Project Manager: Danmajyid (Carol)
This project is to supply clean and potable drinking water for 60 households in Daiqian Village in order to improve the living conditions in Daiqian Village.
TheCouncil On International Education Exchange Ping Grant and Shem’s private donors funded this project
Danmajyid is from Daiqian Village, Zhaxixiulong Township, Tian zhu County, Wu wei Region, Gansu Province, China. She is currently working towards an Associate’s degree in English at the Qinghai Normal University, Nationalities Department, English Training Program.
What? Supply clean and potable drinking water for 60 households in Daiqian Village.
Who? Daiqian Village, Zhaxixiulong township, Tianzhu County, Wu wei Region, Gansu Province, PR China.
Photos of purchasing PE pipes
Workers are loading purchased pipes on the truck.
These two pictures above show the moment when the villagers are unloading pipes in the village.
Villagers are holding a meeting to discuss the start date of the project.
Villagers and water experts are examining the water source.
Villagers are offering tsang [this is a kind of religious offering made of a mixture of roasted barley, butter, candies, and fruits] to a mountain god to pray for the success of the project.
These people were carrying stones to cover the ditch.
Villagers are participating to dig the ditch.
A machine is digging near the spring.
These two photos show hired laborers building water boxes.
Villagers digging theditch.
Interview photos
Wamaduojie is seventeen years old. He was washing vegetables with running water. He said, “Before we never used clean water to wash vegetables.” He also said that now he didn’t need to worry about having to wear dirty clothes to go to school.
Danchun is sixty two years old. He was so pleased to drink clean water anytime. He said he can now help himself to fetch water when his son and daughter- in-law leave to earn money.
Droma is seventy -seven years old. She gave thanks to CIEE for helping them and she doesn’t need to fetch water from the spring anymore. She said she never dreamed of this in her life. She has more time to chant and collect yak dung for fuel.
Project Summary
Project title: Running Water Project for Daiqian Village
Project goals: The overall goal of the project is to improve the living conditions in Daiqian Village; the immediate goal of the project is to supply clean and potable drinking water for 60 households in Daiqian Village.
Location of project: This project is located in Daiqian Village, Zhaxixiulong Township, Tianzhu Tibetan Autonomous County, Gansu Province, and PR China. Daiqian is in the west of Lanzhou, and 63 km from Tianzhu County Town. Tianzhu County is 220 km from Xining. Daiqian Village is one of the small villages in Zhaxixiulong Township, which includes Daiqian, Shi Lun, and Zai Ku villages.
Total beneficiaries: There are approximately 357 people in Daiqian Village and they can directly benefit from this project. About 13 households will receive indirect benefits, and the villagers will no longer need to carry water from the water source.
Implementation organization/individual: Danmajyid (Carol), Huachen (The village leader), Shado Tsering, Dandrin Jyid, Nadrub Tso, and Taxi (Daiqian Village’s project committee members) and Shem Women’s Group.
Contact Group: Shem Women’s Group
Funds received: Source, Amount, and Date Received
The Council on International Education Exchange Ping Grant and Shem’s private donors funded this project for a total of $20,018 (153,525 rmb), which was to be given in two installments: 50% of the funds was received at the beginning of the project and the other 50% was received after the middle of project. On December 18th, 2007 the first installment for the amount of US $9,850 (69,415.6 rmb) was received; the second installment for the amount of US $9,850 (67,003 rmb) was received on August 19th, 2008. Shem contributed 5000 rmb for this water project. The total amount received was 141,418.6 rmb.
Details of project activities
1. Funds were received on December 18th, 2007.
2. Water project committee was established with the participation of villagers. This committee was composed of five people – two men (Tashi, Shado Tsering) two women (Dandrin Jyid, and Nadrub Tso) and Danmajyid (Carol)
3. Held meeting to discuss how and where to purchase materials.
4. Contracts signed with the water project committee.
5. Collected local contribution for digging from the villagers.
6. Purchased iron bars and valves from County Town.
7. Hired machine to start to dig ditch; villagers also participated to cover the ditch.
8. Purchased plastic pipes from the Lhanzhou Plastic Factory. Other materials like valves, spigots, connectors, cement and bricks were bought from the Yongden Factory. It takes half an hour to travel from Tianzhu County to Yongden.
