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Kusum Athukorala is Core Group Member for Sri Lanka of the SaciWATERs consortium based in Hyderabad, India, and its Theme Leader Advocacy. A former university teacher in Sri Lanka, she has worked extensively as a consultant, researcher and activist on development issues. Currently, her special interests include impacts of water transfers out of agriculture and post-tsunami river sand mining on rural sector in Sri Lanka and capacity building in the water sector. A long-term researcher, specifically on gender and water, she is part of several international water organisations, capacity building and promotion of allied issues.
What inspired you to pursue a career in the water sector? What were the formative experiences or pivotal moments that set you on this fascinating path?
Thank you for doing this interview. I feel honored. I didn’t originally train as a water professional. You could say that I fell in to the deep end into the water sector inadvertently and stayed on, liking, surviving and even thriving in it!Career wise, my first degree was in English Literature from the University of Kelaniya, and I was a university lecturer in languages and cultural studies for ten years. Later I did an MSc in Managing Rural Change, from Imperial College. Most of my work still centers around the theme of rural change.
But before I started teaching, my first job after completing my Final Exams (one never forgets the first job), was as research assistant for communications with an activity called the “Status of Women in Sri Lanka Survey“ where I had to do field work in remote rural communities. For the first time in my life, I got out of the home-school environment. I had never lived out of home in hostels before; I had been a book worm living a cloistered life. In carrying out my work as research assistant for communications for the Sri Lanka Status of Women Survey, in a small village called Pindeniya, Kegalle district (whose economy was mainly based on rubber estates -leeches galore!) I was really thrown off to the deep end, but I liked it. While carrying out this survey, I encountered two factors which changed my life and my thinking radically. I found a fascinating “real” world outside books, as if the book characters had come alive and started talking; and I also started thinking specifically about the role of women in the communities I encountered. Thanks to my mentors in the Centre for Womens Research (CENWOR) and the members of the community that I met during field studies.
In my field research, I was constantly meeting people that I had earlier encountered only in books. I think my training in literary criticism was transformed to an understanding what people were saying and what they struggled to mean. I had read about verbal cues. Now I saw and picked up on verbal and non-verbal cues in community research, through a sensitivity sharpened by study of literature. What cheesed me off most in Pindeniya is that the outdoor “toilet” didn’t have a door, just a plank across; one had to clear the throat off and on to ensure no one else barged in. One could say my interest in women’s access to sanitation, lack of sanitation and impacts on human dignity, the link between sanitation and literacy, school WASH - all started at this point of having to “clear my throat”. My friends call it a sanitation fixation. As I advanced into development research, I didn’t leave the tap root of literature altogether; it continued to feed into my work. Often, I would be struck by a situation and try to recollect “Now where have I read that ?”. Studying an outbreak of water borne disease in Gampola, Sri Lanka, I would be taken back to Ibsen’s “Enemy of the People” (localized in Satyajith Ray’s Ganashatru) . Studying water transfers out of agriculture in Thuruwila , an ancient irrigation system Sri Lanka I would be taken to the peasant struggle in Italy through Ignazio Silone’s “Fontamara”. Caste based exclusion from clean water sources - Premchand’s “The Thakur’s well”. Drought related water scarcity - Samuel Selvon’s A drink of Water. Rural women struggling with starvation and migration – Kamala Markandaya’s novel “Nectar in a Sieve”. Corrupt practices, which I often encountered at community and agency level reminded me of Gogol’s “Dead Souls. “
From Status of Women survey I went on to have a double life of teaching English Literature at university and part time research studies. I worked in different fields; but what brought me to the water sector was a study of farmer organizations for International Irrigation Water Management (then IIMI now IWMI). My first thought on water management in irrigation systems, on getting the project objectives was – ok, what’s the problem – you turn off the source, turn on the source – so what? I really really had a lot to learn. I worked on an USAID funded study on Irrigation Rehabilitation in North Central Province of Sri Lanka. This was in the heartland of the historic hydraulic civilization of ancient Sri Lanka. I started seeing gaps in what women do and the official recognition of their contribution. Irrigation was seen as mainly male domain and the work of women, sometimes up to 18 hours a day at harvest time was not recorded or recognized. Women’s work was an invisible reality and not reflected in a lot of the research done at that time. So I wanted to do a study of women in irrigation as separate chapter for the study. When IIMI was looking for someone to work on a study of Gender and Irrigation, I was probably the only person available who had already carried out such a study.
