News

Dated: 3rd October 2025

In the year 2012, the World Bank extended support to the Government of West Bengal for implementing the West Bengal Accelerated Development of Minor Irrigation (WBADMI) project. The goal was to provide assured irrigation by creating minor irrigation infrastructure and organizing the farmers in the command area to form Water Users’ Associations (WUAs) to manage and maintain the irrigation system. The first phase of support, lasted until 2019. The state government continued similar initiatives with its own funds until 2023. All these led to benefit of around 1 lakh farmers through creation of irrigation potential of 67,000 ha of land and 2,837 WUAs were formed. Agriculture Support Services were provided to enhance crop production and diversification with climate resilience. The World Bank has committed another round of support from December 2023 to June 2029 to irrigate more areas and form around 1100 more WUAs. But before moving ahead, both the World Bank and WBADMI recognized the need to pause and reflect—how well have the WUAs performed, and what lessons can be drawn to guide better management of irrigation water, enhancing crop production with climate resilience and enhancing farmers’ income?
To answer these questions, the State Project Management Unit has commissioned the Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA), now restructured as Tribhuvan Sahkari University (TSU) to take up an evaluation. TSU has, in turn, partnered with SIGMA Foundation to conduct the fieldwork.

The evaluation will have two components. The first one will be to assess the performance of both first phase and second phase WUAs, covering governance of the WUAs, their role in strengthening agriculture and building climate resilience. The study will also come out with some Key Performance Indicators for evaluating performance of the WUAs to strengthen the monitoring system for the project. The second component will be conducting a diagnostic study to understand the causal factors behind poor performance of the WUAs and to know the factors which enable better performance of the WUAs. This study will also serve as a baseline for measuring the project’s long-term impact at the end of the project.

SIGMA Foundation has prepared a mixed method approach and worked out detailed methodology in consultation with IRMA to collect both quantitative and qualitative data to be followed by analyses of the data for evaluating performances of the WUAs and assessing how the project has improved agricultural production and income of the farmers and their level of adoption of climate resilient practices. The field work for the project is to start from the next week and is expected to be completed by the month of December 2025.

Dated: 25th July 2025

SIGMA Foundation is proud to report that two of its members – Dr. M.N.Roy, President of the organization and Dr Ankita Chakraborty, Gender and Health Specialist, attended the 30 th International Conference of the International Union for the scientific Study of Population (IUSSP) held at Brisbane, Australia from the 13 th to 18 th July 2025. Both are members of the IUSSP.

Dr Roy presented a paper (authored by Dr Roy and Dr Chakraborty) “Exploring the role of gender perceptions and practices in facilitating women-friendly development initiatives by the rural local governments of West Bengal, india” in the session on “Policy and Governance as Factors Affecting Women’s Empowerment”. The presentation was much appreciated by the participants. The paper is based on qualitative data collected from 45 elected Gram Panchayat functionaries and members of 9 Gram Panchayats across 3 districts of the state of West Bengal.

Dr Ankita Chakrabarti had a poster presentation on “The struggle for care: insights into the barriers to transgender healthcare in West Bengal, India”. This paper is based on collection of primary data from 81 transgender persons and 54 physicians. The paper is unique as it deals with the healthcare of one of the most marginalized communities who remains deprived from healthcare services and there is little understanding of the issues faced by them. The team gained experiences in attending several sessions during the conference and interacting with the researchers and organizations from across many countries of the world.

Dated: 30th June 2025

A sensor-based Drinking Water Monitoring System (DWMS) using IoT (Internet of Things) technology has been successfully piloted across 10 locations covering various water supply schemes in Health Care Facilities (Rural Hospital and Health & Wellness Centres) and remote villages across 3 blocks of Howrah, Paschim Medinipur, and South 24 Parganas districts in West Bengal. The system monitors critical service delivery parameters such as water pressure, residual chlorine, total dissolved solids (TDS), turbidity, pH, and temperature in real-time. For remote Single Village Schemes (SVS) Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) expressed their need to monitor pump running hours and water lifted in the reservoir, which has been implemented in 2 SVS schemes in Ghatal block of West Midnapur district.
The initiative started in 2022 with the installation of two IoT-based sensor modules in the Amta-II block of Howrah to track water quality and service delivery metrics. Encouraged by the pilot’s success, the project was expanded in 2024 to additional locations, including HCFs and 2 remote SVSs.
Data is collected three times daily and transmitted to a central dashboard hosted by SIGMA Foundation, enabling real-time visualization and analysis. This is proposed to be integrated with PHED systems for use of the data in monitoring the scheme and decision support.
This initiative demonstrates the transformative potential of digital technology in strengthening rural water governance—enhancing efficiency, accountability, and safety in service delivery. It marks another significant milestone by SIGMA Foundation in advancing the goals of the Jal Jeevan Mission in West Bengal through a technology-driven, smart water quality surveillance system.
The intervention is implemented by SIGMA Foundation as a partner of UNICEF and in collaboration with PHED, West Bengal.

