
• Women’s participation in the Project was influenced by the rural elites.
• Rural elites controlled Project related information, including local contractor for
construction of water supply infrastructures.
• Women’s participation to challenge household and community dynamics was just
to fulfill Project rules.
• Women’s participation was merged with Caste
representation.
• A move from proxies in PRIs, now women are
proxies of caste groups.
• Although some women saw their participation
as a process for empowerment, it was not
sustained due to strong patriarchal values and
norms.
• The Project norms were fulfilled, to comply for
the project budget.

9. Conclusion and Recommendation
• The outcome of State’s realignment on its economic role has shifted the
burden onto the poor and the women to pay for water services.
• This has allowed the rural elites to continue to exclude others from
development processes.
• Over-emphasizing of women’s participation without addressing caste and
class factor for gendered outcome actually masked the power differentials
and political interest within water institutes.
• Unless women empowerment activities are not sustained, activities i.e.,
SHGs gets instrumentalised to serve other purposes. There is a need for
convergence of programmes and quantifying latent variables.
• It is essential appropriate gender representation be in place within the 1/3rd
caste representation, this will provide equal gender representation.

10. Thank You