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WASMO was created for bringing perceptible systemic changes through a paradigm shift in the role of governance from provider to facilitator and citizens engagement in drinking water service delivery at users level in rural areas of Gujarat State.
In 1993, the 73rd Amendment to the Constitution created a paradigm shift in the drinking water sector. There was a shift from the supply-driven government-owned systems to decentralised demand-driven, community-owned water supply and sanitation systems, with emphasis on empowerment and capacity building of the local communities. The Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) were given a constitutional status and had greater power in managing local resources and community affairs.
At the level of Government of Gujarat, it was decided to create a Special Purpose Vehicle for meeting the specific institutional needs for facilitation of community and empowering the user communities in the villages. However, until the year 2000, no steps in this direction were taken up. The objectives of the Royal Netherlands Embassy supported Ghogha Regional Rural Water Supply Project for 82 villages of Bhavnagar district that was designed as a community-managed project, were not being achieved. The RNE commissioned Institutional Development Mission in its report noted that the existing institutional set-up had only a lukewarm appreciation and reception for software part of the project.
The mission members reminded the Government that priority has to be accorded to community-managed systems and follow a paradigm shift from role of provider to that of facilitator. The report recommended a government supported institution that would promote, support and monitor the community participation and community based management in water and sanitation projects in an equitable, sustainable and transparent manner. The objectives and approach of the sector reforms encompassed a whole spectrum of activities, needing diverse skills, expertise and infrastructure.
WASMO was consequently established as an institutional innovation in the government to facilitate the implementation of the reforms.
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