Dated: 21st May 2025

There is an increasing trend of juvenile crimes in India. In this context, a study, titled “Why Children Come in Conflict with Law,” has been initiated by the Government of Odisha. The study will explore the vulnerabilities, causal factors, rehabilitation prospects of Children in Conflict with Law (CICL) and will also recommend measures for reducing incidences of children coming in conflict with law. UNICEF Bhubaneswar state office is the partner of the Government of Odisha in conducting the study. SIGMA Foundation has been commissioned by UNICEF Odisha to conduct the study.

A mixed-method approach will be followed for this study, which aims to generate a nuanced understanding of both the causal factors and systemic gaps for appropriate interventions. Sound methodology, experienced researchers and ethical protocols to maintain child safety and confidentiality are core principles guiding such research process. A team of experts on child protection, psychiatry and research methodology will take up the study. The team is now working on the Inception Report and the Study Tools for obtaining ethical clearance from an Independent Review Board (IRB) after which field work will start.
The outcomes of the study are expected to inform key policies and programs on juvenile justice and child protection in Odisha.

Dated: 30th April 2025

The Government of West Bengal is implementing a project named “West Bengal Building State Capability for Inclusive Social Protection for Empowerment of Women” through multiple interventions. The project is financed by International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and is being implemented by the Finance Department of the Government of West Bengal with support of other departments like Women & Child Development & Social Welfare Department, Health & Family Welfare Department etc. A Project Management Unit with various experts is to be established to support all project activities. SIGMA Foundation along with BDO LLP India (lead partner) jointly submitted bid for establishing the PMU and we have been selected to establish the PMU and extend other supports. The PMU has been put in place and will support implementation of the project for the next two years, the time period of the project.

SIGMA Foundation is very proud to be associated with this project which is expected to shape the development of women in West Bengal leading to both social and economic benefits of the women and prosperity of the state.

Dated: 11th March 2025

SIGMA Foundation has successfully conducted a comprehensive landscape study on the education, skilling, and employment of young women (15 to 29 years) in Maharashtra for Foundation to Educate Girls Globally. The study aims to assess the challenges and opportunities for young women who are Not in Education, Employment, or Training (NEET) and to explore viable pathways for their reintegration into the education system and workforce.
Educate Girls, through its Project Pragati, has adopted an innovative approach to addressing this issue by strengthening state open schools. The initiative focuses on providing alternative education routes for school dropouts, coupled with vocational training and life skills development. This model offers a cost-effective and accessible solution for young women compared to traditional interventions.
The study assesses the number of such women, evaluates demand and access to alternate schooling, the delivery of education services through open schools, and the key enablers and challenges affecting NEET women. It also presents a roadmap for increasing demand for secondary education among school dropouts and enhancing the capacity of the Open Schooling system to meet this demand through targeted advocacy and policy recommendations.
Using a mix of quantitative and qualitative research techniques, the study draws insights from secondary data sources and stakeholder consultations. The findings were compiled into a detailed report, which was submitted to Educate Girls. As part of the study’s outreach, Mr. Sangram Mukherjee, Senior Project Officer at SIGMA Foundation, presented key insights and recommendations to the officials from Department of School Education and Sport, Government of Maharashtra and State Council of Educational Research and Training, Maharashtra at Maharashtra Rajya Pariksha Parishad office at Pune.
This initiative marks a significant step toward expanding educational opportunities for young women, equipping them with the skills needed to transition into meaningful employment, and fostering long-term social and economic empowerment.

Dated: 7th February, 2025

Digambarpur Gram Panchayat (GP) is located in Patharpratima Block, South 24 Parganas in the lap of deep interiors of Sundarbans Regions in West Bengal. The Sundarbans Regions is facing crisis of livelihood, increase in soil and water salinity and repeated extreme climatic events like cyclone as the area is more vulnerable to the adverse impact of climate change. The mangroves, which protects the area, are getting damaged due to natural and human activities. Digambarpur GP, which was judged as the best Gram Panchayat of the country in the year 2018 desires to take adaptive measures for reducing the impact of climate change on access to water and livelihood and approached SIGMA Foundation for technical support.

