IFPRI, ICRISAT, FES, and MLU-Halle. 2023. Scaling up experiential learning tools for sustainable water governance in India (2020-2023). PowerPoint presentation given during the FIA 2023.

1. Scaling up experiential learning tools
for sustainable water governance in
India (2020-2023)

2. Purpose
Improve the capacities of 1,500 rural communities covering 105,000 households
directly and 2,000 communities covering 140,000 indirectly in six Indian states to
manage water more sustainably.
Through experiential learning
from collective action games,
community debriefings, and
participatory water planning tools
that contribute to greater
awareness and improved
governance, inducing behavioral
change toward more sustainable
water management.
Problem analysis
1286
3715

3. Achievements on Outputs 1 and 2:
Tools and Capacity Strengthening
• Output 1 Experiential learning tools: all completed except 1.3 Communication package to
increase demand, reinforce behavioral change, and improve outreach, which is ongoing (as we learn what works)
• Output 2 Strengthened capacity: all ongoing (training more NGO and extension staff—latter
shifted from MANAGE to FES and ICRISAT, but collaborating with MANAGE);
• 4,085 community resource persons or NGOs staff trained (female: 2,172; male: 2,023)
• 3,624 agricultural extension agents
• 60 Atal Bhujal Yojana staff
• Community of practice
• Masters’ students: 6 Indian, 2 German, 1 PhD student (more in 2023)

4. Achievements on Outputs 3 and 4
3. Scaled up Experiential Learning
Communities Direct Indirect
Target 1,500 2,000
2022 1286 3715
4. M&E
• Baseline data completed
• (472 communities vs 300 in proposal)
• Pre-analysis plan filed
• Endline data mostly completed
• Analysis in 2023
• Clear theory of change and
methods
• GIS data and analysis challenging to
document long-term effects
• Strong interest from partner
organizations—govt programs, NGOs,
and private sector (Cotton Connect)
• Second round of games in impact
assessment sites (need to be at right
time to be effective, may need
“booster doses”)

5. Achievements on Output 5:
Lessons synthesized, disseminated, and
fed into large-scale development
initiatives
• 2022 annual workshop in person!
• Stakeholder consultation with senior
govt officials
• Working with Atal Bhujal Yojana (&
World Bank)
• Conceptual article on games in Ecology
and Society
• CGIAR Nexus Gains Initiative workshop
and Innovation on groundwater
governance
• 2023 outreach
• International Association for Study
of the Commons
• Tropentag
• Other TBD

6. Challenges
• Catching up after COVID (hence
NCE)
• Delay in impact assessment
• Need for budget realignment
• Recognizing limits, where it
doesn’t work, what else is
needed
Opportunities
• Strong partner interest
• FES
• Other partners
• Learning other lessons along the
way
• About experiential learning
• About behavioral change
• About scaling strategies

7. What have we learned about experiential learning?
• Refined conceptual understanding of how:
ELMental models, NormsRulesBehavior
• Helps refine impact assessment
• Beyond panaceas: Need more than games (+
debriefing)
• Timing and “booster doses”
• Crop budgeting, CLART, local data
visualization

8. What have we learned about scaling?
• How to enable widespread adoption?
• App, script, and kits to simplify delivery
• Training Community Resource Persons to
facilitate experiential learning
• Possible tradeoffs between local adaptation
and scale (quality and quantity?)
• Importance of partnerships
• Takes time: FES is great partner, based
on 15+ years of collaboration
• Increased partner interests increased
application of approach
• Partners are “sphere of influence” not
“sphere of control”
• Vulnerability, but also innovation

9. Priorities for 2023
1. Impact assessment
2. Consolidating what we are learning
3. Outreach:
1. Atal Bhujal Yojana
2. Cross learning with Ethiopia, Ghana
3. CGIAR NEXUS Gains groundwater
governance “toolbox”
4. Indian and international conferences
1. Tropentag
2. International Association for Study of the
Commons
3. Stockholm Water Week?

10. Resources
• Project website with links to tools and publications
https://www.ifpri.org/project/scaling-experiential-learning-tools-sustainable-water-
governance-india
• Conceptual framework and review of how experiential learning can affect behavior:
Falk, T., W. Zhang, R. Meinzen-Dick, R. Sanil, P. Priyadarshini, I. Soliev, and L. Bartels. (2023). Games for
experiential learning: Triggering collective changes in commons management. Ecology and Society 28(1) Article
30. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-13862-280130