National Jal Jeevan Mission to work with Sector Partners

Announced by Prime Minister in his address to the nation, Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) is under implementation in partnership with States/ UTs. The mission aims to provide Household Tap Connection to every rural household of the country by 2024.

JJM is a time-bound, mission-mode programme that focuses on service delivery at household level, i.e. water supply on regular and long-term basis in adequate quantity and of prescribed quality. The mission plans to holistically address the challenges, viz. depleting water sources, increasing water quality-issues, lack of in-village infrastructure, poor Operation & Maintenance, lack of resource efficiency, competing water demands from various sectors, etc.

The goal of the Jal Jeevan Mission is to improve lives of people by ensuring potable water in their households. The mission is not just about creating physical infrastructure but also forging partnerships with various organizations for smooth implementation of JJM. Therefore, Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DDWS), Ministry of Jal Shakti has sought interest from foundations, trusts, NGOs, Community Based Organizations (CBOs), VOs, etc. to work closely with the mission as ‘Sector Partner’.

Organizations proactively working in the sectors such as water, sanitation and hygiene, natural resources management, community engagement, capacity building & awareness generation, education, health, tribal development, gender & equity, etc. with wide outreach and impact are expected to be associated with the mission.

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The interested agencies would have to submit their applications online by 16.09.2020 for consideration of the Mission. Details are available on https://jalshakti-ddws.gov.in/.

The Sector Partner will provide support to Mission/ States by working in the broad areas of the mission including selection of Implementation Support Agencies, forging partnership with State Water and Sanitation Mission, to bring together academic institutions, NGOs, civil society, and assisting assist the States to adopt appropriate O&M mechanisms to ensure long term sustainability of sources with special focus on water quality. Further, the scope of work for Sector Partner shall also include providing capacity building support to different stakeholders; identification of successful models in community mobilization for replication, field visits to understand social inclusion, social audit/ monitoring under JJM, etc.

There are many organizations, individuals already working in the field of water have shown genuine interests to be partner in the Jal Jeevan Mission. Thus, by engaging Sector Partners, JJM aims to harness the huge potential of the local community through Voluntary Organizations (VOs), Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), social service & charity organizations, and professionals working in drinking water sector, who are willing to work towards mobilizing and enhancing the capacities of the communities to achieve the goal of the mission.

The mission aims at capacity building of Gram Panchayat and/ or its sub-committee, i.e., Village Water & Sanitation Committee (VWSC)/ Paani Samiti on managerial, technical and financial aspects so that they can plan, manage, implement, operate and maintain the in-village water supply infrastructure. Communities are also to be enabled to take up surveillance of quality of water supplied by training five persons, preferably women, in every village for quality testing through Field Test Kits (FTKs). To take forward these activities, role of organizations working in rural areas will be very vital especially in mobilizing the community as well as handholding them.

For the success of this life changing mission, it’s necessary that Government and private/ corporate sector including voluntary & charity organizations join hands together to develop synergy for efficient outputs. To make water everyone’s business, the mission strives to build partnerships and work together with different stakeholders to achieve drinking water security for all.