Reports

Buy 45 solar electricity panels to supply electricity to the 45 poorest households in Namtsoma Village. Around 230 local villagers would benefit from this project.

Shem US funded this project

Chodpaylhamo graduated from Qinghai Normal University Nationalities Department’s English Training Program in December 2005 with associated degree. She is one of the co-founders of Shem Women’s Group and she worked for Shem Women’s Group as a Development Program Directors from March 2006 to June 2008. Currently she is studying MA in Miriam College, Philippines major in Integrated Marketing Communication.

Dryanglhamo and Chodpaylhamo are from Namtsoma Village, Me Re Ma Township, Ngaba (Aba) County, and Ngaba (Aba) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province. The co-manager (Drayanglhamo) finished her BA in Tibet University major in Tibetan literature in 2007. She had been a Tibetan tutor and translator in Nanning City, Guangxi Province for a year. Currently she is studying MA in Tibet University major in translation.

What? Buy 45 solar electricity generating panels for Namtsoma Village.

Who? 45 households in Namtsoma Village, Me Re Ma Township, Ngaba (Aba) County, Ngaba (Aba) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province.

Photos of the project implementation

A photo of receivers is helping the village leaders and project manager to move out the solar panels from village hall to be distributed.

A photo of meeting with the receivers and village leader, introducing the sponsor and Shem Women’s Group, and distributing the solar panels.

A photo of the receivers getting information about the solar panels(company, quality, and grantees) and also getting instructions for using solar panels.

A photo of some receivers carrying their solar panels and going home.

A photo of a solar panel at a receiver’s home and it was charging.

This is a photo of the village leaders and the co-manager.

Project summary

Project title: Solar Electricity Generating Panel Project for Namtsoma Village

Project goals: The overall goal of the project is to improve the living condition of Namtsoma villagers. The immediate goal of the project is to buy 45 solar electricity panels to supply electricity to the 45 poorest households in Namtsoma Village. Around 230 local villagers get benefit from this project.

Location of project: This project is located in Namtsoma Village, Me Re Ma Township, Ngaba (Aba) County, Ngaba (Aba) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, and China. Ngaba (Aba) County is on the border between Qinghai Province and Sichuan Province and it is 75 kilometers from Jiu Zhe County in Golok Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province.

Project beneficiaries: This project directly benefits 45 Tibetan households of around 230 people.

Implementation organization/individual: The village’s leader, Urjin, Loke, Shem Women’s Group, Drayanglhamo (co-manager) and Chodpaylhamo (project manager).

Contact Group: Shem Women’s Group

Funds received: Amount and date received
On January 6^th, Drayanglhamo received 40, 847 rmb from Shem.

Details of project activities

• Called the village leader and informed the project approval.
• Phoned the village leaders to keep update about the situation in the project site to see if the project can be implemented.
• Called the company to see if there is any changes regarding prices since most prices are going up last year.
• Phoned Shem office to keep up date about project implementation.
• Called the village leaders and decided the date to start implementation.
• Called Shem office and informed when the project manager will implement the project
• Contacted the Company and decided date for purchasing solar panels.
• Called the village leaders to collect local contribution.
• Met Shem and received the donor contribution.
• Met the head of Solar Panel Company (Drolma) and ensured the price, the quality and grantee of the solar panels.
• Met Drolma again and decided the date for transporting the solar panels from Xining City, to Ngaba (Aba) County, Sichuan Province and signed the contract by both the seller and the buyer.
• Transported 45 solar panels from Xining City to Ngaba (Aba) County.
• Went to county town and hired a truck and transported the panels from Ngaba (Aba) county to the project site (Me Re Ma Township).
• Held the meeting with the receivers and village leaders to disturbe 45 panels to 45 households and explain the instruction and took pictures.
• Informed Shem about the date of distribution.
• Visited the receivers and interviewed and took photos.
• Went to town to scan photos and receipts
• Translated interviews and the villagers’ thanks letter
• Work on the final report

Project Finances

Receipt	Item	Donor contri bution	Local contri bution	Shem contri bution	Co- manager contri bution	Original cost	Actual cost	Differ ences
#1	45 Solar Panel	40,500	9,000	0	0	49,500	49,500	0
#2	Transpor tation	0	150	0	0	0	150	-150
#3	Project manage ment expenses	347	750	0	293	752	1,240	-488
	Project manage ment payment	0	0	500	0	500	500	0
Total		40,847	9,900	500	293	50,752	51,390	-638

