Massive community mobilization
Watershed associations and committees formed in 115 watersheds, with 10,270 people organised into user groups and 7,340 into self-help groups — a wide network of community institutions.
Integrated watershed development programme (IWDP)
A government-sponsored watershed scheme in which Coodu Trust served as coordinating agency across seven districts of Tamil Nadu — conserving soil, water and biomass to restore ecological balance and sustain rural livelihoods.
126
Watersheds in 2003–2004
7
Districts, 2001–2003
10,270
People organised into user groups
7,340
People organised into self-help groups
The project
Treating whole watersheds — land, water and people together
Project mission
A government-sponsored scheme for holistic watershed development, focusing on conserving essential natural resources like soil, water and biomass to restore ecological balance and create sustainable livelihood opportunities.
Under the Integrated Watershed Development Programme (IWDP), Coodu Trust worked from 2001 as the coordinating agency alongside the Project Implementing Agencies and District Rural Development Agencies. The 2001–02 and 2002–03 activity tables record IWDP work in 127 watersheds across seven districts — Dindigul (Shanarpatty and Vedasandur), Karur (Kadavur and Thogamalai), Madurai (Alanganallur), Theni (Periakulam), Trichy (Thathaiyangarpettai), Tirunelveli (Nanguneri and Kalakkadu) and Sivagangai. By 2003–04 the scheme covered 126 watersheds, with the report naming Dindigul, Karur, Madurai, Tirunelveli and Sivagangai.
Everything ran through a three-tiered governance structure. In 2001–02 a watershed association and a watershed committee were formed in 115 of those watersheds, and 10,270 people were organised into user groups and 7,340 into self-help groups — a network of community institutions serving the rural resource-poor, farmers and other community members. The reports count participants, not groups: these are people brought into village institutions.
The work continued well past the first phase. In 2007–08, under IWDP – IV in Vadamadurai block, Dindigul, 160 members from 20 self-help groups in eight watersheds were trained in mushroom cultivation and vermicompost preparation at the Mylampatty training centre, and 110 SHG members went on an exposure visit. In 2008–09 a further 120 farmers from Vadamadurai block visited the Nilgiris and Oddanchatram markets and Tamil Nadu Agricultural University under the scheme.
IWDP was one strand of Coodu Trust's wider watershed work: the trust's earlier published breakdown puts the complete programme at 227 watersheds in 12 districts of Tamil Nadu.
- Community institutions
- Rainwater harvesting
- Holistic watershed treatment
- Sustainable livelihoods
Why this work matters
The challenge on the ground — and our answer
The challenge
Shared resources with no one to manage them
A watershed belongs to everyone and no one — without local institutions, the rural resource-poor and farmers have no organised way to govern the land and water they depend on.
Our response
Community mobilization at massive scale
A three-tiered governance structure — watershed associations and committees in 115 watersheds, with 10,270 people organised into user groups and 7,340 into self-help groups — backed by training and exposure visits.
The challenge
Rain that runs off instead of soaking in
Where rainfall is not held on the land, soil washes away, groundwater keeps falling and the productivity of whole watershed areas degrades year on year.
Our response
Structures that hold every drop
Check dams, percolation tanks and low-cost farm ponds — rainwater harvesting structures that conserved water and recharged groundwater levels across the treated watersheds.
At a glance
The essentials
- Scheme
- IWDPIntegrated Watershed Development Programme — a government-sponsored scheme; Coodu Trust served as coordinating agency, deputing the Watershed Development Teams that the Project Implementing Agencies supervised
- Period
- 2001–2009Recorded in the annual reports from 2001–02 through 2008–09
- Coverage
- 7 districtsDindigul (Shanarpatty & Vedasandur blocks), Karur (Kadavur & Thogamalai), Madurai (Alanganallur), Theni (Periakulam), Trichy (Thathaiyangarpettai), Tirunelveli (Nanguneri & Kalakkadu), Sivagangai
- Scale
- 127 watersheds2001–02 activity table: 30 in Dindigul (3,000 people in user groups, 1,250 in SHGs) and 97 across the remaining districts (7,270 and 6,090). The 2003–04 report records 126 watersheds.
- Beneficiaries
- Rural resource-poorFarmers and other community members — 10,270 people organised into user groups and 7,340 into self-help groups
- Part of
- Watershed portfolioThe trust’s earlier published scheme breakdown puts the complete IWDP programme at 227 watersheds in 12 districts of Tamil Nadu — a figure that does not appear in any annual report
Outcomes
What the project changed
Integrated resource management
Holistic watershed treatment on the ground — rainwater harvesting structures that conserved water and recharged groundwater levels.
Ecological balance & livelihoods
By treating entire watershed areas, IWDP worked to restore ecological balance, improve land productivity and create sustainable livelihoods for the rural resource-poor.
Get involved
Support watershed development
Join us in treating whole watersheds — conserving soil, water and biomass while building the community institutions that keep the gains alive across Tamil Nadu.