Watershed Organisation Trust (WOTR) is an internationally recognised non-profit organisation and think tank established in 1993, born out of the pioneering Indo-German Watershed Development Programme (IGWDP). For over three decades, WOTR has advanced community-led, climate-resilient, integrated rural development through seven major focus areas: Land & Water Management, Water Resources Management, Climate-Resilient Agriculture, Biodiversity & Ecosystems Conservation, Sustainable Livelihoods, Agri-Business, and a thematic cluster of Health, Sanitation & Nutrition.
Over the past 33 years, WOTR has positively impacted over 9.77 million people across 8,598 villages in 10 Indian states, supported more than 250,000 women in 21,000 Self-Help Groups, and trained over one million development practitioners across India and from 63 countries.
WOTR’s outreach initiatives includes W-CReS (WOTR Centre for Resilience Studies), which bridges science, practice, and policy making through applied research, evidence generation, and capacity building, and ECOBARI (Ecosystem-based Adaptation for Resilient Incomes), a multi-stakeholder network that facilitates joint action among Government representatives, Civil Society Organisations, Corporates, and local bodies and communities to conserve local biodiversity and sustainably manage their ecosystems. The WOTR Group also comprises 4 other non-profits: SIED (Sanjeevani Institute for Empowerment & Development), Sampada Trust, SELF (Sampada Entrepreneurship & Livelihoods Foundation), and WOTR Consulting Forum (WCF) delivering a suite of services covering the environment, natural resources, micro-finance and business facilitation, technical and strategic advisory services. SELF, a not-for-profit micro-finance institution provides financial services (microfinance, insurance), technical and vocational training and business facilitation to women’s collectives for purposes of financial inclusion, entrepreneurship and remunerative livelihoods.
