Suganjiji
I met Suganjiji in January 2019, and the sheer confidence with which she interacted with me spoke about her role in the community. Suganjiji is a farmer community leader in the Dewas region of Madhya Pradesh. She had to drop out of school at the age of 11 to dig wells and look after her family. She has spent her career collectivizing farmers and urging her community to grow more water efficient crops. She has promoted the division of fields, so the community used less water, and played water games in her village to teach them to make conscious choices. Today, she is on the board of a farmer producer company in Sitapuri and addresses thousands of farmers at annual district meetings. She has been the force behind motivating and convincing hundreds of farmers in her village to adopt water responsible practices and grow crops suitable to her region. Farmers like are the force behind building resilience and knowledge in their villages.