SURE from the beginning has been involved in
combating recurrent droughts. Apart from timely
and quality emergency relief, it has strived to explore
lasting solutions for long term drought mitigation.
Almost every third year is a drought year and there
are cycles of creeping drought that last for years. In
this harsh living context, the misery of marginal
communities is worsened by lack of adequate water
storage facilities and social norms that disallow
equitable access from common water sources. In
such a context, ensuring water security has been an
important priority for SURE since its inception. The
organisation has mobilized communities to
construct and, repair a range of water structures like
nadi, tankas, beri, tankli that ensure water security.
Combating drought over the years has made SURE
evolve good practices for emergency relief and work
with communities on building long term drought
preparedness for food, fodder, water security.
Responding to droughts in the region almost every alternate year made SURE understand that children
were among the most vulnerable to these periods of
scarcity. One of the early signs of an emergent
drought would be closing of schools and day care
centres. For most children of school going age, day
long wandering in search for pastures for their sheep
and goats would assume an urgency. This change in
everyday life at village level denied children their
right to an enjoyable learning environment. During
interventions and informal interactions with
children, it was felt that children knew and
experienced these impact processes of drought
rather closely. It was important that they are listened
to and given opportunities to freely express
themselves. With this objective, a drought
preparedness programme was initiated in ten
villages of Barmer in 2006-07. Along with children,
members of communities in these ten villages were
mobilised to undertake a participatory planning for
preparing disaster preparedness plans. Around
thirteen hundred children participated in children
fairs (Bal melas). The issues discussed at the Bal
Melas at village level related to understanding
different aspects of impact of drought on children,
with a special focus on the problems of availability of
drinking water in schools and day care centres.