All figures are in Chinese RMB

Notes: *Due to the recent gas problem and long distance from the solar panel company(Xining, Qinghai Province) to the target area(Me Re Ma Township, Ngaba(Aba) County, Sichuan Province), the company is only able to transport the solar panels to Ngaba( Aba) County. So the project managers discussed the matter with the villagers and the villagers were willing to pay the transportation fee for the solar panels from Ngaba (Aba) County to Me Re Ma Township.

*The project manager (Chodpaylhamo) is out of Country and not able to implement the project as planned, so after discussing the situation with Shem Tibet and Shem US, decided Drayanglhamo as the co-manager of this project to implement the project with the project manager. Because co-manager is studying in Tibet University, Lhasa, and it is too far from the project location and as well as the company, it needs her to take trains and buses for several days to implement the project. Also on the way to the project location, she needs to stay in hotels for nights. From Lhasa to the project location (one way) at least take 5 days and also need to stay over night in different areas along the way. She is a student and not able to pay for all expense. However, in the proposed budget only includes the budget from Xining to Ngaba (Aba) County and also not included the expenses in Xining, because the project manager used to live in Xining and she didn’t include the expenses in Xining like food and accommodations. So the proposed budget is not enough for the co-manager and she herself spent 293 rmb for some expenses. But it is difficult for her to cover the rest expenses and the villagers agree to pay for her some expenses. In addition, in the proposed budget, the project manager asked 527 rmb from the donor to cover some project expenses, but because of lower rate (US dollar to rmb) during that time, donor contribution only can cover 347 rmb for project expenses. Due to those reasons, the project management expenses are higher than original budge.

List of recipients

 

Ngag Kho	Suo Yar	Nyi Da	Nam She	Lhabe
Sang Gyam	Rencheng Tso	Lhodar	Gur Kho	Shug Dron
Tsong Pa	Le Ram	Togs Be	Tug Gur	Rabgye Tseko
Mancheng	Shangtso	Chugcheng	Tardo	Tsejyi
Lodorl	Rabgye	Badma	Sangdar	Tsekojyi
Chudrum	Sanglo	Huangchen Dorjyi	Samdrum	Tsechem
Shung Kho	Drumlo	Lotse	Yum Me	Cheme Dorjiy
Ramdan	Ngoslo	Bang Re	Lhachog	Chemedjam
Tsongnye	Shejyi	Nordan	Nangbe	Tseduang

Difficulties and lessons learned from the project

Difficulties
First of all, this project should happen in last May or June, but due to last year’s situation, the project manager was not able to implement the project as planned and had to wait to see when the situation got better. The project manager was not sure when was right time to start the project and yearned when could manage this project because Shem US already approved the project and added up the villagers waited to happen this project a year ago. Furthermore, the project manager needed to leave for studying and was not able to carry out the project alone. It was quite hard situation because the project manager had to handle the project and also needed to take opportunity to do further study. So the project manager had to find a woman to be co-manager of this project in line with Shem’s mission. There were women project managers, but they were not familiar the target group and the project site. It was quite hard to find someone who would be able to co-manage this project and also could meet Shem’s mission or goal. The project manager had to come up solution for managing this project successfully and also needed to be able to do further study. The project manager had one reliable person in mind, her sister, but not sure she would accept this responsibility or not. So the project manager had to talk to her sister first and then needed to inform Shem and Shem US if they would agree for my sister to be the co-manager. In addition, because the co-manager never did projects before and also never got any opportunities to study development management. It was very new to her and in her life time it was the first time to manage a project. So the project manager had to explain the whole project process and the project itself. Moreover, the co-manager only know bit English and she had to note the activities or interviewees either in Tibetan or Chinese. So the project manager had to translate those records for the final report. In all, this project went bit tough process due to many reasons, however it happened and the villages are getting benefits as stated in the proposal.

Lessons learned
By managing this project, both the project manager and co-manager learnt several things. The followings are the things experienced and learnt from this project by the project manager and co-manager:

·   To be a project manager in the society and to be a student in school is so different and never thought there would be such difference in reality.

