Gujarat Water Champion Empowers Women, Restores Dams
Neeta Patel has dedicated over 12 years to water conservation and women's empowerment in Gujarat's drought-stricken regions. Her initiatives include building check dams, reviving irrigation, and establishing women-led water committees.
Key takeaways
- Neeta Patel has worked for over 12 years on water conservation and women's empowerment in Gujarat's water-scarce regions.
- Her initiatives include building check dams, wells, and repairing existing structures, alongside introducing lift irrigation schemes.
- Patel established women-led water committees (Pani Samitis) that collaborate with village councils.
- These efforts have improved groundwater levels in over 25 villages and benefited nearly 22,000 families.
- Her work has been recognized by the UNDP India for improving water access and empowering women.
Neeta Patel has spent over a decade implementing community-led water conservation projects and empowering women in arid parts of Gujarat. Her work has focused on regions including Dang, Narmada, and Bharuch, aiming to secure water resources and improve local livelihoods.
Patel's early life was marked by hardship, growing up in a farming family in Navsari's Mograwadi village where she earned Rs 12 daily for labor. Despite financial struggles, she pursued education, walking 22 kilometers daily to attend school after seventh grade and relying on scholarships. She later studied Rural Studies and graduated from Gandhi Vidhyapith Vedchhi before joining the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (India) in 2002 as a development organizer.
Early successes included providing drinking water to 200 households in Kambodiya village after their proposal was rejected by the local council and assisting women in Kirli village to secure a hand pump through sustained advocacy. Patel has worked with villagers to construct check dams and wells, capturing rainwater across Dang. She also introduced lift irrigation benefiting over 400 families and led community efforts to repair 48 neglected government-built check dams.
In 2013, Patel facilitated the restoration of damaged check dams in three villages in Dang's Subir block. These repaired structures now supply water to approximately 2,500 people. To address hills' inability to retain rainwater, she mobilized nearly 2,000 villagers to plant around 90,000 saplings over 300 hectares.
Patel established women-run Pani Samitis, or water committees, to collaborate with village councils on water management. In Dang, she helped form four such groups comprising 2,900 members. Her efforts also promoted solar-powered irrigation and a comprehensive water conservation strategy. These initiatives now benefit close to 22,000 families in 230 villages, leading to improved groundwater levels in at least 25 villages. More farmers are now cultivating winter crops, and women are managing their own community water systems.
The UNDP India has recognized Patel's contributions for enhancing water access and promoting women's empowerment.
Sources reviewed
Project Chintan independently synthesized and analyzed information cross-checked across the sources listed above.
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