9. The running water pipe line was set up along the ditch
12. We hired 9 people to build water boxes.
13. Established a sustainable management plan that involved choosing five members who would be responsible and have good reputations within the village. These members will manage the system for a set period of time, and will then choose a new committee for the upcoming years.
14. Took photos during the project implementation and after project was completed.
15. Held meeting to reiterate future responsibility and sustainability.
16. Interviewed villagers, men, women and children about their opinions of the project results.
17. Write final report.
18. Send the final report with photos and receipts
Project Finances
|
|
|
Origi |
Actual |
|
||||||
|
Rec |
Item |
Do |
Local |
Shem Con trib |
Total cost |
Donor |
Local Con |
Shem Con |
Total cost |
Dif (Be |
|
Re |
Cem
|
3, |
0 |
0 |
3, |
4, |
0 |
0 |
4, |
-830 |
| Re ce ipt #2 |
Pro ject Man ag em ent Expe nses |
500 |
0 |
0 |
500 |
505. |
0 |
|
505. 5 |
-5.5 |
| Re ce ipt #3 |
Skil led wor ker |
3, |
0 |
0 |
3, |
0 |
0 |
2, |
2, |
+87 |
| Re ce ipt #4 |
Pla stic Pip e # 63# 40 #25 |
137, |
0 |
0 |
137, |
59, |
0 |
0 |
59, |
+78, |
| Re ce ipt #5 |
Pla stic Con ne ction |
3, |
0 |
0 |
3, |
4, |
0 |
0 |
4, |
-1, |
| Re ce ipt #5 |
Thr ee reda ctors |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3, |
0 |
0 |
3, |
-3, |
|
Re |
tran |
1, |
0 |
0 |
1, |
0 |
0 |
900 |
900 |
+600 |
| Hire ma ch ine |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
19, |
0 |
19, |
(2)-19, |
|
| Sto ne and sand |
0 |
3, |
0 |
3, |
0 |
1, |
0 |
1, |
+2, |
|
| Unsk illed Wor ker |
0 |
135, |
0 |
135, |
0 |
135, 000 |
0 |
135, |
0 |
|
| Proj ect ma nag em ent pay ment |
0 |
0 |
500 |
500 |
0 |
0 |
500 |
500 |
0
|
|
| Re cei pt #7 |
Tran spo rtat ion fee (cem ent and iron bar) |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
400 |
0 |
0 |
400 |
-400
|
| Re ce ipt #8 |
Metal 7Go ngjin \One jin4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
55.6 |
0 |
0 |
55.6 |
-55.6 |
| Re ce ipt #9 |
Ruler |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
52 |
0 |
0 |
52 |
-52 |
| Re ce ipt # 10 |
Dig |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
47, |
0 |
0 |
47, |
-47, |
| Re ce ipt # 11 |
Two wat er box es |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
16, |
0 |
0 |
16, |
-16, |
| Re ce ipt #12 |
Post fee |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
22 |
0 |
0 |
22 |
-22 |
|
Re |
Iron bar |
3, |
0 |
0 |
3, |
0 |
0 |
1,182 |
1, |
+2, |
|
|
Tot al |
153, |
138,
|
500 |
292,
|
136, .1 |
155, |
5, |
297, |
(3)-4, |
Notes:
Total donor contribution for the project is 136,418.6 rmb. The first installment (50% of the total contribution) was received on December 18th, 2007 for the amount of US $9,850 (69,415.6) rmb. Total first grant 69,415.6 minus used money 60617.5 is 8798.1 which was only enough to buy cement and an iron bar. It was not enough for the payments of the water boxes workers and for hiring a machine to dig around the spring. So I owed 16, 000 rmb (for two water boxes) to the workers and they agreed to wait until the end of the project to receive payment. The second installment of money was spent on digging, water boxes, cement, plastic connectors and a redactor.
(1)Shem contributed 5,000 rmb for the project.
(2)The local people paid 19,250 rmb for hiring a machine to dig ditch.
(3)This amount of money was paid by Water Conservancy Department in Tianzhu County.
