1. The setting of appropriate criteria for the selection of watersheds, villages, and local-level NGO partners, and the design of local-level collaborative mechanisms
Technical criteria include: notable erosion, land degradation or water scarcity problems; villages located in the upper part of drainage systems; watershed size around 10 km2; village boundaries corresponding closely with those of the watershed. Socioeconomic criteria include: villages poorer than average; no wide disparities in size of landholding; villages having shown a concern for resource conservation and having a known history of coming together for common causes. As a condition for support, villagers must commit themselves to banning the felling of trees; banning free grazing; undertaking social fencing to protect vegetation; reducing excess populations of livestock; limiting water-intensive crops; contributing voluntary labor to a value of 16% of the unskilled labor costs of the project (landless and single-parent households exempt); starting a maintenance fund; setting up a village watershed committee. In the interests of replication, the IGWDP decided not to work with larger NGOs inclined toward long-term, empowerment-type approaches to group formation.
2. The design of village-level mechanisms for participatory planning, learning, and implementation
Planning by agencies based on external maps failed. The approach subsequently developed relies on consultations with farmers in their own fields, i.e., community mapping, in partnership with external support agencies such as the Forestry Commission. A capacity-building phase of up to one year is undertaken in which a small segment of the watershed (typically 100 ha) is rehabilitated. Funds for this phase (up to US$16,000) are provided by the IGWDP through its technical-support NGO.
3. Design of a sustainable mechanism for screening and funding individual proposals submitted for watershed rehabilitation
The IGWDP has created mechanisms that channel funds to local organizations with as few intermediate steps as possible. It has established a project-sanctioning committee headed by the National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development. The central role played by this respected national organization in assessing and channeling finance to donor-supported projects is a cornerstone of replicability. Also, local currency can be channeled through this mechanism once foreign funds have dried up.
4. Mobilization of administrative and political support from the early stages
The IGWDP has focused on obtaining political support, first by inviting members of the Legislative Assembly to visit successfully rehabilitated pilot watersheds, then to obtain a Cabinet resolution implementing this devolution of control to village level through joint forest management arrangements in the state.
5. Establishment of channels for drawing on technical expertise in the post-rehabilitation period
The demand from communities for information and assistance to build on their initial success and to start a range of new projects is facilitated in the IGWDP by a watershed organization trust (WOT). This is a body of 29 staff, covering a wide range of social and physical subjects, who help to put NGOs and CBOs in touch with relevant state departments. These links and the go-between role of the WOT are vital.