Fact Sheet

The WOTR Group’s mandate is to reduce poverty through community mobilization for sustainable watershed development and integrated rural development.

The WOTR Group consists of the Watershed Organization Trust (WOTR), Sampada Trust (ST) and the Sanjeevani Institute for Empowerment & Development (SIED). All three organizations are referred to as “WOTR” in this note.

Overview of WOTR's works (March 2011)

• Operating in  5 States  (Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh,  Rajasthan and Jharkhand)
• Has a Network of 184 NGOs and Govt. agencies as collaborating partners
• Developmental work in altogether 2,250   villages, of which:

• WOTR is/has been directly involved in 1,061villages
• WOTR supports/ has supported partner agencies working in 1,189 villages.

• Watershed Development projects in 1,078 villages across 651,950 ha impacting 914,440  people of which :

• WOTR is/has been  directly involved in  326 villages, impacting  3,48,009 -people covering 228,887  ha (2,289 sq.km)
• WOTR provides/ has provided capacity building and/or financial support to partner agencies involved in 756 villages, impacting 571,858 people covering 429,035 ha. ( 4,290 sq.km)

• Drinking Water Provisioning  (Schemes) in 115 villages / hamlets benefitting over 42,000 people
• Promotion of Climate Change Adaptation in 29 villages.
• A total of 8,214 Women Self Help Groups (SHGs) promoted involving  1,03,823  women  of which :

• WOTR is/has been  directly involved in building up 4,804 SHGs impacting 58,966  women
• WOTR provides/ has provided capacity building and/or financial support to 3,302 partner supported SHGs impacting  43,900  women.

• 11,547  SHG loans provided benefitting approximately 20,000  women clients, cumulatively totaling Rs. 523 million [€ 8.44  million @ € 1=Rs.62].           

• Micro-Insurance provided on average to 35,358  women annually.

• 275,000 people from 27 states of India and 33 countries have participated in Trainings and Exposures programs organized by WOTR.

• Health activities are undertaken in 42 villages through 83 trained village women health workers.

• Child Growth Monitoring and Nutrition Promotion activities to combat malnutrition are undertaken in 326 villages benefitting over 10,000 children.

• The School for Sustainable Living and Livelihoods, a WOTR initiative, has trained to date 107 rural youth as Rural Resource Persons for Climate Change Adaptation and local Development Promoters.

• Research and Knowledge Management - 58 Research  Studies have been  completed on various issues

• Communication and Documentation - WOTR has published 28 books on various topics and produced 38 films.

• Information Technology: Developed various software systems - MIS, DSS, PNP, Muster payments etc- and 2 Multimedia games for community mobilization – “Water Budgeting” & “Rural Transformations”.