Case Study-II

Name of Village: Nonglim NongladewBlock: Umsing

District: Ri-BhoiSate: Meghalaya

Title: Community Participation in Natural Resource Management

The Nonglim Nongladew village is a small clean and surrounded by natural beauty in habited by Khasi tribes. It is administratively under Ri-Bhoi district of Meghalaya. It is about 35-40 km away from RRTC, Umran. The total population of the village is 687 with 165 numbers of households. The main livelihood activity of the villagers is agriculture as they mostly practice Rainfed Paddy cultivation. This village has been selected for DBIS implementation under the 2nd phase. A small but perennial stream is flowing at the top of a hill from which the villagers

have constructed earthen channel to bring water upto their agricultural fields. The total agricultural area of the villagers is about 14 hectare out of which the DBIS water has been made available to 10 hectare i.e. around 72% of the cultivable lands. Before the

technical survey a meeting Community Tank

was organized with the villagers where the detail about the project was presented before them. It was also made clear to them that they had to contribute in terms of providing manpower for A distribution tank cont. by community

digging of pipelines, future repair & maintenance and also had to take care of the structures. This has been happily accepted by the villagers and sense of ownership was clearly visible. During the construction a distribution tank was provided

near the village from where PVC pipelines were provided near the

agricultural fields for agricultural use. Moreover the villagers themselves constructed small storage tank and used for water for the domestic purposes. Some villagers at the downstream areas have constructed small concrete tanks at a

common area. The number of outlets provided at those tanks gives the number of households who have

contributed for the construction of the tank. In the above figure (right) it is clearly visible that for the construction of this storage tank 4 household of the village has contributed as the tank has 4 outlets. It clearly shows the interest and dedication the villagers have regarding this project. Their participatory approach and ownership feelings has made the project successful and sustaining in the village. The members of the water user’s group (WUG) and village development committee are well trained to take care of the repair & maintenance of the structures and pipes. This kind of participatory approach is very much required for any project to be successful and these villagers have presented themselves as role model for promoting this kind of ownership and participatory approach.