This paper presents the experience of Mercy Corps' "Community Based Initiatives for Water Demand Management" project, a five year project (2006-2011), in terms of community-based initiatives for water management. This project was designed to build the capacity of local community-based organizations (CBOs) to raise the awareness level around water demand management (WDM) and engage community members in water management measures. It showed how local solutions decrease the reliance on public water systems and ultimately help in facing the water shortage on a national level. This paper also showed that on-site rainwater harvesting Cisterns funded through this project have been able to harvest 88,335 m(3) annually. The paper found that rainwater harvesting at household level was able to save an average of 24% in potable water per year. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.