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partner@indialivingwater.org Hyderabad, Telangana Est. 1998
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From Water Points to Whole-System Stewardship

Twenty-five years, five eras — how a single-intervention borehole charity grew into an integrated environmental-stewardship movement.

Organisational timeline — 1998 to 2026

1998 → 2026 Five eras Our story so far — a working history

The arc at a glance

Five eras, one direction of travel

Each era is a change in what the work was, not simply more of the same work. Jump straight to any of them.

  1. Era 01

    Water Access

    1998–2010

  2. Era 02

    Sanitation & Reach

    2011–2014

  3. Era 03

    Systems & Livelihood

    2018–2019

  4. Era 04

    Integrated Delivery

    2019–2026

  5. Era 05

    Stewardship Pivot

    2021–2023

Eras 04 and 05 overlap in time — the stewardship pivot is already running inside the current integrated model, not waiting after it.

  1. Era 01 · 1998–2010

    Water Access

    One intervention, done well — getting clean water flowing.

    1. 1998

      Founded. Borehole drilling and hand-pump installation — the sole intervention.

    2. 1998–02

      Registered independently as Living Water India, separate from founding partner LWI.

    3. 2002

      Earliest digitized project records begin — the start of the data trail.

    4. 2007

      First rehab / repair activity recorded — 22 rehab projects. The first sign of a shift from building new to keeping existing systems alive.

    5. 2002–13

      Water infrastructure scaling across 9+ states.

    6. 2010–11

      Formal inspection process introduced — 170, then 189 inspections. Accountability starts to become systematic.

  2. Era 02 · 2011–2014

    Sanitation & Institutional Reach

    Adding sanitation — and reaching schools, clinics and eleven states.

    1. 2011

      Sanitation added. Toilet construction plus Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) — the first move beyond water alone.

    2. 2012

      Peak new construction — 232 new projects.

    3. 2013

      Peak new construction — 274 new projects, the highest single-year build in our history.

    4. 2013–15

      Confirmed 11-state footprint.

      • Andhra Pradesh
      • Tamil Nadu
      • Uttar Pradesh
      • Karnataka
      • Rajasthan
      • Kerala
      • Jharkhand
      • Orissa
      • Gujarat
      • Haryana
      • Maharashtra
    5. 2014

      Schools and health-care facilities formally added as programme sites — institutions, not just households.

  3. Era 03 · 2018–2019

    Systems, Sustainability & Livelihood Linkage

    From hardware to systems — entrepreneurs, curriculum and the resource-person model.

    1. 2018

      UNICEF WASHpreneur partnership launched — local entrepreneurs trained for operation, maintenance and repair. Sustainability designed into the model.

    2. 2019

      Contextualised health & hygiene curriculum developed.

    3. 2019

      Village Resource Person (VRP) model formalised — local people as the front line of delivery.

    4. 2019

      CLTS, SLTS, MHM and school health clubs integrated into one model — the first true consolidation of separate programmes.

  4. Era 04 · 2019–2026 Current

    Integrated Delivery

    One model — WASH, community care and Flourish delivered together.

    1. 2019–26

      Integrated WASH Program Area Model. A holistic WASH approach delivered across Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu to strengthen existing infrastructure by building awareness, empowering livelihoods and equipping local capacity.

    2. 2020–25

      Documented current-state reach. Where the integrated model stands today:

      • 72 Water projects ~50,000 users
      • 59 Sanitation projects ~5,000 users
      • ~49k Hygiene participants across 900+ activities
      • 4,878 Students reached school education
      • Early livelihood pilots already running
        • WASH product sales
        • Vegetable gardening
        • Vegetable / fancy stalls
        • Food stalls

  5. Era 05 · 2021–2023 · WPA-01, Visakhapatnam

    The Stewardship Pivot, Already Underway

    Livelihoods and land stewardship — the future, visible in the present.

    1. Jan–Mar 2021

      Livelihood mobilization begins. Agriculture promoted as a primary occupation, with the local government agriculture agency (Tyda) as partner.

    2. May 2021

      First agri demo plots (radish, sweetcorn); non-timber forest product identified (wild honey).

    3. Feb–Aug 2022

      Community Resource Person (CRP) cadre trained. Momentum builds across farmer households:

      • 100+ farmers in improved agri technology
      • 40 new families started kitchen gardens
      • 50 more farmers in scientific agri & irrigation
    4. Sep 2022

      Water Supply Restoration — pipe-leak repair plus soak-pit construction. An early waste / water stewardship precedent.

    5. Sep–Oct 2022

      Training in climate-resilient agriculture, rainwater harvesting, water management and animal husbandry — the full stewardship curriculum in the field.

    6. Oct 2023

      Partnership with the AP Khadi & Village Industries Board — 23 trained (20 women, 3 men) in natural hygiene-product production.

    7. Oct 2023

      Institutional relationships established — 9 named Panchayats plus MPP, MPDO and the Community Health Officer. Local government woven into the model.

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The next era is the one we build with you.

Twenty-five years of delivery, five eras of learning, and one direction of travel — communities stewarding their own water, land and waste, and earning a living from doing so.

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