THE CRISIS + APPROACH pg backup

THE CRISIS

Where there is Water, there is Life. Water is a basic necessity of all beings on this planet – as much as air to breathe. Yet, the water crisis is the #1 global risk per the World Economic Forum.

India has a water shortage crisis that threatens to become catastrophic.

54% of India faces a water crisis.

330 Million people in rural India are impacted by drought.

Forty-six farmers commit suicide every day, leaving behind scores of orphans and widows.

Roughly 60 percent of India's 1.2 billion people still defecate in the open.

In fact the crisis is set to worsen quite drastically, as half of India’s water demand will remain unmet by 2030, as predicted by the International Water Management Institute. The Overseas Volunteers for Better India (OVBI) aids River Rejuvenation, Water Conservation and Village well-being initiatives in rural India.

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India_Water_Tool_Poor Water Quality

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OUR APPROACH

OVBI in partnership with The Art of Living acts as the “glue agency’, supplementing Government efforts. We follow a 3 pronged approach:

A. Financial and Administrative:

Supplement existing Government efforts with incremental funds and provide project execution, project monitoring, and social audit expertise to execute River Rejuvenation and Village well-being initiatives. Our implementation approach is such that every unit of of private sponsorship allows streamlining of 100 units of Government investment (1:100 magnification)

B. Technical:

Adoption of erosion control measures, artificial groundwater recharge strategies, and rejuvenation of existing water bodies as short-term solutions. Extensive afforestation and change in water use patterns as long-term solutions.

Enabling expertise of professionals in the fields of 1. Information Technology (Web Development, Internet of Things (IoT), Engineering and Data Sciences) 2. Geo experts (geologists, geo-hydrologists, bio-conservationists, agri-economists)

C. Social:

Existing practices and lack of education and awareness is a key bottleneck. Our social approach ensures that the local community is an economic and social stakeholder. Extensive training programs, sensitization drives, and capacity building programs are used to gain community goodwill.

This strategy has been a resounding success. An inspiring and dramatic instance of creating social equity co-investment occurred during the summer of 2016 in Latur Maharashtra. INR 5.25 Crore was mobilized by the community (over INR 11 Crore across Maharashtra), entirely from household savings, for an extremely large local river rejuvenation project!