·   To be well prepared to start the project for preventing the problems ahead.

·   To know the situation of the project site in order to make sure it is right time to implement the project.

·   To communicate with the company and check the price, the quality and the grantees of the product before to sign the agreements between the      seller and the buyer due to avoid the problems might happen.

·  To keep update about the project process to Shem and the target group in order to decrease the worries for this project to happen.

·  To be critical, and bit tough due to find good quality and fair price of the product in the business industry.

·  To be patience, understandable, respectful, thoughtful, and enthusiast are very essential to carry out the project successfully.

Interviews of the project beneficiaries

Jamhual is 28years old and she married to her husband Soyal at her early age. They are nuclear family and they have two children. Her husband was not at home at the day when the co-manager went to visit them to see the impact of the project. Jamhual said she is very happy about the solar panel and she said she had never thought that somebody would help like this. She said they live on the mountains and remote areas where the most of the time there is no electricity and no transportation because they had to herd well the yaks since yaks are the main source that their lives dependent on. She said in winter place they have electricity, but they only stay there one or two months, the rest of the months they have no access to electricity. She said no mention the benefits of solar panel in summer, autumn and spring places, in winter place they also can use solar panels freely instead of paying for electricity fee. During the interview she said many thanks to the donor and said she was very attached by this support.

Lhabe is one of the receivers and he is 45 years old. He and his wife have four children. Last year his mother was sick for a year and had to spend big amount of money on her, but unfortunately she didn’t cure well and passed away end of last year. Also one of his sons suddenly got sick and still not recovered well. He said his family also spent most of their time in remote areas to graze well the yaks. He said his family only has around 20 milking yaks and sometimes there is no enough butter and cheese to eat and don’t say make income. He said keep children at home and to dig medical herbs is their main income source. He said he was very sad that he is not sending his children to school. He said he never thought he would able to use solar panel and he said thanks again and again during whole interview time.

Jamyangtso is one of the beneficiaries. She is 30 years old and she is single mother of two children. She said her kids are very young and are not able to help her much.  She said the two kids and her life dependent on herding the yaks. So she said the most of the time they were moving to remote areas with neighbors or relatives to look for good place to herd the yaks. She said her family used to use candles for light and she said she is not sure how much she spent, but needed to use lot, especially in summer when need to get up in early morning. She said she was very excited about the solar panel and said that from now on my family also has light like the neighbors when we go to the remote areas where there is no electricity. She said her family doesn’t need to worry about the candles. Because she said when her family was in remote areas, she was not able to leave the kids and to go to town o buy candles, so she said when the candles were ran out, she used to ask any neighbors who were going to town to buy the candles, but she said she was always worried if the neighbors would be back that day or if they forgot. During her interview, she constantly said thanks and thanks to the donor and everyone who involved in this project.

Letter of appreciation

Translation of thank you letter

Dear Shem US,

My name is Goudu and I am the village leader of Xianzun Village. First of all, I would like to represent all the villagers in Xianzun Village to say thank you very much for your generosity. Your donation is just like giving bright eyes to us because you donated the solar panels to the poor people like us. From now on the people in this village will have electricity like bright sunshine in the dark night.
All the villagers in Xianzun Village will pray for you to have very happy families and for you to have good luck in everything that you do in the future. Your kindness is always in our hearts. Again thank you very much your kindness.

Best wishes!

Sincerely,
The village leader: Goudu.

This is the contract signed by the head of company (Droma) and the co-manager (Drayanglhamo).

Receipts
#1

The total amount of money paid for 45 solar panels (49,500rmb)

#2

This is total transportation fee from Ngaba (Aba) County to the project site (150rmb).

#3

 

 

 
Above receipts are the total amounts of money spent on the project management expenses which include the food, the accommodation, the transportation fee(train, bus and taxi), the phone calls, and developing photos(1,240 rmb actual total amount on the receipt sis 949rmb, not 1,240rmb )

Original Proposal

Project Location
Namtsoma Village is located in Me Re Ma Township, Aba County, Aba Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province. It is southeast of Aba County and it is 33 kilometers from Aba County Town. It is also on the way to Aba County from Hong yuan County, Ro Er Gai County, Ma Er Kang County and Chengdu City. Aba County is on the border between Qinghai Province and Sichuan Province and it is 75 kilometers from Jiu Zhe County in Golok Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province.

