**1. Introduction**

In autumn of 2017, two faculty and 13 undergraduate students from Dickinson College—located in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, US—traveled to Panchkahl Municipality of Kavrepalanchok District, Nepal, to engage in 3 weeks of field research. Fieldwork consisted of numerous interviews conducted in four different wards of Panchkahl. When they returned to the US, each team completed a 50-page research paper that focused upon the ability of the respective community members to handle risks to their human security stemming from shortages of fresh water resources. In spring of 2018, the authors studied the four reports to distill high-level themes. As well, they constructed a basic yet original systems model to frame the relationships emerging in the reports.

Via that inductive process, this chapter offers the following thesis. Although the availability of fresh water was scarce and access to fresh water was constrained: (1) a successful collaboration among the community members and nongovernmental organizations had enhanced the capabilities relevant to adaptability and resilience, and thus, human security; and (2) future progress was contingent on the additional empowerment of women as well as the ability of the government to become a more trusted collaboration partner.
