The Strengthening Watershed and Irrigation Management (SWIM) project supports sustainable, agriculture-led economic growth by increasing the sustainable and productive use of water and strengthening water resource management. Specifically, SWIM:

• Increases the sustainable and productive use of water for agriculture in targeted areas;
• Strengthens the water regulatory environment; and
• Strengthens local entities to manage water resources.

Last updated: July 2017

India’s rapid urbanization has resulted in overburdened infrastructure as the demand for safe water and sanitation increases. This problem, which disproportionately affects the urban poor, demands a sustainable solution. USAID has invested in urban water and sanitation activities across Asia, Africa, and the Middle East to address gaps in service provision but has seldom had an opportunity to explore whether their outcomes were sustained.

From 1994–2011, USAID’s Financial Institutions Reform and Expansion–Debt and Infrastructure (FIRE-D) activity partnered with India’s central, state, and municipal governments to provide technical assistance to 16 Indian states. USAID published an independent ex-post evaluation that followed up on six states and cities, seven years after FIRE-D ended to look at the project's long-term impact, to understand how urban water and sanitation services have changed, and to what extent policies, practices, and financing mechanisms introduced through FIRE-D have been sustained. This is the fourth in a series of ex-post evaluations of past USAID water and sanitation projects.

This report provides a summary and synthesis of a series of impact evaluation findings undertaken from 2014 to 2018 by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI). A key focus of this evaluation is to assess the impact that these WUAs have had on the management and productivity of irrigation water and land resources, as well as on equity and food security in Tajikistan.