(4) Water Conservancy Department contributed three tons of plastic pipe in this project.
Delays, difficulties, and lesson learned
Delay of activities
There were several factors that delayed the implementation date of the project.
Firstly, it’s very hard to implement the project due to the current political situation.
Secondly, it was first time for me to implement a running water project and I did not have much experience in doing this kind of project. I went to buy the pipes while the villagers were digging the ditch. While the project committee and I were in Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu Province, we had difficulties finding a large enough and cheap enough truck for transporting the materials. The best price was 2,500 rmb to transport the pipes to the project site. Therefore we called one of the men in Daiqian Village, who only need 900 rmb, to come to Lanzhou to transport the materials. So,we had to wait for him for almost one day.
Also, the villagers had little spare time to dig the ditch during time of year. This is because the government divided grazing areas again and the villagers had to rebuild their fences. During this time, they also had to cut yak hair and sheep wool and also dig for caterpillar fungus (a kind of herb). The villagers were planning to dig the ditch first, but the government needed them to divide the grazing areas first. So they had no time to dig the ditch. I collected money from the villagers to pay for the digging fee. We hired a digging machine and paid 8 rmb per meter. Villagers covered the ditch after it was finished.
Difficulties encountered when implementing the project
The weather caused many difficulties and delays. It was very hard to dig during rainy days. Also, rainy weather caused problems transporting materials.
The weather was very unpredictable so we had to finish digging as soon as possible; otherwise it could have been dangerous for both people and livestock. Digging the ditch was also inconvenient for transportation, because the main pipe ran beside the road.
Also when I asked for local contributions to pay for digging a few people complained and were unwilling to give money for digging. I explained that I didn’t request money for digging from the donor and also most of the people had no time to dig the ditch. If I had waited for all the people to have time to dig the ditch it would have delayed the project. They had a lot of arguments with village leader. I wanted to solve problems between them, but no one listened to me it made me feel really bad.
Luckily, people realized my burden and that it’s not very easy to implement a project, so they had to cherish the opportunity. Finally all the villagers were willing to give money to dig the ditch and they were also pleased to cover the ditch. The village leader and I divided the project committee into groups so they could take charge of different areas. I also asked one person to take photos of all the processes of project implementation.
Another difficulty was the fact that only 50% of the funds were available for the project, so after I purchased pipe, there were little money left, and it was only enough to purchase the cement and a metal iron bar. There was no money to buy spigots connections, valves, metal wire, screws and bricks (we paid half of the metal iron bar fee) and to clear the payments for the water boxes workers and workers who worked around the spring. In this area it is very hard to owe and borrow money from others and especially difficult to ask workers to wait for their payments.
After the workers finished digging around spring and built water boxes, I had no money to pay them.. These people complained that I was not trustworthy. They asked my parents everyday to pay them. So I asked to borrow 47000 rmb from Shem and 10000 rmb from one of my relatives to get things done quickly.
Lessons learned
Throughout the implementation of the project, I acquired experience on how to deal with different people. I also had to convince others and try to make them come to terms; for instance, I had to try to make village leaders, factory and workers to agree to wait for the payments for a while. After all this, I felt more confident to negotiate with others and come to agreements. I also learned how to manage the project process. I experienced that when you meet difficulties you have to search for more ways to come up with solutions, and you should not think there is no hope. We should challenge our life with different situations. Everything has a good result in the end, and it depends on your attitude and how you take responsibility. So our main point is trying best to reach our goal. Don’t give up easily when we face problems. Also, I learned some strategies of how to make decisions.
I realized confidence is the most important thing for a project manager, especially a female manager. Don’t be afraid that there is no result when you face problems. Actually, women have a low position in my village; most people have negative stereotypes towards women and think that we are unable to accomplish important things. You have to show your ability and let them see women can also do something important, but we need confidence in order to keep pursing our goal even when others doubt about us. Now, some people’s opinions toward women have changed during project implementations.