I went on to carry out a Gender and Irrigation study - 90 families in 3 irrigation systems for 3 years with three female research assistants. I was told that women can’t work in the irrigation systems – farmers are drunk, not safe for women etc, etc--. Not so. We did very well in community relationship building; we began to be trusted by the community . If farmers were going to steal water, they always told us in advance not to be on that particular location . A fascinating study: highlighting the role of women in irrigation decision making, access and control of resources, labour participation and gender ideology - this study was a massively path changing event for me .I went to write a paper for the Stockholm Water Symposium which I believe was the first paper they had on gender and water and be nominated in to the International Steering Committee of the newly formed Global Water Partnership in 1995. That led to the large number of water related activities and associations that I am involved with or have cofounded- NetWwater, SaciWaters, Women for Water Partnership. Many water hats. I like to say I am” hydraheaded”.My professor, the late Dr Ashley Halpe (himself a discipline boundary crosser who came over from science to Literature) told me “Oh you English Honours people, you do everything but teach English” and that was pretty true.
What makes you hydraheaded? For example, how do you understand the concept of Water Partnerships?
Water partnerships are fundamental to equitable use and sharing of water especially in a calamitous situation as the present. Irrigations systems, drinking water systems, all functioned at first as community partnerships before the commercial systems were developed. In sharing a water source, bringing together owners and users respecting the principles of equity and social justice should be the foundation of partnerships. With declining water resources, more conflicts are seen not only with neighboring communities but also within the community. Working in the tea landscape of Central Highlands in Sri Lanka I have witnessed intra community struggles - for instance the school water supply which is being hijacked by tea plucker parents in the Central Province of Sri Lanka for watering their market gardens.Partnership building is an old concept which needs to be refurbished and revived. I think that most of the water professionals, not only in Asia, currently tend to operate in siloes. They sometimes build up a territorial mindset as that is what they have inherited from their historic context. The competition between agencies for funding and control of resources is part of the problem. But solutions to the current water crises will only come through a united approach to the problem. Working our way to this point takes patience and self-confidence in one’s own ability and skills. Partnerships is for the resolute persons who are confident of their own ability and can do so with respect for the input from others. It’s a team sport. We all will win, or lose, together.
You have advocated for a gendered approach in water programmes. Can you elaborate on that? How did you promote gender equity and inclusion within Global Water Partnership (GWP) and other such organisations?
The Dublin Rio principles which are the foundation of IWRM programs was a great supportas the third principle focuses on recognition of the role of women in the water sector. There were only two women in the first Steering Committee of the GWP in 1995, reflective of the male dominant world of water. I started off by working toward operationalizing the principle of gender equity in the GWP Steering committee and carried out the same process in the Regional Council South Asia.Ensuring. It wasn’t easy, and still isn’t in the face of MANels (Man panels) which pop up all the time - it’s pretty tiring having to have to raise this issue all the time. At one point I held a protest meeting against my own Chair, pulled up in front of 800 persons and was labelled a “loose cannon”. Friends told me that it was the end of my international water career, but it wasn’t – I was recognized and here I am, still slogging on.
How do you view the roles of women and youth in implementing community water programs?
Women and youth in Asia are very much marginalized in traditional decision making. Being a young woman water professional is really difficult as you operate under double negatives. Recently there is more recognition and more openings for women and youth in the global water sector. The regional and local events will eventually follow suit. But being present by itself isn’t exactly having decision making power.Women and youth are the catalysts for change in many of the situations that I have witnessed. But to a great extent I fear that the same tokenism that was prevalent in gender and water will be repeated in youth and water -a token presence but no real involvement in decision-making. Both groups need to challenge the tyranny of the status quo and both groups need to be recognized as key to sustainable solutions to water problems.
Can you tell us more about your Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) initiatives?
I have strived in whatever I do- , research, action research , advocacy - to build in the IWRM principles. What is lacking is the funding for advocacy which will bring a mindset change in stakeholders. This does not come with one meeting or one training. It is an iterative process.
What are the pillars required to build a formidable water alliance across stakeholders (governments, private sector, civil society, academia and citizens) in your experience?
I think it’s critical that we heavily invest in awareness and advocacy programs tailored to different segments of decision makers for silo breaking. Team building and consensus building is a slow process and however great the problem, each stakeholder group has to have its own reasons for getting convinced and getting activated. The search for common ground and building of mutual trust is a slow process too. But it is wonderful to watch the moment of illumination breakthrough in consultations. Most importantly -harking back to an outcome of 2000 Hague World Water Forum - “accessing political decision makers” – is critical for building a water stakeholder alliance. Bureaucrats and politicians do not always think alike.