A team from SIGMA Foundation visited the GP on 15th January, 2025 with innovative ideas and approaches to strengthen the GP on climate resilient technologies and sustainable livelihood. The team had intense discussion with the Pradhan, Upa-Pradhan and all other members of the GP on possible way forward. Thereafter, the GP has taken a resolution on the 29th January, 2025 to take up certain activities as suggested by SIGMA Foundation as a per of their annual plan (GPDP) for the financial year of 2025-26. They was desire to start working to become a carbon neutral GP for protecting the environment with technical support from SIGMA Foundation.

Dated 8th January, 2025

There are multiple factors behind poor management of climate resilient WASH services in urban slums. Despite all such challenges, there are instances of remarkable achievement which demonstrates the potential of possible improvement in WASH services in urban slums with equity and inclusiveness by integrating GEDSI approaches. The changes are the results of collaborative efforts of many stakeholders covering the government authorities, the community and their collectives, NGOs, agencies providing technology-driven services and UN agencies like UNICEF and UNFPA. Centre for Advocacy and Research (CFAR) played a critical role in catalyzing the changes by working with the community in selected wards in Bhubaneswar and Jaipur from the year 2018. SIGMA Foundation has documented such good practices which aim to understand what strategies were successful in addressing WASH challenges in urban slum settings of Bhubaneswar and Jaipur. The documentation also captures the enabling factors behind the success, the preparatory steps for appropriately designing the strategy and the processes followed to trigger and sustain changes.

The documentation required a comprehensive understanding of WASH-related challenges in the context of climate change and environmental sustainability and dynamics of the urban slum communities by going through secondary literatures and collecting primary data, mostly qualitative from the said two cities. The stakeholders were identified by the field teams of CFAR and they also assisted to prepare the micro-planning for collecting data. Semi-structured FGD and discussion points for KIIs were prepared by team of SIGMA Foundation in consultation with the team of CFAR. Qualitative data was collected from nine different categories of stakeholders. Total 15 FGDs and 44 KIIs were conducted in the two cities. Several PRA exercises were also carried out along with transect walk around the WASH facilities and the slums by the study team. The data was analysed to compile a report, which was submitted to CFAR based on the data.

The documentation has brought out the processes which evolved in the journey of the community members from being a passive recipient of services which was of quality far below the prescribed standard to being a co-owner of the infrastructure and the services, which they planned together with the service delivery authorities and implemented together to meet their needs. One critical process that was followed in the journey was inclusiveness of all members of the community by ensuring participation of women, differently abled, aged, the most marginalized and the trans-gender communities who had different requirements, organizing their collectives at community and Ward level and empowering them to sustain the service deliveries.

Dated: 1st January 2025

SIGMA Foundation has entered a partnership with Landesa, Seattle, USA to educate around 10,000 tribal women SHG members associated with 63 LAMPS (Large Scale Multipurpose Societies) in the district of Bankura, Jhargram, Purulia and West Midnapur. The project is supported by the Tribal Welfare Department, Government of West Bengal. The project duration is one year starting from the 1st January 2025. Attaining more knowledge on land and land rights as well as understanding how to update land records, which will be covered in the training, will empower the tribal women attending the training. This will also help their households to access government supports in agriculture and institutional finance to improve crop production and income. The training will also help in preventing alienation of land owned by the tribal people.

Dated: 10th December 2024

We often hear about the burden of the population in India, with relative neglect of the fact that around 9.7 million potential workers are added every year in the country, which can change the future of this great nation, provided this population is educated and trained adequately and effectively to join the workforce. Unfortunately, the socio-economically underprivileged population in the country has little scope to get adequate exposure or encouragement to study subjects like Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). American India Foundation Trust (AIFT) has taken initiatives to bridge India’s educational divide by targeting underserved and under-resourced government schools in various states through its Digital Equalizer program. SIGMA Foundation is proud to become a partner in this endeavor by preparing baseline reports in three states, viz. Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and, Chandigarh, and working on the baseline report of Uttar Pradesh. Around 3000 students from 23 schools, both girls and boys, of classes 6 to 10 participated in the study which consisted of information regarding their family background, especially educational and occupational details of the parents, school attendance, availability of Computer classes in the schools, and use of these facilities for teaching. The study also covered assessing the level of interest among the students in studying STEM subjects and opting for career pathways in the stream. Further, the students were also evaluated for two subjects viz. science and mathematics.

The study found that despite the poor educational attainment of most parents, the students attended schools regularly and had a fair degree of academic aspirations. However, the scores of the students in science and mathematics were mostly between modest and poor with very few students performing excellently. Some students mentioned difficulty in following the classes and some have blamed themselves for their inability to understand the classroom transactions. A strong connection between the father’s education level and the student’s academic aspiration was evident. Awareness about STEM subjects and career options is quite poor among students indicating the necessity of such interventions.