Changes and Variations from Original Project (Beneficiaries, Budget, Activities, Time frame)
One thing that is different from the original proposal was that during my visit to the project site, I found that two families had migrated to Xinjiang. So there are now 58 households in the village (as opposed to 60 households, stated in the original proposal). Therefore, changes were made to the original plan. Also, there was some variation in the price of materials; the price of materials had increased since my first estimate. We checked four factories and finally figured out which quality was best with a suitable price. We chose the best quality in the factory. Also we needed to buy more pipes than before, because we decided to have longer drain pipes in order to prevent the water from damaging the villager’s fields. This is one of the reasons why the original budget changed.
The time frame was a little different because the machine broke down several times during the project, so the project was delayed by many days.
Also it’s rained a lot while people were the digging ditch.
List of recipient
The name list of all the villagers in Daiqian Village
Receipts 1
Receipt 2
Receipt 2
Receipts2
Receipts2
Receipts 2
Receipts 2
Receipts 2 are all project management expenses. Donor paid 500 rmb and I paid the rest5 .5rmb.
Receipts 3
Receipts 4
Receipts 5
Receipts 6
Receipts 7
Receipts 8
Donor paid 55.6 rmb and local people paid the rest of the money.
Receipts 9
Receipts 10
Receipts 11
Receipts 12
Receipts 13
Original Proposal
Population
There are approximately 357 people in Dai Qian Village. There are 124 women, 159 men and 74 school aged children.
Education
Ten percent of villagers are not currently students and they are illiterate. There are 3 university students (two boys and one girl), 6 high school students (four boys and two girls), 7 middle school students (four girls and three boys) and 9 primary school students (six boys and three girls). Total there are 25 students out of 74 school-aged children in the village. Most of the villagers are not able to pay for high school tuition and expenses, around 2,000rmb for per students, per semester or university school tuition and expenses, around 6,000rmb for per student, per semester.
Agriculture
Dai Qian Village is a nomadic area. The main mode of subsistence is nomadic. There is no agriculture due to the harsh climate and lack of water.
Herding/ Cash income
About ten years ago, each family owned two or three hundred sheep and about one hundred yaks. Their income was very good. They produced butter and cheese and sold these products for cash, they also sold some livestock.
However, the herds have shrunk in recent years due to a combination of factors:
- Grassland destruction, due to mining and overgrazing.
- Limited water resources additionally exacerbated by mining in recent years.
- Disease.
Currently, some families do not have any yaks while those that still have are down to 30 to 50 yaks. The families have about 50 to 70 sheep to day and the all over result is a general decline in the income.
Villagers sell most of their butter and cheese, earning 300-500 RMB per year per family. They can make about 25 to 30 jinn of butter and 30 jinn of cheese each year.
Another way to earn some money villagers is to leave the village in search of work and adults who are able to work do this. They often go to dig caterpillar fungus, a kind of plant, which is very difficult to find and is prized for its medicinal qualities. One stick of caterpillar fungus can be sold for between five and seven RMB. People usually go to dig caterpillar fungus at the beginning of May and go back home in the middle of June. Each person can earn about 600-800 RMB. This money is largely spent on children who go to school and on family costs, such as the New Year celebration.
Families spend about 1000 RMB on food and about 500 RMB on clothes and other family needs. In summer families spend about 400 to 500 RMB on fertilizer for the grassland. Monthly expenses run about 100 RMB per month, which covers electricity, salt, medicine, and other family needs.
Project Goal
The overarching goal of this project is to improve the lives of the villagers in Daiqian Village.
The immediate goal of this project is to build a running water system for 60 household in Daiqian Village.
The problem the villagers face today can be summarized as follows
- The villagers take three or four hours to fetch water everyday. It wastes a lot of time, which could be spent doing something else to improve the living conditions.
- In Daiqian village mostly girls and women do the arduous task of fetching water once or twice every day. In winter they melt ice which is not clean for water. This causes many health problems; however it is extremely difficult to get fresh water in the winter. The unskilled labor wastes a lot of time, the girls cannot enter schools, and the women don’t have time to do housework.
- Villagers currently fetch water to drink from streams which are 1~1.5 km away from where they live. It takes three hours to walk there and walk back.