How can media be a meaningful stakeholder in the quest to form such water alliances? How can it play its part in creating the consensus on sustainable development initiatives?
Media can be productive or damaging, it depends on the person, the awareness programs and the ability of the water professionals to convey the issues (many may need specific training for this).Story telling is an acquired skill. A committed media professional and a committed water professional is an unbeatable combination when they are engaged in highlighting an issue and its solution.
How do you think GWP SAS can contribute to regional collaborations, in terms of water security?
Interaction and interpersonal understanding of stakeholders is key to developing regional collaboration. The South Asia region has many points of agreement, especially in the field of culture as well as long standing geo-political fractures. We need to emphasize on commonalities and work on the points of agreement. Very often the same problem happens on the two sides of the border and solutions can be shared. South Asia can be developed into an information sharing platform as it brings together key stakeholders from different countries and disciplines.
Please share a recent project experience that is meaningful to you.
Working in a small catchment in Udunuwara near Kandy on school WASH, Sri Lanka, I have observed a set of wells, spouts and springs which are as yet, to the most part, community managed water resources. Some of these points are seen as perennial sources of water but quantities have been declining with climate change and degradation of catchments. Sri Lanka is beginning to experience extreme droughts and with it, extreme water scarcity. Preservation of these small but invaluable community water sources will be the first line of defense against the climate crisis, which will be mostly felt in the community water sector. I haven’t yet mapped the extent to which age-old community management practices has been eroded and maintenance of systems taken over by state or local government. I am looking forward to study this using Ostrom’s theory of the commons.
Is there a particular insight or nugget of truth you'd like to leave the readers with?
Two messages, while working on water equity and justice:
1. Beware of climate maladaptation! There are no easy fixes, and professionals from many disciplines should be working together, looking beyond the time horizons of budgets and life cycles of technology. Nature and Climate is perpetual, cyclical, never disappearing, not as an ecological constant, but as forces that we need to respect.
2. I have found that in water related decision making it is best to follow the path of water – all pervasive, all ensconcing, working its way round challenges and eventually eroding all obstacles.
Notes
table of contents
In the spotlight: Kusum Athukorala
Kusum Athukorala is Core Group Member for Sri Lanka of the SaciWATERs consortium based in Hyderabad, India, and its Theme Leader Advocacy. A former university teacher in Sri Lanka, she has worked extensively as a consultant, researcher and activist on development issues. Currently, her special interests include impacts of water transfers out of agriculture and post-tsunami river sand mining on rural sector in Sri Lanka and capacity building in the water sector. A long-term researcher, specifically on gender and water, she is part of several international water organisations, capacity building and promotion of allied issues.
What inspired you to pursue a career in the water sector? What were the formative experiences or pivotal moments that set you on this fascinating path?
Thank you for doing this interview. I feel honored. I didn’t originally train as a water professional. You could say that I fell in to the deep end into the water sector inadvertently and stayed on, liking, surviving and even thriving in it!Career wise, my first degree was in English Literature from the University of Kelaniya, and I was a university lecturer in languages and cultural studies for ten years. Later I did an MSc in Managing Rural Change, from Imperial College. Most of my work still centers around the theme of rural change.
But before I started teaching, my first job after completing my Final Exams (one never forgets the first job), was as research assistant for communications with an activity called the “Status of Women in Sri Lanka Survey“ where I had to do field work in remote rural communities. For the first time in my life, I got out of the home-school environment. I had never lived out of home in hostels before; I had been a book worm living a cloistered life. In carrying out my work as research assistant for communications for the Sri Lanka Status of Women Survey, in a small village called Pindeniya, Kegalle district (whose economy was mainly based on rubber estates -leeches galore!) I was really thrown off to the deep end, but I liked it. While carrying out this survey, I encountered two factors which changed my life and my thinking radically. I found a fascinating “real” world outside books, as if the book characters had come alive and started talking; and I also started thinking specifically about the role of women in the communities I encountered. Thanks to my mentors in the Centre for Womens Research (CENWOR) and the members of the community that I met during field studies.
