Flowing Upstream Book

In a world fraught with visions of an impending 'water crisis' it is not surprising that the main barrier to achieving the Millennium Goals of Development of water, sanitation and hygiene, for all, is not seen as a lack of willingness to learn from the past, to acknowledge failure and success and respect the diversity of approaches and social actors. this book brings together five in-depth case studies of civil society interventions from different parts of India which have struggled to resolve issues of women's participation, equity and sustainability in community based water management systems.

From the water scarce areas of coastal Gujarat where UTTHAN has been promoting decentralized and gender equitable water alternatives to the SEWA campaign on women, water and work, and AKRSP(I)'s attempts to involve women farmers in participatory irrigation management interventions in adivasi dominated South Gujarat, from community lift-irrigation schemes in Jharkhand managed by women's group promoted by PRADAN, to SOPPECOM's efforts in facilitating rights to water and land for women and the landless in Maharashtra, the case studies illustrate that the process of negotiating change of, 'flowing upstream' is indeed messy, complicated and complex.

Emerging insights while located in a specific socio-economic, political and cultural context provide a menu of essential but not necessarily sufficient, ingredients towards a strategy for mainstreaming gender and equity rights in water management. Together, the cases raise important questions on the social construction of water policy in India, the gendered structure of facilitating organizations, networking and the role of learning indeveloping accountable and socially inclusive governance mechanisms for managing our natural resources.