Narayan Singh Khawas & Monique Mikhail: Impact of Multiple Use Water Services in Tori Danda Community, Nepal

This paper draws upon research conducted in the Malewa Basne Multiple-Use Services (MUS) system developed in Tori Danda village of Syangja District in Nepal with support from the Smallholder Irrigation and Marketing Initiative (SIMI) project, the Central Department of Rural Development, Tribhuvan University, and International Development Enterprises (IDE) Nepal. The paper describes how the MUS-by-design process and application of related micro irrigation technologies impacted a community in the middle hills of Nepal. Analysis of project impacts was conducted through selection of a random sample of participant households and data collection through a Participatory Rural Appraisal approach. As one of the first gravity-fed double tank, two line distribution systems designed in the middle hills by the SIMI project, this study of Malewa Basne represents typical MUS implementation challenges and community outcomes. The impact analysis includes increase in vegetable production, marketing aspects, and shifts in intra-household roles. Discussion of the process of MUS development also includes the mitigation of community conflict that arose due to caste dynamics and socio-economic disparities. [authors abstract]