Projects

This project is to alleviate living condition, like build running water system, greenhouses and planting trees for the people in Waku Rarma Village in order to improve their living conditions and lessen the heavy burden of local women. 140 people will directly benefit from this project.

Funds needed:$46,113(314,873rmb)

The Canada Fund funded this project

Lhamotso is from Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, China. She graduated with an associate degree in English at Qinghai Normal University Nationalities Department English Training Program in 2005. Now she works in Shem Women’s Group as one of the program directors and the general financial officer.

Project location
This project will be located on a mountain, Waku Rarma Village, Wen Duo Tibetan Township, Xunhua Salar Autonomous County, Haidong Region, Qinghai Province. Waku Rarma Village is the southwestern part of the Xunhua County and is approximately 217 km from the provincial capital, Xining.

Background
All families in Waku Rarma Village historically moved from a neighboring village called Waku Village, both of which are located at the bottom of the same mountain.. There were lots of families in Waku Village with very insufficient farmlands, so the local people did not have enough land. This meant they did not have enough food. Therefore, in 1973, all the new families in Waku Village were sent to a new place, which was on the top of the mountain. Those new families composed a new village called Waku Rarma Village. As a result Waku Rarma is economically and materially very poor which is sated in the following sections.

Population
In Waku Rarma Village, all the villagers are Tibetan. There are 30 households consisting of 140 residents in the target village. There are 58 women, 55 men and 27 children.

Education
The majority people in Waku Rarma Village are illiterate. Currently there is only one college student, a girl, and one middle school student who is a boy. Also, there are two girls and eleven boys attending Jieku primary school in neighboring Waku Village. In total, there are only 15 children attending school.

There are several reasons for such inadequate education conditions. Firstly, college school tuition is about 3,000 rmb to 5,000 rmb per semester. For a high school student, the school expense is over 1,000 rmb. In this case the local people cannot afford to send their children to continue further studies in high school or college. That is why there are very few students who have education higher than the middle school level. Secondly, the neighboring primary school is 5 km away from Waku Rarma Village, which means that the little children are unable to go to school without being accompanied by adults. In addition, there is a river with no bridge between the neighboring school and Waku Rarma Village. When there are heavy rains the river becomes very strong and the students need to walk in the river with their bare feet no matter if it is summer or winter. An additional reason for the poor education conditions is that the children have lots of housework to do such as carrying water, clean houses, feed pigs, and work on the fields and herd livestock. All of these factors cause the overall education level in Waku Rarma Village to be very low.

Cash income
People who live in Waku Rarma Village really have very difficult economic conditions.

Traditionally, Waku Rarma Village is an agricultural village. They seldom make money from the livestock. Therefore, the villagers earn money by the following two ways: as a migrant construction workers and digging caterpillar fungus every April and May in other places, some as far as 500 kilometers to 700 kilometers. Caterpillar fungus is a kind of medicinal herb, which mostly grows on high mountains. Several years ago the local villagers could make a fair amount of money from digging caterpillar fungus. Specifically, most villagers could earn over 1,500 rmb within two months of digging caterpillar fungus after they paid about 100 rmb to 200 rmb tax for use the pastureland. But recently, to protect the ecological balance, a new law was passed that forbids people from digging for caterpillar fungus.

As a result, people do not want to take a risk to go to such far places to dig caterpillar fungus without knowing whether it will be worthwhile. Because of this fact, more and more local people are working as migrant construction workers in Xunhua County or Xining City. Basically the villagers build roads because they do not have any skills to do other work that could be a good source of making money. By building roads, they can make around 500 rmb to 600 rmb each month, and usually they are able to work about three months. In total they can make about 1,800 rmb.

