Evaluating women’s participation in community-led institutional mechanism of Jal Jeevan Mission

Case Study - Narshingpur District         

The Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) was launched with much fanfare in India on August 15, 2019, to provide tap water connections to all rural homes. But that's not the only goal.

A decentralized water supply that is managed by the community itself is important for the implementation of this project. The role of Village Water & Sanitation Committee (VWSC), as envisaged by the Mission, is important for the implementation of this programme at each level.

In rural India, women bear the burden of providing water for various use such as for drinking for people and for domesticated animals, cooking, bathing, laundry and for other uses. JJM notes that water procurement chore solely falls on women. It aims to correct this social injustice i.e. to free up women from this laborious daily toil, through the dual strategy of providing drinking water through tap connection and by mandating that women become part of the VWSCs through the 50% quota.

The Mission also requires every GS to identify five women in every village to undertake monitoring of water quality. The training of the selected women for reporting on the functionality of the programme in supplying fixed quantity of tap water regularly; testing of water samples through Field Test Kits (FTKs) and for uploading the data on the JJM portal. Ministry of Jal Shakti, 2019 is to be undertaken with the help of the respective Public Health Engineering Department of the State.

A quick glance at the JJM Dashboard will reveal that until four years back, only 16.63% of rural HHs in India had tap water connections (as on 15 August 2019). However, since the launch of the Jal Jeevan Mission, the number of HHs in villages with tap water connection has increased considerably to 63.65% (as on 25 June 2023).

These numbers paint a pretty picture of the programme’s achievements and reach. In fact, the recently released WHO report (PIB, 2023) on the Mission says that it has led to substantial improvement in public health, while at the same time, leading to cost saving as well. WHO estimates that nearly 14 million Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) were avoided from diarrhoeal disease due to the Mission’s expansive coverage. This, the organizations states (in the report), leads to a cost saving of nearly USD 101 billion.

Narshingpur - Status of Tap Water Connections

According to Census 2011 findings, there are 1067 villages with 2,50,286 HHs in Narshingpur District. The average HH size in the District is 4.4. As per the 2001 Census, the number of HHs in the District were 183,148 with an average HH size of 5.2.

As per data on JJM Dashboard (as on 25 June, 2023), there are 1015 inhabited villages with 2,37,618 rural HHs in the District. The dashboard estimates that 1,54, 651 HHs (65.08% of the total rural HHs) have tap water supply.

·??????There has been a 30% rise in the number of HHs with tap collections in the last 9 months.

·??????The number of villages where women are getting trained for FTK testing has improved from 110 in October 2022 to the current 852.

·??????It can be confirmed from the information given in the table that 317 villages have VWSCs.

·??????In the last 9 months, individuals in 112 villages have been identified and trained for operations and maintenance.

·??????Between April and June 2023, household tap water sample was tested using FTKs or in labs for all 5 parameters in only 96 villages.

An Analysis of Information-related to Outcome Two of JJM

For the purpose of this study, only Outcome 2 has been analyzed.

·??????The outcome indicator is the number of womenfolk who do not carry water from distant places.

·??????The outputs identified for this outcome are: functional household tap connections in all rural homes and an improvement in the fruitful household time of women.

·??????Improved inclusion and participation of women in GPs and SHGs is the indicator.

·??????Review of GP and SHG minutes of the meeting is the means of verification for this outcome.

To analyze the outcome, there is a need to find out:

• The minutes of the meetings for GPs and SHGs
• How many GPs and SHGs active in the district before and after the implementation of JJM.
• How many women were there in the SHGs and GPs before and after the implementation of JJM.

Participation of Women in Gram Panchayats

As per information shared by Shri Narendra Singh Tomar, Minister of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj in Rajya Sabha on 23 September 2023, the total Panchayati?Raj?Representatives in the State are 3,92,981. A total of 1,96,490 Elected Women Representatives for part of the Panchayat. However, it should be noted that specific information (such as numbers and proportions etc) about the representatives?of?Panchayati?Raj?Institutions are not maintained by the Central Government (PIB, 2020).

The District has a total of 450 Gram Panchayats (Panchayati Raj 2023). An officer from the District Office was interviewed for the report but he was not able to share the number of women leading Panchayat or the total number of women who participate in Gram Panchayat.

Self Help Groups – A Status Check

As per Census 2011, there are 598 women SHGs in the District. The 2021 census is still not out so census-wise comparison is not possible.