- Fetching water is also linked to issues of status for village women. When guests arrive unexpectedly and water is not available for customary tea, the women of the household are looked down upon and even ridiculed as unfit mothers, daughters or wives. Often water availability is out of a woman or girl’s control. A running water system will eliminate this issue.
- There was a 21-meter deep well dug in Daiqian village, but it was salty and dried out after one month.
- When younger villagers leave the village to pursue paid labor opportunities. In some cases this leaves elderly villagers and young children with the task of fetching water. Since they cannot carry the large buckets, they must make many trips using just teapots.
Benefits of the project
As discussed above, girls and women currently fetch most of the water for the village. A running water system that carries clean water to each household will relieve girls and women of a time consuming chore. As a result of this project, girls and women may use their freed up time to acquire more highly valued skills and thus reduce their inequality. In particular, girls can use the time saved on more productive activities such as studying and training for other skilled jobs without being over burdened. Women can use the time to relax or work on other household activities. Also, status issues for women will be avoided. Some particular problems a running water system will address:
- After a difficult day of herding, women and girls will not have to spend time and energy fetching water
- Villagers will not have to drink dirty water from melted snow
- More girls can go to school and women will have more time to do other things.
- Women will feel less stress about issues related to water, such as always having tea ready for guests.
- A running water project will solve the drinking water problems for villagers and livestock
- A steady water supply will encourage better hygienic practices, such as washing hands and clothes.
- Some villagers may use the water to grow vegetables.
Gender equality
The project will be implemented and managed by the villagers in Daiqian Village. We chose three women and three men in the project committee and they all have equal power to make the decision and manage the project. Also the project will most directly benefit women, because women do most of the housework, including fetching water. Fetching water problems directly related to women have been discussed above.
Governmental Support
On January16, 2007 the project manager ( Danmajyid) talked to Ma Gongbao and he is a County government leader. He said this is a good project and try your best to do this project and he gave the permission to do this project.
Interviews
1)Lama is thirty-five years old. She has one son and one daughter. The son is a middle school student. The daughter has never gone to school. She must stay at home and help her mother. Lama gets up very early every day. Then she goes far away to fetch water. That can take three or four hours, so she doesn’t have much time to do other things. Almost all her time is spent fetching water. They don’t let the girl go to school because she must help her mother fetch water, herd livestock, etc. Once a week they drive the strong livestock to the river for water. Most other times, the family collects dirty water from cooking and washing to give to the livestock.
2)Caijyid is an old woman. She is seventy years old and she is blind. She can’t go far away to fetch water. She has no children and no husband. She has lived a long life and water is a problem for her. She asks friends to fetch water for her or she goes to a neighbor’s house to drink tea because she has no water to make tea. A neighbor brought a lot of ice to her that she could melt for water, but she left it in the yard and it was covered with dust. She’s worried it’s not good for her health.
3)Zhaxi is a herdsman. He has two sons, but they went to other places to earn money. His wife has bad arthritis. She can’t go far away to fetch water and their livestock does not get enough water. Zhaxi can’t fetch water because he is afraid of rumors starting in the village. In this village men never fetch water from the river, it is a woman’s task. Therefore, they melt snow or ice for water. In the summer, they use plastic to catch water or ladle water from holes in the ground
The steps of the project
Completed tasks of the project
1)During the 2006 and 2007 winter holidays, I spoke with people in my village asking what kinds of projects might improve their lives. They said that a running water system is the most needed project and would greatly improve local people’s lives.
2) I spoke with the village leader about the necessity of the project. Also interviewed some households about the water situation.
3) Got permission from the Tianzhu County leader, Ma Gongbo.
4)Learned from someone who already did several water projects about materials, prices and implementation.
5)Priced the materials, decided on purchasing from a factory in Lanzhou.
6)Held a meeting with villagers and asked three women and three men to be responsible for purchasing the materials, the project committee.
7) Chose the water source
8)Took photographs, conducted interviews, and made a detailed map of the water system (see below)
Implementation Plan
9)Funds received.
10)Hold meeting with the villagers.
11) Villagers dig the ditch.
12)Purchase Materials.
13)Villagers place the tubes underground.
14) Monitor the project.
15) Interview the villagers, men, women and children about their opinion of the result.
16) Take the photos.