In my field research, I was constantly meeting people that I had earlier encountered only in books. I think my training in literary criticism was transformed to an understanding what people were saying and what they struggled to mean. I had read about verbal cues. Now I saw and picked up on verbal and non-verbal cues in community research, through a sensitivity sharpened by study of literature. What cheesed me off most in Pindeniya is that the outdoor “toilet” didn’t have a door, just a plank across; one had to clear the throat off and on to ensure no one else barged in. One could say my interest in women’s access to sanitation, lack of sanitation and impacts on human dignity, the link between sanitation and literacy, school WASH - all started at this point of having to “clear my throat”. My friends call it a sanitation fixation. As I advanced into development research, I didn’t leave the tap root of literature altogether; it continued to feed into my work. Often, I would be struck by a situation and try to recollect “Now where have I read that ?”. Studying an outbreak of water borne disease in Gampola, Sri Lanka, I would be taken back to Ibsen’s “Enemy of the People” (localized in Satyajith Ray’s Ganashatru) . Studying water transfers out of agriculture in Thuruwila , an ancient irrigation system Sri Lanka I would be taken to the peasant struggle in Italy through Ignazio Silone’s “Fontamara”. Caste based exclusion from clean water sources - Premchand’s “The Thakur’s well”. Drought related water scarcity - Samuel Selvon’s A drink of Water. Rural women struggling with starvation and migration – Kamala Markandaya’s novel “Nectar in a Sieve”. Corrupt practices, which I often encountered at community and agency level reminded me of Gogol’s “Dead Souls. “
From Status of Women survey I went on to have a double life of teaching English Literature at university and part time research studies. I worked in different fields; but what brought me to the water sector was a study of farmer organizations for International Irrigation Water Management (then IIMI now IWMI). My first thought on water management in irrigation systems, on getting the project objectives was – ok, what’s the problem – you turn off the source, turn on the source – so what? I really really had a lot to learn. I worked on an USAID funded study on Irrigation Rehabilitation in North Central Province of Sri Lanka. This was in the heartland of the historic hydraulic civilization of ancient Sri Lanka. I started seeing gaps in what women do and the official recognition of their contribution. Irrigation was seen as mainly male domain and the work of women, sometimes up to 18 hours a day at harvest time was not recorded or recognized. Women’s work was an invisible reality and not reflected in a lot of the research done at that time. So I wanted to do a study of women in irrigation as separate chapter for the study. When IIMI was looking for someone to work on a study of Gender and Irrigation, I was probably the only person available who had already carried out such a study.
I went on to carry out a Gender and Irrigation study - 90 families in 3 irrigation systems for 3 years with three female research assistants. I was told that women can’t work in the irrigation systems – farmers are drunk, not safe for women etc, etc--. Not so. We did very well in community relationship building; we began to be trusted by the community . If farmers were going to steal water, they always told us in advance not to be on that particular location . A fascinating study: highlighting the role of women in irrigation decision making, access and control of resources, labour participation and gender ideology - this study was a massively path changing event for me .I went to write a paper for the Stockholm Water Symposium which I believe was the first paper they had on gender and water and be nominated in to the International Steering Committee of the newly formed Global Water Partnership in 1995. That led to the large number of water related activities and associations that I am involved with or have cofounded- NetWwater, SaciWaters, Women for Water Partnership. Many water hats. I like to say I am” hydraheaded”.My professor, the late Dr Ashley Halpe (himself a discipline boundary crosser who came over from science to Literature) told me “Oh you English Honours people, you do everything but teach English” and that was pretty true.
What makes you hydraheaded? For example, how do you understand the concept of Water Partnerships?
Water partnerships are fundamental to equitable use and sharing of water especially in a calamitous situation as the present. Irrigations systems, drinking water systems, all functioned at first as community partnerships before the commercial systems were developed. In sharing a water source, bringing together owners and users respecting the principles of equity and social justice should be the foundation of partnerships. With declining water resources, more conflicts are seen not only with neighboring communities but also within the community. Working in the tea landscape of Central Highlands in Sri Lanka I have witnessed intra community struggles - for instance the school water supply which is being hijacked by tea plucker parents in the Central Province of Sri Lanka for watering their market gardens.Partnership building is an old concept which needs to be refurbished and revived. I think that most of the water professionals, not only in Asia, currently tend to operate in siloes. They sometimes build up a territorial mindset as that is what they have inherited from their historic context. The competition between agencies for funding and control of resources is part of the problem. But solutions to the current water crises will only come through a united approach to the problem. Working our way to this point takes patience and self-confidence in one’s own ability and skills. Partnerships is for the resolute persons who are confident of their own ability and can do so with respect for the input from others. It’s a team sport. We all will win, or lose, together.