Villagers spend on average between 600-700 rmb on purchasing tea, salt, other daily necessities, fertilizer and clothes. People spend about 300-400 rmb per year buying fertilizer in the form of urea and amino acids. Each 100g bag of urea is 95 rmb and each 100 g bag of amino acid is 150 rmb. In addition, few families need to pay averagely 500 rmb for school tuition fee. Most families need to spend about 800 rmb on buying food because their lands cannot produce enough food. According to the villagers, 95% of families have to take out loans because they need to buy food and support their children. It is often very difficult for people to take out loans from the local banks because they are poor and the banks do not trust that they can pay back their loans when the time of the loans are due.

Agriculture
Waku Rarma Village is the smallest village within a bigger village, Waku. Without access to irrigation, the villagers are dependent on nature for good harvests. If there is a lot of rain that means they will have a prosperous harvest. However, the fact is that in recent years, there have been fewer rains, which has made the people’s lives even harder. Another reason for getting bad harvests from is that many villagers do not have money to afford fertilizer in the form of urea and amino acids. People grow barely, wheat, rapeseed, beans and potatoes on their fields; usually, 1 mu of land can only produce between 300 and 400 jin of wheat. Even though Waku Rarma Village is an agricultural village, villagers still have to buy a portion of food every year.

Herding
Waku Rarma Village is not a nomadic village therefore, on average, each household has 2 donkeys, 1 cow and 20 sheep. Even though the local villagers can not make money from livestock they usually use donkeys to transport grass and grain during the harvest time. Cows and sheep are used for milking and meat for themselves. As a result, the local people have no way to make any money from livestock.

Project Objectives
The project aims to address several of the major causes of illness and environmental damage in the village, namely the lack of potable water, limited supply of local wood for heating and cooking, lack of vegetables and resulting nutritional deficiencies, and limited local knowledge of health and hygiene related concepts. The lack of local potable water and fuel supply particularly affect local women and children’s lives as they are typically responsible for the regular collection of water and fuel for household needs from distant sources.

2. Beneficiaries:
Direct:
• 140 villagers including 58 women, 55 men and 27 children will benefit from four-season access to potable water, improved hygiene and better nutrition
• Provision of greenhouse materials will allow villagers to grow vegetables and saplings for their own use and for sale
• Establishment of a village forest will provide villagers with a long-term solution to their current reliance on dung and unsustainable forest practices; the forest will directly and indirectly reduce erosion and provide a long-term source of renewable energy, fruit, and building materials, benefiting affected households and the local environment more generally

Indirect:
While the entire population of Waka Rarma Village will benefit directly from core activities, villagers in the surrounding area will also indirectly benefit from knowledge and skills shared and possibly from products produced by direct beneficiaries.

3. Expected Results (Outputs):
• A reliable fully functioning water system that delivers water to villagers’ homes throughout the year
• Basic health training, including hygiene and women’s reproductive health, provided to villagers to complement access to water
• Greenhouses constructed to allow villagers to develop kitchen gardens, thereby extending the short growing season
• Fast growing and fruit producing trees planted to supplement fuel supply, reduce erosion and provide fruit for food and income

Expected Results (Outcomes):
It is expected that the project will have wide-ranging and a profoundly positive impact upon the local community: economically, household income is expected to rise somewhat as a result of the time saved collecting water being reinvested in agriculture, animal care and potentially paid labour activities. Health is also expected to improve as people will be able to drink and bathe using safe water throughout the year. Similarly, households will be able to wash clothes, dishes and provide water to animals, vegetable gardens and trees. Currently clothes are only washed every few months in winter and bathing in winter usually only occurs sporadically. Educationally, the burden on children, notably girls, will be reduced, so it is possible that school attendance rates might increase, as they will no longer be obliged to stay home to collect water for their families’ needs. The elderly in the village will also benefit from easy access to fresh water for tea and cooking, even when family members are away from the village.
Water combined with small greenhouses will allow villagers to improve their diets with vegetables such as cabbages, leek, carrot, garlic, peppers and the like, thus strengthening their health though provision of vitamins and micronutrients.
Villagers will be able to conserve time and energy while reducing deforestation and erosion through the maintenance of the village forest, thereby providing them with a valuable source of fuel and timber.

