Abstract
If we believe human life is a gift then we ought to safeguard it. Today this life is at stake from the womb to the tomb. As a result there is imbalance in many aspects of life even in the climatic conditions. At Kankewadi, in Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, where we began community mobilisation work, many people were facing a losing battle. They could hardly see any light at the end of the tunnel. Jesuit Priests responded to this situation through an innovative method known as the Watershed Development Programme which holds an ultimate vision of holistic, people centred development. The 'Social Centre', a philanthropic NGO came into being as a ray of hope to the rural folk in the drought prone Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra. The paper describes the methods adopted to empower people and usher in improvements in the quality of life of the people. The results of the process disturbed social, economic, political and cultural benefits across all sections of the society in Kankewadi and its neighbouring villages. The so-called voiceless people became leaders of the local governing bodies. The social centre's approach of problem solving with participatory ideology has motivated Government institutions to adopt the watershed development. This involves the building of water as a critical resource for community empowerment, livelihood development and also to reduce internal displacement of the poor in India. The results of over 125 villages from this programme have the potential to turn into a movement of development which restores the ecological sanity, tackling both short term goals of poverty alleviation and long term goals of positively retaining people in their native habitat.
Highlights
Social work practice is a complex and multi-dimensional process with multifaceted tasks
Bacher realised that children drop out from school due to lack of water in the community, which resulted from families being forced to migrate for work to enable access to the basic living conditions of life, he came to know that domestic water was missing but irrigation water availability was scarce and this caused many social problems in the lives of the people of Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra, India
To get along with piecemeal solutions after 23 years of continuous interventions, with many trials and errors methods a sustainable solution was found in the form of Watershed Development and Managements, called the ‘Ridge to valley’ model,1989, at Pimplegaon Wagha in the Ahmednagar district
Summary
Social work practice is a complex and multi-dimensional process with multifaceted tasks. Social movements start when broader level or larger social problems have been witnessed by sensitive people These committed individuals, with greater commitment and vision, work towards bringing solutions to the problems of life and during the process many are motivated to join the cause. When Fr. Bacher realised that children drop out from school due to lack of water in the community, which resulted from families being forced to migrate for work to enable access to the basic living conditions of life, he came to know that domestic water was missing but irrigation water availability was scarce and this caused many social problems in the lives of the people of Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra, India. Trials and experiments, he came up with the innovative idea of watershed development techniques which have been since a source of hope and life to many who were staring at a losing battle
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