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Centre for Participatory Watershed Development

In 1996 the Council for Advancement of People's Action And Rural Technologies (CAPART) mandated the establishment of the Centre for Participatory Watershed Development (CPWD) at PSI as one of the seven institutions in India to provide training and development support services to organizations implementing participatory watershed development projects. Several DRDAs in Himachal Pradesh now recognize CPWD as a training center and routinely send participants to Dehra Doon for training in participatory watershed development.

CPWD also implements watershed development projects, runs a watershed development programme of its own in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand with the financial support of Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT), provides programme management support to government and donor agencies, undertakes research and promotes folk communication, methods. It is equipped with basic training facilities, survey and meteorological equipment and computers with subject special applications software. The Centre runs a small hostel to accommodate 25 trainees. The latter can also access books, periodicals and other reference materials at PSI's library.

The Centre conducts foundation and special short courses in participatory watershed development. It designs different training curricula to suit the needs of a variety of trainees, e.g., villagers, members of village-level institutions (VLIs), watershed development teams, project implementation agencies, Panchayati Raj Institutions' office- bearers and government officials. Experience gained from the Centre's own implementation projects and research are regularly incorporated into the training curricula. Trainees are also taken on exposure tours to study good practices. Hence the demand for the Centre's training services has grown over the years as evident from the table below:

Trainee Days Generated
YEAR                        CAPART                               OTHERS                    TOTAL
1996-97                  621                                        10                               631
1997-98                 1803                                      8                                 1811
1998-99                 1244                                      1381                          2625
1999-2K                 1107                                      584                            1691
2000-01                  1683                                     3075                          4758
2001-02                   904                                      3475                          4379
2002-03                   0                                            6589                          6589
2003-04                   0                                            5183                          5183
2004-05                  210                                       8388                          8598
TOTAL                     7572                                     28693                        36265


		The Development Support Unit at the Centre provides technical and managerial assistance in the field to selected PIAs. Over the years it has supported 47 VOs in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Rajasthan, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. It has provided programme management support to the Chattisgarh State Tribal Development Authority and the district administrations in Shimla and Solan, Himachal Pradesh. It's support has also been sought by international agencies like Aga Khan Development Network (Afghanistan) and Winrock International.


The Research Unit at CPWD undertakes research to fill knowledge gaps that are essential for enhancing the effectiveness of watershed development. Among its important projects are the development of intermediate-sized hydrams, watershed hydrology, sediment monitoring, greenhouse farming and organic farming. CPWD is a member of an international consortium that is implementing an action research project under the Challenge Programme for Food and Water sponsored by CGIAR. The Centre has produced a variety of training and communication materials like slides, photographs, posters, pamphlets, manuals and monographs in Hindi and English. It also arranges training in folk communication methods, e.g., plays, songs, dances, puppetry and games. Its seven posters set on the concepts and principles of watershed development have been bought by agencies all over India.