Population
There are 278 households and 1308 people in Namtsoma Village. There are 402 men and 550 women and 356 school aged children. Ninety-eight percent of residents are Tibetan and the rest of the residents are Han people.

Education
There is one high school student (a boy), four middle school students (two girls and two boys) and 164 primary school students (89girls and 75 boys). There are four university students and all of them are female. In total there are 173 students out of 356 school aged children.

Herding
Namtsoma is a nomadic village and 70% of households raise 20 to 130 livestock (yaks, sheep and horses). Their lives are mostly dependent on herding their livestock.

Agriculture
There is no agriculture in Me Re Ma Township or in Namstoma Village due to the cold weather and the high altitude 3400 meters.

Cash income
In Namtsoma, 70% of households depend on herding livestock (sheep, yaks and horses) for their livelihood. Three percent of families depend on small business and 27% of families depend on collecting medical herbs, such as bemo, which is a white root herb and costs around 100rmb to 150rmb per jin. Caterpillar fungus is also a kind of medical herb and one piece of Caterpillar fungus costs around 2rmb to 6rmb. However, the prices of these medical herbs change frequently, which can be a problem when the prices drop. In Namtsoma Village around 10% of families save around 2000rmb and about 20% of families save about 500rmb annually. The rest of the families do not save any money and every end of the year need to brow money from the local bank or rich relatives at least 500rmb.

Project goals and benefits

The overall goal of the project is to improve the living condition of Namtsoma villagers.
The immediate goal of the project is to buy 45 solar electricity panels to supply electricity to the 45 poorest households in Namtsoma Village. Around 230 local villagers would benefit from this project.

Problems
1. Villagers have difficulty getting information about the outside world because they cannot listen to radios and watch TVs without electricity. Many only hear news from the few locals that travel or from guests.

2. Working under dim candlelight is inconvenient for women, because in herding areas women work more than men do and they cannot finish everything in the daytime. So women have to work at night (make butter, wash, cook dinner, prepare food for the next day, etc.), but they work under the dim light of candles, which is not easy and is difficult on the eyes. Some families are so poor they cannot even afford candles, so they use paraffin lamps, which are more harmful for the lungs than the candles.

3. The villagers live in tents and sometimes cannot have a nice and comfortable dinner together with family because the wind blows out the candles and butter lamps in the middle of the meal.

4. The butter lamps and candles are also a fire hazard because of the windy conditions, the materials stored in the tents, and the tents themselves. Also, when students study at night after they work, sometimes they forget to put out the candles.

5. Chemicals in the smoke from butter lamps and candles or paraffin lamps damages eyes and lungs.

6. Households use butter to produce dim lights at night, which could have been eaten or sold. Money is used for candles and paraffin lamps, which could be saved to buy other items. On average, each family spends between 50 and 100rmb on candles and paraffin lamps each year.

Benefits
1. The villagers will view or get information about the outside world; if the project can be accomplished, then the villagers will be able to listen to the radio or watch TV and get information about the outside world.

2. Women will have more time to rest because electric light will create a more convenient nighttime work environment. Women will have more time to sleep if they finish their work earlier with the help of brighter light. Also, women will have time to do other things that they like, such as listen to the radio or chat with other women.

3. The villagers will be able to have a nice and comfortable dinner without worrying about the candles and lamps being blown out.

4. Solar panels will greatly reduce the use of candles and lamps and thereby greatly reduce the threat of fire.

5. Health problems will be reduced because smoke from butter lamps, candles and paraffin lamps negatively affect villagers’ lungs and eyesight. If the solar panel project is achieved, then the harm to the villagers’ health will decrease.

6. Butter is an important basic food in Tibetan areas, and every year the local people use 1/4 of their butter for butter lamps. If the solar panel project is accomplished, they can use that butter as food or may sell it to improve their cash income. Some families do not have many livestock, and therefore they cannot produce enough butter to use for lamps. Then, they must buy candles or cheap paraffin lamps, spending money that could be used for other necessities. Solar panels would enable families to save between 50 and 100rmb each year.