4. Implications for Women:
The economic benefits that will be appreciated by women are perhaps the most substantial; as the many hours formerly spent collecting water can be put to other, more profitable uses. Moreover, the project could increase the likelihood that girls will be able to attend school and ultimately find better jobs. Women will also benefit directly from a women’s health training to be provided by a female Tibetan doctor from the Qinghai Tibetan Hospital. Training topics will include women’s reproductive health, basic hygiene and disease prevention.
That the project is designed by a woman and will be managed and implemented by village women is also quite progressive, by local standards. The role of the project manager also sends an important message to local women and young girls: that woman and girls can accomplish very useful and important projects and play an important role in their communities.
In parallel, the project managers will acquire valuable new skills and experience dealing with local government and suppliers, and will be able to use these skills to implement projects in the future.

Implications for the Environment:
While initially digging the trenches for pipes and constructing the water reservoir will slightly alter the environment, this will be temporary and will be mitigated by using the least damaging methods (e.g. conserving and replacing topsoil, turf and ground cover). Villagers will plant trees to further improve the local microclimate and encourage water filtration (increase surface permeability and decrease erosion). Villagers will also establish a village forest and will plant trees in their village providing an additional source of leaf litter (fodder) for animals, thus reducing the need to allow animals to roam the village grazing on vegetation.
Currently villagers must spend a great deal of time collecting wood in the winter, usually after dark since wood collection has been banned by the government (without providing alternate means) and the forests are guarded. Cow dung is also collected, which requires time, energy and denies the land of the nutrient value of the manure. The establishment of the village forest will provide a long-term solution to this problem and will have additional benefits as villagers will no longer need to rely on burning manure, an inefficient and unhealthy practice due to the smoke and hygiene issues.
Access to a modest amount of water coupled with greenhouses will allow the villagers to continue to grow trees for local planting (using the greenhouses as nurseries following training), with individual households responsible for their own section of trees within the forest. The village forestry component will contribute to a reduction of the amount of trees currently harvested elsewhere and represents the best, most viable long-term strategy for carbon-neutral energy self-sufficiency.

Implementation Plan and Method

Sequence	Activities
Project Month 1	1)Baseline survey of key indicators 2)Organizational meeting held by Shem to organize the Water Committee, to organize village labour and begin other planning for the project 3)Meetings held with skilled workers and contracts signed as necessary 4)Purchase materials from Xunhua County and Xining 5)Transportation of sand and stone for water boxes (reservoirs) by villagers 6)Construction of the water boxes by villagers and skilled workers
Project Months 1- 2	1)Collection of maintenance fees by water management committee 2)Digging of trenches and burial of pipes 3)Purchase of greenhouse materials and saplings 4)Completion of water delivery to each household
Project Months 3-4	1) Basic health and hygiene training 2)Construction of greenhouses 3)Tree planting and forestry training 4) Planting of saplings; fencing of trees and other protection measures 5) Mid-point monitoring & evaluation
Project Months  4 - 6	1) Project completion and celebration; 2)Villagers plant trees around water sources, springs and reservoir
Project Months  8 - 9	1) Follow up monitoring and problem solving 2)Post-project survey 3)Preparation of final report written

