Ambuja Foundation commemorated World Water Day 2017 by bringing together 133 leaders in Water Resource Management from across the country for 'A Participatory Dialogue on Co-creating Water Positive Communities - Exploring Synergies, Sharing Solutions'.

Held on 22nd March at the Ahmedabad Management Association in collaboration with 4th Wheel Social Impact, the event aimed to share knowledge and empower the country's Water Leaders with solutions to key challenges faced in creating Water Positive Communities.

Whilst discussing many key issues, the Sustainability of Community Water Initiatives emerged as a key challenge, due to the need to differentiate between 'water for life' (drinking water) and 'water for livelihood' (irrigation), and to create strong institutions around them.

Proposed solutions included establishing an apex body at the village level to play an influential role in bringing solutions and taking action. The discussion also emphasized the potential of technology to bring innovations to the water sector. It was recognized that tier-two institutions at the community level—women self-help groups for drinking water and farmer institutions for agriculture water—are essential.

It was discussed that institutions should be formed at the start of the project and provided with hand-holding support and capacity building throughout the project duration.

Ambuja Foundation’s focus on developing 'people's institutions' and their participatory development model has been a major contributor to the ongoing success of water initiatives.