You have advocated for a gendered approach in water programmes. Can you elaborate on that? How did you promote gender equity and inclusion within Global Water Partnership (GWP) and other such organisations?
The Dublin Rio principles which are the foundation of IWRM programs was a great supportas the third principle focuses on recognition of the role of women in the water sector. There were only two women in the first Steering Committee of the GWP in 1995, reflective of the male dominant world of water. I started off by working toward operationalizing the principle of gender equity in the GWP Steering committee and carried out the same process in the Regional Council South Asia.Ensuring. It wasn’t easy, and still isn’t in the face of MANels (Man panels) which pop up all the time - it’s pretty tiring having to have to raise this issue all the time. At one point I held a protest meeting against my own Chair, pulled up in front of 800 persons and was labelled a “loose cannon”. Friends told me that it was the end of my international water career, but it wasn’t – I was recognized and here I am, still slogging on.
How do you view the roles of women and youth in implementing community water programs?
Women and youth in Asia are very much marginalized in traditional decision making. Being a young woman water professional is really difficult as you operate under double negatives. Recently there is more recognition and more openings for women and youth in the global water sector. The regional and local events will eventually follow suit. But being present by itself isn’t exactly having decision making power.Women and youth are the catalysts for change in many of the situations that I have witnessed. But to a great extent I fear that the same tokenism that was prevalent in gender and water will be repeated in youth and water -a token presence but no real involvement in decision-making. Both groups need to challenge the tyranny of the status quo and both groups need to be recognized as key to sustainable solutions to water problems.
Can you tell us more about your Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) initiatives?
I have strived in whatever I do- , research, action research , advocacy - to build in the IWRM principles. What is lacking is the funding for advocacy which will bring a mindset change in stakeholders. This does not come with one meeting or one training. It is an iterative process.
What are the pillars required to build a formidable water alliance across stakeholders (governments, private sector, civil society, academia and citizens) in your experience?
I think it’s critical that we heavily invest in awareness and advocacy programs tailored to different segments of decision makers for silo breaking. Team building and consensus building is a slow process and however great the problem, each stakeholder group has to have its own reasons for getting convinced and getting activated. The search for common ground and building of mutual trust is a slow process too. But it is wonderful to watch the moment of illumination breakthrough in consultations. Most importantly -harking back to an outcome of 2000 Hague World Water Forum - “accessing political decision makers” – is critical for building a water stakeholder alliance. Bureaucrats and politicians do not always think alike.
How can media be a meaningful stakeholder in the quest to form such water alliances? How can it play its part in creating the consensus on sustainable development initiatives?
Media can be productive or damaging, it depends on the person, the awareness programs and the ability of the water professionals to convey the issues (many may need specific training for this).Story telling is an acquired skill. A committed media professional and a committed water professional is an unbeatable combination when they are engaged in highlighting an issue and its solution.
How do you think GWP SAS can contribute to regional collaborations, in terms of water security?
Interaction and interpersonal understanding of stakeholders is key to developing regional collaboration. The South Asia region has many points of agreement, especially in the field of culture as well as long standing geo-political fractures. We need to emphasize on commonalities and work on the points of agreement. Very often the same problem happens on the two sides of the border and solutions can be shared. South Asia can be developed into an information sharing platform as it brings together key stakeholders from different countries and disciplines.
Please share a recent project experience that is meaningful to you.
Working in a small catchment in Udunuwara near Kandy on school WASH, Sri Lanka, I have observed a set of wells, spouts and springs which are as yet, to the most part, community managed water resources. Some of these points are seen as perennial sources of water but quantities have been declining with climate change and degradation of catchments. Sri Lanka is beginning to experience extreme droughts and with it, extreme water scarcity. Preservation of these small but invaluable community water sources will be the first line of defense against the climate crisis, which will be mostly felt in the community water sector. I haven’t yet mapped the extent to which age-old community management practices has been eroded and maintenance of systems taken over by state or local government. I am looking forward to study this using Ostrom’s theory of the commons.
Is there a particular insight or nugget of truth you'd like to leave the readers with?
Two messages, while working on water equity and justice:
1. Beware of climate maladaptation! There are no easy fixes, and professionals from many disciplines should be working together, looking beyond the time horizons of budgets and life cycles of technology. Nature and Climate is perpetual, cyclical, never disappearing, not as an ecological constant, but as forces that we need to respect.
2. I have found that in water related decision making it is best to follow the path of water – all pervasive, all ensconcing, working its way round challenges and eventually eroding all obstacles.
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