Project Narrative

We propose a broad approach to help communities create data driven, science-based water security plans. NGOs (who are also the designated implementation partners for Atal Bhujal Yojana) and community based organisations typically have in-house staff with basic GIS expertise, but lack staff on data analytics or software programming. We propose to address this by investments in creating a Òknowledge commonsÓ. Common assets -- datasets and map layers, both primary and secondary. Making pre-digested data layers available e.g. to diagnose the water balance will help communities avoid having to write specialised software code. Common protocols -- common metadata /guidelines on how to gather and store data on common watershed features like water bodies, streams, infrastructural assets etc. Common tools -- We will develop tools, specifically a QGIS plug-in to pull in data from various public databases, that will allow communities to access Òpre-digestedÓ data layers in order to diagnose the water balance without having to write software code. Common courses -- online and offline training material walking people through how to use data to make decisions for water security planning. These training materials will walk people step-by-step through the process of accessing data, diagnosing the problem and identifying appropriate interventions. We hope to deploy these training in partnership with Arghyam, an Indian Philanthropic organisationsÕ, water sector capacity building platform. Overall, we will train 100 NGOs and have 1000 data driven water security plans made using this tool, by partnering with existing government programs.