Who plans for water and sanitation in villages?

Watershed is a Dutch-funded project focusing on building capacities of civil society organisations (CSOs) to advocate for sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services in six countries. This paper assesses the structure of participatory planning within villages under the Watershed Project's framework in the Indian states of Bihar and Odisha. It also explores the scope for communities to raise their issues and plan accordingly. It expands on the 14th Finance Commission (FC), which provides the opportunity for communities to plan through Gram (village) Panchayats (GP), and at the same time provides the financial resources to fund those plans. The paper is based on a review of national guidelines, state guidelines, policies and regulations and field visits and observations carried out in March-June 2018. The findings and results were documented based on interactions with Ward Members, Gram Panchayat members and Block and District officials. The authors conclude with recommendations on capacity building for local government and CSOs, community participation and the link between WASH and water resource management.