17)Send the final report with the photos and receipts.
Timeframe of the project
The project will be completed within one month and a half after receiving the funds.
Detailed Budget of the project
|
Items |
Quan |
Unit |
Donor contrib |
Local |
Other resou |
Total |
|
Ceme |
14 tons |
280/ton |
3,920 |
0 |
0 |
3,920 |
|
Plastic 63 |
4,340m |
13/m |
56,420 |
|
|
56,420 |
|
Plastic pipe# 40 |
3,815m |
13/m |
49,595 |
0 |
0 |
49,595 |
|
Plastic pipe# 25 |
2,430m |
13/m |
31,590 |
0 |
0 |
31,590 |
|
Plastic #40, #25 |
|
|
3,500 |
0
|
0 |
3,500 |
|
Iron bar |
1 ton |
3,500/ton |
3,500 |
0 |
0 |
3,500 |
|
Mate |
|
|
1,500 |
0 |
0 |
1,500 |
|
Water design expert |
12people/ per day |
250/person |
3,000 |
0 |
0 |
3,000 |
|
Stone |
150 tractor loads |
25/load |
0 |
3,750 |
0 |
3,750 |
|
Labor |
45 days/100 people |
30/person |
0 |
135,000 |
0 |
135,000 |
|
Iron tube |
50m |
50/iron tube |
0 |
2,500 |
0 |
2,500 |
|
Tap |
60 sets |
8/tap |
0 |
480 |
0 |
480 |
|
pipe |
150m |
7/m |
0 |
1,050 |
0 |
1,050 |
|
Manag |
|
|
500 |
0 |
0 |
500 |
|
Manage |
|
|
0 |
|
500 |
500 |
|
Total |
|
|
153,525 ($20,018) |
142,780 |
500 |
296,805 |
Notes:
Exchange rate to US$ 7,6RMB
Total amount of donation requested in Renmingbi 153,525 =$20,018
Sustainability of the project
This water project is sustainable, because at first villagers ask the project manager (Danmajyid) to do it and second all the villagers will benefit from the project. Also villagers will be responsible for doing the works like digging and building, because they are the user of the water. They will be responsible for the water spring and that the materials are purchased from the good company which is the company where some of Daiqian villagers usually purchase materials from there and we can ask them to change it if the materials have problems. Besides these, there are three women and three men to take care the water spring after the implementation of the project.
The village project committee, as well as local villagers and Danmajyid will be responsible for maintaining the project after it has been implemented. If there will be any unexpected costs or expenses for repairing, the villagers and villager leader agreed to pay for that.
The donors are expected to reserve the right to visit and inspect projects at any time.
In addition, the source of this water is spring and it is very clean because there aren’t any factories in Daiqian village or near to the Daiqian village, so it is not polluted. Also from generation to generation the people and the livestock in Daiqian village drink this water and no one has got sick from the water. This project is using 7,880meters pipe to carry water from spring to every household. The spring is available. All the households and livestock have enough water to drink. The water has no changing during the different seasons and even in winter it still follows.
Photos from Daiqian Village
The Daiqian Village Project Committee. Danmajyid is to the right and front, in the orange jacket. From left to right, back to front, the other members are Tsepdan, Tashi, Shado Tsering, Dandrin Jyid, and Nadrub Tso.
Yaks lick the ice on the frozen valley stream. Watering animals is particularly difficult during the winter. You can see Danmajyid’s section of Daiqian Village in the background.
Cheji Gyamtsen, Danmajyid’s uncle and a monk from Kumbum Monastery (near Xining), collects water from the spring. The plan is to tap this spring, which has abundant water.
Another section of households that will benefit from a water project in Daiqian Village.
Additional Information
This project must be implemented through summer when it is easy to dig and weather is good. It is impossible to do this project in the winter since the soil is frozen and hard to deal with. Also it is better if this project can happen from May to July because after July to September the villagers are busy at herding livestock and digging medical herbs.
Additional information for the manager, Dan ma jyid (Carol)
In 2006 I did a second-hand cloth project for Zhai xi xiu long village and it was supported by The British Consulate in Shanghai.
Diagram of the project
Map of the project location