Gender equality
If this project is accomplished, women in Namtsoma will have more time to join village activities and learn more about the news or other information. Usually most women in this village have lot of work to do during the day and they have no time to participate in meetings or village activities, so they lack outside information more than men. If they have solar panels, then they can participate in the activities or meetings during the day and they can finish their work at night. So if women can attend more activities, then there will be a higher possibility of hearing women’s voices in village matters. In addition, in my experience these kinds of development projects automatically raise issues of women’s capabilities in the village consciousness. The first time I did a solar cooker project, many people did not believe it was possible. However, now local people often ask me about potential development projects, and I feel locals are becoming more aware of women’s true potentials.

Governmental support
In January 2007, I discussed this project with the Village leaders, Tashi and Ojia. They said this is great project idea and gave me full permission to go forward with this proposal and encouraged me a lot. They will also be responsible for this project.

Project Activities
1. Visit Namtsoma Village and ask about local needs (already completed)

2. Discuss the project with the village leaders (already completed)

3. Hold meeting with the villagers and discuss about the project (already completed) 4. Talk to the Solar Generating Panel Company (Nima Company) and discuss about the price and the quality (already completed) 5. Write proposal (already completed) 6. Send proposal to donor

7. Receive Funds 8. Collect local contribution

9. Purchase solar panels from Nima Company in Xining, Qinghai Province

10. Transport the solar panels from Nima Company to Namtsoma Village, Me Re Ma Township, Aba Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province

11. Hold meeting with villagers again with village leaders and give instruction about how to use solar panels

12. Distribute solar panels to the poorest 45 households

13. Supervise the project

14. Interview local people (children, women and men)

15. Take pictures

16. Write final report

17. Send final report to donor with all pictures and receipts

Timeframe
This project will take thirteen days from the time the proposal is approved:

2 days: Receive funds and collect local contribution

2 days: Purchase the solar panels from Nima Company

3 days: Transport the solar panels to Namtsoma Village

1 day: Hold meeting with villagers and village leaders and give instructions about how to use the solar panels.

2 days: Distribute solar panels to the recipients

3 days: Interview beneficiaries and take pictures

Sustainability
The solar panels will be purchased from Nima Company, which guarantees the battery for one to two years and also guarantees the generating glasses for ten years. The company will replace the solar panels in a short amount of time if there is a problem. If the solar panels have problems, the villagers will contact the village leader (Tashi) and he will contact the project manager (Chodpaylhamo) or contact Nima Company for repairs or replacement. Furthermore, the members of Shem Women’s Group also have bought Solar Panels from Nima Company and they all said that Solar Panels from Nima Company are of good quality.

Detailed Budget

Item	Price per item in RMB	Numb ers of items	Donor Contri bution in RMB	Local Contri bution in RMB	Other resource (Shem)	Total cost in RMB
*Solar panel	1,100	45	40,500	9,000	0	49,500
*Management expenses			527	225	0	752
Management payment			0	0	500	500
Total			41027 (5,788 U.S. dollars)	9,225	500	50,752

* One solar panel costs 1,100rmb include the transportation fee and there are 45 poor families chosen to get the solar panels. Each family will contribute 200rmb for per solar panel and the total local contribution is 9,000rmb. So we want to ask 900rmb for per solar panel from the donor and the total donor contribution is 40,500rmb for 45 solar panels. *This project is located in Sichuan Province and it is around 800 kilometers from where the project manager (Chodpaylhamo) now lives and it takes at least three days for her to get there. The transportation and accommodation cost at least 752rmb and the project manager is not able pay for that, so each family will contribute 5rmb for the project management fee, but it will still not be enough for the project management expenses, so we want to ask the donor for the rest of the project management fee (527rmb).

Information about the proposal author
In December of 2005, Chodpaylhamo completed her associate degree in English from the English Traing Program at Qinghai Normal University. Chodpaylhamo has done a Solar Cooker Project for Namtsoma Village and a Solar Cooker Project for Me Re Ma Township, which were funded by the Canada Fund during her study in the English Training Program at Qinghai Normal University. In addition, during her study she completed one Second-hand clothing Project for Namtsoma Village, which was funded by the British Consulate in Shanghai, and a Bridge Project for Me Re Ma Township in 2005, which was supported by Netherlands Embassy in Beijing. Since her graduation she has worked for Shem Women’s Group as a Development Program Director.

Map of project location