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Viksat - Viksat is an organisation setup as an activity of the Nehru Foundation for Development to take proactive steps to conserve the environment and to promote sustainable development through promoting sustainable institutions and interaction among them.

Project location: Ahmedabad and kheda district

Need: To develop a village WATSAN plans and demonstrate the model of Anandshala se Jeevanshala to facilitate development of school centered approach through participatory visioning exercises, local capacity building and provision of support in terms of financial and technical resources.

Work done in collaboration:

Anandshala to Jeevanshala is a model developed for sustainable rural water and sanitation in selected villages of Ahmedabad and Kheda districts. The team of different organisations did a collaboration to plan the village development to empower the community for tangible benefits through collective and collaborative actions within the community. The action plan was prepared separately for each village keeping the specific needs and priorities in mind.

There were 6 villages - Dhanwada, Kanotar, Keshardi, Lagdana, Mithapur and Vasna in which different needs and action plans were identified. RRWH system has been installed in 5 schools except Dhanwada village. The following points were part of the whole development plan.

• The needs of villages were assessed through community need assessment.

• A pilot was created as entry point activities. This consisted of selected technologies like rainwater harvesting and improving existing school infrastructure facilities for quality education in the government primary schools of the project villages.

• Capacity building of teachers and students was done for awareness and sensitisation regarding water and sanitation.

• Multiple levels of engagement were created amongst community champions in schools and villages for improving Water and Sanitation infrastructure of the villages.

• Existing defunct Borewell has been converted into a recharge well in the school of Dhanwada village.

• Roof Rain water harvesting Structure (RRWHS) has been installed in other schools of 5 villages.

• 10 RRWHS have been constructed with a capacity of storage of 35,000 litres capacity each. Through this arrangement 3,40,000 litres of water is stored and 9,39,000 litres of water is recharged every year.

• A manual for maintenance and operation for RRWH system has been prepared in local language and distributed for the regular upkeep of the system.