Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, India

My Village, Our Water: A transformative initiative to build water wise communities in rural India

Globally, water sustainability has remained elusive due to a lack of community engagement and knowledge. Water has always been considered as a personal resource rather than a community resource. Amrita School of Sustainable Futures (ASF) had conceptualised and devised the project “My Village, Our Water '' to bring in that transformation in the rural Indian community members to view water as a community resource and utilise it more sustainably.

This project performs a series of ground level activities that generate data from community members and this data is fed to an AI powered Geo enabled platform (SREE) developed by Amrita. SREE platform can suggest interventions to the community on effective utilisation of water resources. ASF has been working in 1200+ rural communities across India for the past decade. The above project has been piloted across Indian households in 14 states of India.

This project demonstrates the power of citizen-driven digital solutions that empower communities and achieve water equity. Following are the 14 Indian states wherein this project has been piloted - Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Orissa, Utharakhand, Bihar, Gujarat, Bihar, West Bengal, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Kerala.

What the Judges Thought

A good project that tackles major sustainable issue. Good community involvement and wider benefits, with locally available resources. Great and novel idea in setting a digital platform for water management.

A very impressive project engaging many stakeholders with wonderful outcomes. Well done. 

What it Means to Win

"We are deeply honoured to receive the International Green Gown Award for our university's sustainability initiatives. Being chosen as a top entry among numerous universities highlights the uniqueness of our efforts. This recognition empowers us to further expand our initiatives and strive even harder for social good."

Dr. Maneesha Vinodini Ramesh, Provost-Strategic Initiatives,International, Research & Innovation, AI+ X, Dean, School for Sustainable Futures, UNESCO Chair on Experiential Learning for Sustainable Innovation & Development

Top 3 Learnings

1. Potential of digital platforms as a tool for community empowerment and to build water wise communities.
2. Data-driven insights are key to empowering both communities and decision-makers.
3. Community knowledge is a powerful, and often untapped, resource for sustainable solutions.