DHAN Foundation has one of its strategic goal of ‘Mainstreaming Water in DHAN Collective’. In line with this, the project “Women Empowerment through Water, Agriculture and Rural Development (WE WARD)” was launched. Project support by HDFC Parivartan for a period of three years from Jan’25 to Dec’27 at Ashti and Patoda blocks of Beed district of Maharashtra. The goal of the project is to “Increasing the family income of the small and marginal farm women through on- farm and off-farm interventions.” The project will support 4000 families by reaching around 20000 population. The core areas of projects work revolves around the promotion of Primary Producer Groups (AFGs), through which FPOs and sustainable agricultural practices will be encouraged. Similarly, the agenda on Soil and water conservation works for reviving the streams and channels to improve flow of water for irrigation.

The project will address the critical issues faced by the community like water scarcity, land degradation, soil erosion, undesirable crop diversification moves, soil health, marketing of agricultural produces through FPO etc. Besides expecting contributions from donor partner, the project will mobilize resources from community as well as stakeholders including MGNREGS for a holistic development journey.