Jal Sutra

The JAL SUTRA game supports community leaders and water managers in the Indian semi-arid tropics in a participatory process of social innovation related to minor water infrastructure management.
The JAL SUTRA game is a facilitated face to face process. It is not a pure online game. The facilitators will visit water managers and play the game in a real workshop setting together. Playing the game requires to print and acquire a number of materials which are listed in the detailed manual available under link.
The app targets people in NGOs and government who directly work with communities, e.g. in the context of watershed projects or community development processes. We encourage this group to add the JAL SUTRA game to their tool box for participatory interventions.
The JAL SUTRA game is based on a Common Pool Resource experiment where players first jointly invest into a resource from which they can extract benefits in a second step. The game intends to raise awareness for importance of water harvesting, for the benefits compared to moderate maintenance efforts and the interaction between different farmers’ actions. It helps farmer to understand the potential impact of individual decisions on crop choices and contributions to maintenance work. An important element of the JAL SUTRA game is the possibility to discuss with each other and to observe each other’s decisions. Communication allows players to negotiate strategies and propose rules, strengthen group values and norms, and voice commitment. The combination of transparent decisions and the possibility to communicate directly address social norms and shared values which are strong vehicles for collective learning.
The game was first implemented in a pilot study in Madhya Pradesh/India. The impact assessment confirmed that playing the game supported the participatory formulation of water related rules in the community. Maintenance activities by the farmers themselves became more frequent after the game was played.
In case you have any questions or you need support in learning how to play the game, please do not hesitate to contact us under link JALSUTRA@CGIAR.ORG


The JAL SUTRA game was developed by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and the Foundation for Ecological Security (FES). The JAL SUTRA app was developed by VERDENTUM.
Links for Organizations
ICRISAT: https://www.icrisat.org
FES: http://fes.org.in
VERDENTUM: https://www.verdentum.org