Detailed Budget

Budget 预算 (元 RMB)
Item/Type of Activity	Details	Canada      Fund	Local Contribution
I. WATER SYSTEM PARTS, TRANSPORT & DESIGN
Plastic Pipe#63	2,500m x 17 元 /m	￥42,500.00
Plastic Pipe#50	1,500m x 13/m	￥19,500.00
Plastic Pipe#32	1,000 m x 11/m	￥11,000.00
Plastic Pipe#25	1,500m x 10/m	￥22,500.00
Connections  #63, #50, #32, #25		￥2,000.00
Black Plastic Pipe	100 m米 x 18元/m	￥1,800.00
Iron wire #22, #8		￥300.00
Shut -off valves	4 sets套 x 150元	￥600.00
Taps/Fitments   (/set)	60 taps x 7 元/tap	￥420.00
Iron Bar #4, #6	1 ton x 4,000元	￥4,000.00
Cement  (/bag)	18 ton x 330/ton	￥5,940.00
Water Tests	1 test次 x 1000元	￥1,000.00
From Xining City, Xunhua County to Waku Rarma Village	6 trips x 1700元	￥10,200.00
Sand	200 m3 x 20/m3		￥4,000.00
Design Fee (Water)		￥4,000.00
Labour	63 天 x 60 人 x 35 元 / 人 / 天		￥132,300.00
Skilled workers	15 天 x  10 人 x 80 元/人/ 天	￥12,000.00
	Subtotal	￥137,760.00	￥136,300.00
II. HYGIENE PROMOTION ACTIVITIES
Female Tibetan doctor training	3 天x 1人x150 元/天	￥450.00
Document/file fee	300	￥300.00
Transportation fee	500	￥500.00
Accommodation fee	3 天x 1 人x100 元/天	￥300.00
Meal costs	1 人x3 天人x30元/天	￥90.00
Soap	35  块 x 2.8元	￥98.00
Tooth brush & paste	140份 x 4元	￥560.00
Nail clipper	30 pieces个 x 4元	￥120.00
Hand-washing basin &  hand towel	30 pieces个 x 15元	￥450.00
Staff Capacity Training (PM) with SDA
Training Fee	200元 / 人	￥200.00
Training Materials	50元 / 人	￥50.00
Travel: Xining to Guanting (RT)	200元 / 趟	￥200.00
Food & Accommodation in Guanting	50 元/天 x 3 天	￥150.00
	Subtotal	￥3,468.00	￥0.00
III. HOUSEHOLD GREENHOUSE & VILLAGE FOREST
Greenhouses	2500元 x 30 户	￥75,000.00
Labour	30 天, 20 人 x 35 元 / 人 / 天		￥21,000.00
Trees	3元 / 树 x 700 树/户 x 30 户	￥63,000.00	￥27,000.00
Forestry Consultant
Village Forest Plan Assessment	1 天	￥500.00
Basic Forestry Training for Villagers	2 天	￥1,000.00
Travel and Accommodation	200 元交通 + 200 元住宿	￥400.00
Metal fence	11 网围栏辊子 x 740 元 / 个	￥8,140.00
Concrete pole	135 根 x 19 元/根	￥2,565.00
Steel door	1 扇 x 400元/扇	￥400.00
Transport for Seedlings (trees) and associated materials	3 趟 x 1500 元	￥4,500.00
Transport for Greenhouses and associated materials	3 趟 x 1500 元	￥4,500.00
	Subtotal	￥160,005.00	￥48,000.00
IV. PROJECT MANAGEMENT / M&E
E.g. transportation, communication, photographs,  Canada Fund Recognition, stationery, etc.	如交通、通信、照相和加方确认标志物制作、文具等
Communications	75元/月 x 9 月	￥675.00
Transportation (Xining - Xunhua; Xunhua-Village; return)	180元/ 趟 x 2人 x 2 趟/月 x 9 月	￥6,480.00
Food (Xunhua)	40元/天 x 2人 x 2天/趟 x 2 趟/月 x 9 月	￥2,880.00
Food (Waku Rarma Village)	20元/天 x 2人 x 2天/趟x 2趟/月 x 9 月		￥1,440.00
Accommodation (Xunhua)	80元/天 x 2人 x 1 宿/趟 x 2 趟/月 x 9 月	￥2,880.00
Accommodation (Waku Rarma Village)	30元/天 x 2人 x 2 宿/趟 x 2 趟/月 x 9 月		￥2,160.00
Stationery	25元/月 x 9 月	￥225.00
Photocopying (surveys, IEC, etc)	3 次 x 100元/元	￥300.00
Canada Fund Recognition	Plaque标牌/匾额	￥200.00
Other			￥1,000.00
Running water system maintenance fee			￥1,500.00
	Subtotal	￥13,640.00	￥6,100.00
Grand Total	CANADA FUND CONTRIBUTION	￥314,873.00
	LOCAL CONTRIBUTION		￥190,400.00
	GRAND TOTAL	￥505,273.00

