Secure water - whither poverty? : livelihoods in the DRA : a case study of the Water Supply Programme in India

Lack of secure access to sustainable water supplies remains a major obstacle to efforts to reduce poverty around the world. The failure of previous supply-led approaches to realise the goal of ˜water for all" has led to a global shift in water policies and the emergence of new Demand Responsive Approaches. In principle, DRA aims to improve efficiency and therefore the financial and technical sustainability of delivery systems. In practice, this implies major changes in the roles and responsibilities of sector stakeholders. These principles increasingly inform the development and implementation of water supply policies around the world, but their interpretation and the degree of their translation into practice varies substantially, both between and within countries.
This research has been carried out in the State of Andhra Pradesh, India. Policy and institutional analysis has been carried out at both national and state level and detailed fieldwork has been conducted in case study villages in the districts of Chittoor and Mahbubgnagar in AP. It investigated how these reforms are understood by decision-makers at different levels, how they are being interpreted by practitioners and the resulting impact on beneficiary communities. Two case study villages were selected. The first - Nattiobannigaripalle in Chittoor district - is an SRP village, the second – Vemula in Mahbubgnagar district is not. In each case detailed research was conducted to understand the livelihood impact of changing water access arrangements and to identify how DRA planning and implementation enhanced better poverty-livelihood dynamics, and improved long-term sustainability in service delivery.