Capacity Building as a Vehicle for Policy Research
Foreword
As much as producing practical policy research, the IWMI-Tata Program throughout its decade of operations emphasized capacity building of young researchers and practitioners as an important objective. Few research programs have relied as much on capacity building as a vehicle for practical policy research as the IWMI-Tata Program has done. This compendium compiles details about all those, mostly young researchers and research interns, in the age-group of 20-28, from India and abroad who passed through the portals of the ‘ITP’s Practice School for Policy Research’. Some stayed for a few weeks; most stayed for a few months; a few spent a few years; but all, every one of them, produced a ‘research product’ or two that made a new argument, explored a new field or posed a new question. The listing provides not only the names of the incumbents but the time when they worked with ITP, a sample of the research they produced and what became of their life after ITP.Many young interns moved on from ITP to pursue doctoral research at some of the world’s best known schools. Several have already made a name as researchers of note and won awards and laurels. A few are with the CG system; some more became teachers and researchers at established institutions in India and abroad. If these gained from working with ITP, ITP gained even more from their contribution. Over 3/4th of ITP’s research output has been contributed by or is based on field research done by student interns and young research fellows.
Those of us who have stayed with the Program all these years marvel at the resilience of the core design of ITP in the midst of this continuity with constant change. Hydrologists, engineers, agronomists, geologists, geographers, sociologists, economists, management specialists—all kinds have left their imprint on the Program; and from the Program, they have taken with them a strong tradition of inter-disciplinarity, accent on posing new questions and a penchant for research-that-shapes-action.
In some ways, this compendium is also a balance sheet of the Program. The two founding partners —International Water Management Institute, Colombo and Sir Ratan Tata Trust—together invested Rs 280 million in ITP over the past 12 years. Since it commenced in 2001, 154 Indian interns and around 40 young research fellows have spent a total of some 1200 researcher months with the ITP. A dozen students and interns also came from abroad, mostly Europe and spent varying lengths of time with the Program. The Program resulted in over 100 papers in refereed international journals besides IWMI Research Reports, several books, scores of book chapters and articles in influential Indian journals like the Economic and Political Weekly. In its early years, ITP was the principal contributor to IWMI’s Policy Briefs. Over the decade, ITP collaborated with 145 research partners; over 500 papers authored by ITP researchers and partners were presented in the various Annual Partners’ Meets (APMs) that were attended by 873 participants belonging to 295 organizations. ITP also organized over 200 weekly seminars.
There have been notable personal achievements, too. In 2012, Aditi Mukherji, formerly of the ITP, became the first winner of the Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application for her research whose seeds were sown during her years with the ITP. Also in 2012, Dinesh Kumar’s book, again written during his ITP years, won SR Sen Award for the Best Book in Agricultural Economics and Rural Development instituted by the Indian Society of Agricultural Economics.
ITP has also fared well as an incubator of new ideas and institutions. ITP’s early engagement with groundwater management in North Gujarat developed into SRTT supported North Gujarat Initiative which is today run by a new NGO, SOFILWM. ITP’s exploration around 2003 of water control as the lever to kickstart agrarian growth in central India’s tribal uplands subsequently led to CInI, a large program involving scores of NGO supported by SRTT as well as SDTT. A small group of former ITPeans led by Dinesh Kumar went to found a new water research institute of their own. Ankit Patel, another ITP alumnus, founded ResourceMatics Ltd, a water resource consultancy in London. Sunderrajan Krishnan and Rajnarayan Indu moved on from ITP to establish CAREWATER which has done some excellent action research in water quality and public health. Many of the research findings and arguments from ITP researchers led to important policy changes and new public investment programs. All these attest to and validate the problem-solving approach of ITP research. NGO leaders, academics, researchers, policy makers flock to ITP’s Annual Partners’ Meets to explore frontline issues facing the country, not only in irrigation and water management, but also energy, agriculture and livelihoods.
In this 2012 Annual Partners’ Meet that concludes phase II of the IWMI-Tata Program, it is a joy to present this compendium, painstakingly compiled by Shilp Verma, Pankaj Kole and P Reghu with generous support from several generations of IWMI-Tata alumni.
Tushaar Shah
Leader, IWMI-Tata Program
Leader, IWMI-Tata Program
