Friends of WOTR, Germany

There can be no end to listing our achievements. But what makes more sense is to hand over the mike to others and get their reactions about how we have performed over the years. WOTR’s friends are spread far and wide across the globe. They are people who have either been associated with us through our projects or have observed our work over the years and appreciated the efforts that have been invested in bringing about a dramatic change in the lives of Indian villagers.

Dr. Hansjörg Elshorst, Germany

I have known WOTR well since the past 15 years. The performance has been outright exceptional from whatever perspective I look at it. As long time Managing Director of GTZ, Senior Advisor of the World Bank, Founding Member and MD of the Anti-Corruption NGO Transparency International, and Professor specialising in structures of civil society, I am now proud to chair the Friends of WOTR, a group of seasoned German experts on development who, from hundreds of projects they worked with during their professional lives, chose WOTR to support.

Dr. Klemens Van De Sand, Germany

Since 1994, in my capacities as Deputy Director-General of the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and as Assistant President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), I got to know the work of WOTR. What impresses me, above all, about WOTR is (a) the dedication and competence of its staff and management, and (b) its approach to sustainable development of the rural poor. The approach is two-pronged: it is focused on the productive potential of the people, i.e. on the generation of incomes and jobs. However, it sees ‘enrichment’ of the poor as one part of a coin, the other being ‘empowerment’

All social groups, not the least women, are represented in the decision-making bodies of the organisations responsible for watershed management at village level. Thus, political rights are created in that hitherto disadvantaged groups to participate in decisions regarding the concerns of the village. In addition, a key of WOTR’s successful development work is bringing together various actors according to their respective roles and responsibilities, including village associations, NGOs, government agencies, finance and donor organisations. At the same time, WOTR has demonstrated the crucial importance of ensuring transparency, open communication and free flow of information between all stakeholders in both the planning and the implementation phase of a programme.

Dr. Claudia Warning, Executive Director, Protestant Development Service, Chair Of Venro (Association Of German Development Organisations)

I do support WOTR, because WOTR has extensive experience in combining the issues of environmental protection and resource management with that of poverty alleviation. It is of great value that WOTR uses a highly participatory approach, which enables small farmers and daily labourers in drought-prone areas to better organise, manage and administer their work and their respective associations. With the support of WOTR, individual households as well as entire villages have come to prosper and have been able to escape poverty, while at the same time maintaining and actively reconstructing the natural resources available to them.

WOTR has proven its distinct ability to work both at the community/village level and on structural framework conditions and has delivered highly professional work in the implementation of its projects. WOTR has promoted leadership amongst hundreds of NGOs and has successfully obtained national policy changes in the area of participatory watershed development. It is a source of inspiration for me and my work to see how, in the time of climate change, an NGO makes wise use of its extensive experience in the protection of natural resources in its poverty alleviation programmes.

Dr. Karl Osner, Germany

WOTR is one of the leading self help organisations who have actively participated together with other NGOs such as Grameen Bank and SEWA in the 1980s and 1990s in a process which was initiated by the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) aiming at a more effective performance of the German bilateral development cooperation with regard to poverty reduction. The innovative concepts and participatory strategies, developed by WOTR, in the field of participatory watershed development, inspired our process in a sustainable way and demonstrated that participatory approaches to overcome poverty could also be realised in the context of German government-to-government development cooperation.

The pattern of WOTR’s cooperation as an autonomous non-governmental organisation with the Indian state government of Maharashtra - the so-called Sangamner Pattern - became a model for German development cooperation as expressed in the cross-sectoral concept ‘Fighting Poverty Through The Promotion Of Self Help’ of the BMZ.