Monitoring
Throughout project implementation the project manager (PM) will monitor the quality and progress of the project work; the PM will be supported by other Shem staff and by the five member project committee. Following project completion, the PM and Shem staff will inspect project outputs and interview beneficiaries to determine the effectiveness of the project and obtain lessons learned for future projects.In terms of impact level assessment, the evaluation (to take place several months after completion of the core project activities), will focus on the impact of the project on villagers; e.g. changes in work load and time use for women and children, changes in hygiene-related habits such as hand-washing, changes in diet, income and fuel use. Oral interviews will be corroborated by in situ observation.

Sustainability
Project sustainability will be assured by the direct involvement of villagers - notably women - in the design and implementation of the project and their later role as managers of all project outputs. The use of high quality building materials (pre-tested on other projects) and active monitoring during construction will ensure that construction adheres to the highest standards. Provision of basic tools and training will allow villagers to conduct annual maintenance and make repairs as needed. The collection of a modest annual water maintenance fee to be managed by the water committee will provide the necessary financial means for any repairs that may be required.

Greenhouses and forest sections will be maintained by individual households, and thus will be looked after by family members and protected from damage (from weather, livestock, children, etc.) It is hoped that some revenue will be earned through the sale of fruit and vegetables, some of which will be devoted to upkeep of the greenhouses.

 Here are some photos of the villagers who will benefit from this project

Villagers join in a meeting to discuss problems.

This is one of the beneficiaries (with a piece of red cloth in left hand) who has two children, one is standing beside her and other one is a middle school student. She told us that one of her elder son’s was almost blinded because she carried water when she was pregnan. Therefore, her son cannot see very well now and she truly wishes for a running water system.

Her name is Lhamojyi (b.1967) and there are five people in her family. She has three children and one of the children is attending primary school, which is 5 km away. She mentioned that water is their most urgent and serious problem in Waku Rarma Village. In the village, if you borrow one bucket of water from another family, afterwards you have to give back one bucket of water. It seems very strange to pay water back but their water condition is really poor. She said a common saying in her village about how precious water is: “You can ask for oil, but not for water.”

Nyimatashixi (b.1971,) who is wearing a yellow jacket, is another beneficiary of this project. Originally there were four people in his family but unfortunately his elder daughter was very sick in the spring 2007and they did not have money to take her to see the doctor. As a result, his elder daughter died and now his wife is sick. He told us that his family is in a very bad condition now. He hopes that this water project will really bring lot of extra time for all the villagers and solve water problem, and they will have enough water everyday.

Additional information

Past experience of doing development projects

Lhamotso (Lily), the project manager, has already successfully completed five small-scale development projects.

The first was a solar cooker project, funded by The Canada Fund in the summer of 2004, which provided 20 solar cookers for the village where the village clinic project is located. During the same year, in the winter Lhamotso managed another solar cooker project funded by the Canada Fund, which provided 30 solar cookers for Huoluoshi.

Lhamotso also successfully completed two second-hand clothes projects in 2004 and 2005. These clothes were provided by the British Consulate in Shanghai. There were two boxes of second-hand clothes that included shirts, trousers, bags, shoes, hats, toys, sweaters and other things.

Moreover, Lhamotso completed a greenhouse project last October, funded by the Australian Embassy. Now the project is completely and successfully finished. The whole project cost about 60,000 rmb, not including the local contribution.

In addition, Lhamotso completed a solar cooker project in December of 2006, funded by The Shambala Connection. The whole project cost about 14,300 rmb, not including the local contribution. In 2007, Lhamotso also completed a village clinic project proposal for Huoluoshi Gongma village.

The map of the project location