The approach adopted under the Comprehensive Watershed Development Project (CWDP) is intended to ensure sustainability of development interventions. This can only be achieved through creating a sense of ownership amongst users, which means involving the community in planning, implementation and management of the interventions. A further specific objective is to benefit vulnerable sections of the community.
Various methods are employed to achieve these goals. There is first of all awareness generation within the community through exposure visits outside the area, street theatre and video shows. After this comes the formation and capacity building of village level institutions, in particular the village Watershed Development Committees (VWDCs). User's groups are also formed. Micro planning (under a village development plan) using participatory rural appraisal (PRA) follows. There are arrangements to ensure participatory execution of the plan specifying cost and benefit sharing (on average 75-90% of the work is paid for in cash under this approach). Another important element is to ensure user rights to resources. This entails negotiation with government for rights to produce from common land. Eventually after initial implementation, management becomes the task of the user's group: this includes maintenance, distribution of benefits and conflict resolution.
The whole process involves NGOs along with government staff in order to achieve better communication all around. The participants have different roles. Government staff (at various levels) provides technical and financial support as well as assistance towards gaining user rights over resources. NGOs are particularly important in awareness generation, mobilisation and capacity building of village level institutions and in the process of negotiation with the government. The village committee is central in planning and implementation of the village development plan and in overseeing user's group. User's group are involved in planning, implementation and then resource management. The village assembly helps to identify beneficiaries and users and to give overall support to the VWDC.
An external international donor, DANIDA of Denmark, supports the Comprehensive Watershed Development Project.
