Himmotthan Society

Himmotthan Society is a rural development organisation working with mountain communities in the central and western Himalayan region. It manages the Himmothan Pariyojana, a programme started by Tata Trusts in 2001 to address the root causes of under development in the Central Himalayan region of Uttarakhand, and has operated as the associate organisation running that programme since 2007. Its work has since extended from Uttarakhand into Himachal Pradesh and the Leh region of Ladakh. The organisation focuses on building sustainable, community owned enterprises linked to livestock, agriculture and non-timber forest produce, alongside interventions in education, safe drinking water, sanitation and energy. It describes its approach as working together with partner organisations towards prosperous and self sustained mountain communities that live in harmony with their natural surroundings. Nearly two decades of field implementation, community feedback and technology driven decision support inform how it designs its interventions.

Headquarters: Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India

Major Areas of Work

• Livestock: Fodder plantation, breed improvement and support structures for the hill farming systems that form part of the rural economy in Uttarakhand.

• Agriculture: High yielding crops, seed production, support irrigation, farm mechanisation, agriculture marketing and action research across varied mountain agro-climatic zones.

• Water, sanitation and hygiene: Drinking water supply, sanitation, water security and springshed management, including work in schools and in disaster hit villages.

• Education: Grade appropriate learning, language programmes, libraries, anganwadis, sports development, youth clubs and use of technology in classrooms.

• Institutions and enterprise: Community based organisations, self help groups, women's cooperatives and microfinance integration that let communities own and run their own enterprises.

• Post disaster rehabilitation: Reconstruction and recovery work in a Himalayan region exposed to earthquakes and other recurring natural disasters.

Major Initiatives and Programmes

• Springshed and springscape management: Large scale protection and recharge of springs, which Himmotthan cites as the source of about 94 percent of rural water supply in Uttarakhand, 70 percent in Himachal Pradesh and 72 percent in Ladakh.

• Integration of Microfinance: A microfinance initiative designed to reach 100,000 households with sustainable financial services through self help groups and cooperatives.

• Education Initiative: Implemented across more than 82 villages in four mountain districts of Uttarakhand since July 2015, aimed at improving learning outcomes for children.

• Leh Livelihood Initiative: A dedicated programme in Ladakh, run from a Himmotthan Society and Tata Trusts project management unit based in Leh.

• Government partnership programmes: Livelihood Skills Uttarakhand, the JICA supported programme and the Integrated Livelihood Support Project, delivered in collaboration with state and national agencies.

• Water harvesting and traditional systems: Roof rainwater harvesting, ferrocement storage tanks, artificial glaciers and traditional Zing and Ura systems adapted to mountain terrain.

Water management is the strand that runs through most of this work. Himmotthan combines springshed restoration, geohydrological assessment, leak detection in piped supply, spring monitoring databases and participatory water management plans built with Gram Panchayats and village water committees. It pairs field implementation with action research on how climate change is altering spring discharge, and uses that evidence to inform public policy and decision support for water planning in the Himalayan region.

Impact

Himmotthan states that its outreach covers 2 states and 1 union territory, spanning 15 districts, 49 blocks, 50 project clusters and 2,070 villages, reaching about 124,000 households and a population of 4.96 lakh. Its own figures also cite more than 5,000 self help groups for social and economic development, 50 women's cooperatives for enterprise promotion and over 10,000 children reached through grade appropriate learning. It operates as an associate organisation of Tata Trusts and maintains government collaborations with JICA, NABARD, the National Rural Livelihoods Mission and other agencies, alongside a set of technical, implementing and supporting partner organisations.

Leadership

• Dr. Rajesh Thadani, Chair Person
• Dr. Vinod Kothari, Executive Director
• Ms. Amrita Patwardhan, Treasurer and Head of Education, Tata Trusts
• Mr. Divyang Waghela, Board Member and Head, Tata Water Mission

Partners

• Technical Partners: Udyogini, Uttarakhand Livestock Development Board (ULDB), Government of Uttarakhand, Dr. Y.S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, ILRI

• Implementing Partners: Kapkot Sewa Samiti (KSS), Mountain Children's Foundation (MCF), and local grassroots partner organizations across Chamoli, Bageshwar, Nainital, Almora, and Pithoragarh districts

• Supporting Organizations: Tata Trusts, Axis Bank Foundation, Titan Company Limited, HDFC, JICA, NABARD

Working here means field based development practice in difficult mountain terrain, across Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh, with head and regional offices in Dehradun, Almora, Chamoli, Tehri Garhwal and Leh. The work spans natural resource management, water and sanitation engineering, agriculture and livestock extension, community institution building, microfinance and school education, so it suits people who want breadth across sectors rather than a single specialism. There is a strong research and evidence orientation, including geohydrology, spring monitoring, GIS mapping of project villages and action research feeding into policy. It fits people who want to work directly with Gram Panchayats and village institutions over long horizons, and who are comfortable with rural postings in the Himalayas.