According to the M.P. Deen Dayal Antyoday Yojana State Rural Livelihoods Mission (Panchayat & Department of Rural Development, Government of Madhya Pradesh), for 2022-23, there are currently 2517 SHGs in the District with 26347 members. It’s important to note here that the Madhya Pradesh Government refers to women SHGs when it mentions SHGs in the Government documents.

It is also important to note here that formation of SHGs in the State is promoted under various programmes such as the District Poverty Initiative Programme (DPIP); Madhya Pradesh Rural Livelihoods Mission (MPRLP); Tejashwini Rural Women Empowerment Programme (Tejashwini) and National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM). However, with the implementation of NRLM, all SHGs came under NRLM in 2016.

As on 25 June, 2023, there are 94607 SHG members in the District and the total number of SHGs are 8266. Out of these, there are 7399 new SHGs; 104 have been revived and 763 SHGs are pre-NRLM.

Highlights of Interaction with Stakeholders

???????Quality and quantity of water is a constant issue, due to which there is a general sense of discontent, which escalates when there is a disruption of services.

???????The availability of clean water from tap connections has eased the life for women in the villages but due to irregular supply, total reliance on tap water is not possible.

???????Water quality testing does not happen regularly by the VWSCs due to unavailability of testing kit or due to improper training imparted to women. It mostly happens at Public Health Department Labs.

???????Women do participate in VWSCs but they are unable to collect user charge from the local residents due to HHs’ refusal.

???????There is no change in the number of women who participate in GS.

???????The main problem in training women and building capacity under VWSCs is due to unavailability of funds. ?

???????The decentralized community-managed model is not efficient in maintenance and operation as VWSCs lack the technical know-how.

Research Findings...

???????Lack of data on number women in Gram Sabha: It is not possible to ascertain how many women participated in the Gram Panchayats, either as the head of Gram Sabha or as the member of Gram Sabha as this information is not available either at State, District or at National Level.

???????Changes in participation of women in SHGs since implementation JJM could not be ascertained: As on 25 June, 2023, there are 94607 SHG members in the District and the total number of SHGs are 8266. There has been an increase in number of SHGs, but it is not due to JJM but because of NRLM initiatives.

???????Verification of Outcome 2 not possible: Verification of the stated outcome is not possible (how many women have become freer to join any community-based organizations) as there is no way to measure this outcome through minutes of the meetings of the SHGs and GPs. As stated in JJM guidance document, verification of the second outcome requires meeting minutes of SHGs and GPs but this is not available due to unavailability of reliable information.

???????Mismatch in indicator analysis: The outputs identified for this outcome are: functional household tap connections in all rural homes and an improvement in the fruitful household time of women.

???????Not possible to ascertain if VWSCs actually have 50% women members: 317 villages have VWSCs out of a total of 1,105 villages, but it is not possible to confirm if the 50% criteria of women members has been met.

???????HH tap connections not reliable: There has been a 30% rise in the number of HHs with tap collections in the last 9 months in the District. However, as discovered in stakeholder interaction, water supply through taps is infrequent and contaminated. The burden of procuring water for the household and other requirements remain on women. ??

???????FTK testing not happening: Women in 852 villages have been identified and trained for FTK testing but the testing has not been taking place at all. Between April and June 2023, household tap water sample was tested using FTKs or in labs for all 5 parameters in only 96 villages. This indicates two startling facts: While women have been trained for FTK in so many villages of the District, they are not using their training for testing of water. Also, the number indicates that either FTK testing happened or lab tests happened. Since the segregated data is not available, its not clear in how many villages, trained women are actually testing water quality. ?

Way Forward

???????While the institutional mechanism of JJM is enabling, it does not factor-in the operational challenges that women members in the GS sub-committees have to face. There is a need for creating more awareness about these issues in the communities to improve acceptability and operational efficiency.

???????At the local-level, there is a duplicity of initiatives through various schemes and programmes. More co-ordinated effort is required to align these, especially between NRLM and Ministry of Jal Shakti for empowering SHGs.

???????Most importantly, instead of expediting work to meet the targets set for JJM, there is a need to pause and evaluate the progress, in order to plan better for the remaining villages in terms of tariff collection, quality of service, financial sustainability, etc. ?

???????There is a need to compile and spread awareness about the community-based good practices. ?