Skip to content
Four women are standing in front of a body of water

HUF - Helping build a water-secure India

Imminent water crisis in India

In June 2024, Moody's, the international credit rating and research agency, highlighted India's escalating water scarcity. India is on the brink of an urgent water crisis, with predictions of severe water stress by 2030 and a staggering 50% water shortfall. This is a critical situation for a country with 18% of the world’s population but only 4% of its water resources. India’s farming sector alone consumes over 80% of India's freshwater resources. The diverse water challenges we face demand immediate and varied solutions.

Hindustan Unilever Foundation origins

As a responsible corporate entity committed to addressing development challenges, Hindustan Unilever Limited established the Hindustan Unilever Foundation (HUF) in 2010. At Hindustan Unilever Foundation (HUF), we recognise the urgent need to address this issue on a war footing to usher in a prosperous shared future. The foundation's mission is to strengthen and amplify scalable solutions that can effectively tackle India’s water challenges in rural areas that are intertwined with agriculture. HUF's ‘Water for Public Good’ initiative is rooted in the belief that water is a shared resource and should be managed by citizen communities. The goal is to catalyse effective solutions by engaging with government bodies, communities, experts, and mission-based organisations collaboratively.

a river with a small town in the background

Partnership and community engagement

HUF partners with on-ground civil society organisations (CSOs) with deep domain expertise in water ecosystems to design and execute context-appropriate solutions. HUF’s water conservation initiative partners with 16 CSOs and multiple co-financiers (including government bodies). The programmes span 9,589 villages in nine States and two Union Territories across India.

In our search for programmatic solutions, we seek to integrate traditional wisdom with cutting-edge modern practices, including the best digital tools like Internet of Things (IoT) and Geographic Information System (GIS). We realise that raising the spectre of despair will not serve any purpose, but optimism for a secured water future will.

Awakening this consciousness is vital, and active community engagement is instrumental in our efforts to drive behaviour change. For instance, a concept like making a water budget for the village carries a power of conviction far beyond what one imagines. In many of our programmes, the torchbearers of behaviour change are women.

a group of people sitting on a blanket in a grassy area

Three key pillars

At the core of HUF's initiatives are the communities and farmers. The aim is to provide them with enduring solutions that empower them to 'Know More' about their vital water resources, 'Save More', through the use of scientific conservation methods, and 'Use Less' water in their agricultural practices, instilling a sense of hope and optimism for a sustainable future.

Water is a resource that we all share as humanity, and the onus of securing it rests on every one of us. With this intent, HUF partners with mission-driven organisations on improving water security by:

  • Strengthening the capacity of communities to harness and manage water resources effectively.
  • Leveraging government programmes such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA), the Atal Bhujal Yojana (ABY), and the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) to facilitate large-scale water conservation efforts and enhance regional water supplies.
  • Enhancing farm-based livelihoods through efficient water use, promoting drought resistant crops and irrigation methods to increase agricultural productivity and ensure sustainability.

By collaborating with diverse stakeholders, HUF endeavours to enhance water security and bolster resilience on a broader scale. HUF’s programmes deliver improved water infrastructure, promote efficient and improved crop management practices, foster climate adaptiveness, and strengthen community engagement initiatives. Through these concerted efforts, HUF seeks to make substantial strides in improving water security and resilience.

a group of people standing outside, with a woman wearing a sari

Key enablers

These enablers have helped HUF pivot its water security solutions and scale.

  1. Adoption of progressive agriculture practices: We consistently encourage sustainable practices through on-farm demos. The outcomes underline sustainable agriculture as a potent alternative to the country’s monocropping, as it promotes water-efficient practices. One-acre farming is one such example that encourages farmers to embrace water-efficient crops and techniques on one-acre plots.

  2. Convergence with flagship government programmes: We believe leveraging existing government programmes effectively unleashes large resources to mitigate water vulnerability. Strategic state selection is vital to realising this outcome. Programmes such as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) are among the pillars of our many interventions.

  3. Local cadres of paraprofessionals: Local communities know their problems best and have access to traditional knowledge and practices. HUF develops local teams of water and agriculture paraprofessionals as a critical component of its sustainable village development programme. Thus, we effectively enlist knowledge within communities while offering new employment opportunities to address rural unemployment. This has successfully bridged the knowledge gap and awarded the community's youth meaningful employment, ensuring the next generation of learned farmers.

  4. Innovative technology-enabled tools: In today’s tech-led world, sustainable water crisis management has become sophisticated. We use innovative technology-enabled tools, e.g. GIS-based watershed mapping, IoT-based soil moisture sensors to estimate water need and simulation-based water games to help create water numeracy and better water management at scale.

  5. Supporting women in pivotal roles: Due to the ‘feminisation’ of agriculture, as highlighted in the Economic Survey of 2017-18, women are key to any sustainable development programme in rural India. HUF promotes local women in critical roles like paraprofessionals, lead farmers, and local governance representatives. The focus on women cadres has paid rich dividends, boosting outcomes in water conservation and equitable water use.

women in water helping build a water secure india
Livelihoods helping build a water secure India

Future outlook

Through our programmes and partnerships, HUF has successfully raised the profile of solutions to India’s water challenges. Based on insights from our past programmes, we aim to focus on the following key pivotal spaces over the next 3-5 years.

  1. Scale and amplify proven solutions to ensure widespread awareness and access to effective strategies for addressing regional water challenges.
  2. Promote community ownership and governance to enhance the sustainability of water initiatives by fostering local engagement.
  3. Invest in innovative solutions to revolutionise water savings and management practices, leading to improved access and efficient use of available water resources.
  4. Leverage government programs to multiply impact through large-scale infrastructure creation, funding access, and a supportive regulatory framework.

Collaboration to ensure water security is a clear and urgent need that HUF is committed to fulfilling. Our experience shows that collaborations do not happen automatically. They need to be conceived, designed, and nurtured. The art and science of collaborations need to be mainstreamed within programme teams, with funders taking the lead in guiding their programmes towards a larger common purpose.

helping-build-a-water-secure-india-happy-communities
Back to top