DSC strives to create an enabling policy environment and supportive procedures for sustainable community based natural resource management

Policy Advocacy is one of the core areas of DSC. DSC, through, variety of means tries to influence procedures and policies at the district, state and the national level to make it more people friendly. Hands-on involvement and interaction with key players in natural resource management at all levels gives DSC a strategic advantage to facilitate interface between field level practitioners and policy making bodies. Through its own field implementation projects and that of partner organizations', DSC gets "real time" feedback about ground realities. Through its alliance with academic and research institutions and government administrations, the field experiences are fed into policy making. As a member of several national and state level committees, DSC influences public policies to make them more friendly to the participatory approach used by Community Based Organizations (CBOs ) and NGOs. With DSC's involvement, more than 55 policies and procedures have been either improved or introduced by government of Gujarat and the government of India. To turn these policy changes into reality, DSC brings NGOs and GOs together in workshop and training programmes on focused themes.


DSC follows following strategy for policy influencing:

		Demonstrating through own field units, the importance and feasibility of participatory approaches to other NGOs and Government Departments.
		Identifying important issues and undertaking research studies that bring out policy dimensions and appropriate recommendations.
		Influencing the Government to set up consultative forums such as working groups, committees etc. that bring together Government Officers, NGOs, academicians and farmer’s representatives.
		Sensitizing Government functionaries through capacity building interventions.
		Initiating and participating in networks to influence change in government policies and procedures.

DSC's presence in policy making for at glance

		Active participation in 6 national, 9 state and 13 district level committees on Watershed Development (WSD), Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM) and Joint Forest Management (JFM).
		Functioning as an informal secretariat for some of these committees-drawing up agenda points, minutes and follow up of decisions made.

Membership in policy influencing groups
At the national level, DSC's Chairman has played a crucial role in JFM-he was a member of central committee appointed by Ministry of Forests and Environment on the central scheme for JFM and working group for tenth plan for Command Area Development. He continues to be a member of two policy-making bodies outside Gujarat- Committee for Drafting Water Policy for the State of Madhya Pradesh (from the year 2002) and Andhra Pradesh Water Conservation Mission (from the year 2000). In deliberations at these fora, he has been laying emphasis on setting up organizational structures and systems that will operationalise the principles embodied in the National Water Policy of 2002. He also uses these opportunities to have DSC's participatory approach incorporated in the structures and systems.

DSC's policy advocacy activities are most frequent and most intense at the state level. At the state level, DSC has been active mainly in two areas, PIM and WSD, although the chairman, who had played a pioneering role in the introduction and growth of JFM in Gujarat continues to be involved in various formal and informal deliberations on JFM.