January 2001

31st January 2001

Fuyou Village Drinking Water Supply System Completed

We have just completed the final stage of the drinking water supply in Fuyou Village in Huangmu Township. This was a project funded by the Small Grants Scheme of the British Embassy. The cost of the project totalled approximately 59,405 RMB (4569 GPB).

The funds were used to purchase materials such as piping, connectors, cement, and the transportation of these materials. The villagers contributed the labour towards constructing the storage tanks and connecting the piping themselves.

Each hamlet originally had its own water supply. However, the piping was of poor quality and had slowly disintegrated over the last 10 years, thus was no longer effective at delivering water. The village leaders requested DORS' help in replacing the piping. All 5 hamlets of the village are now connected to running water directly into their households. In total, this project has benefited 738 people in 208 households.

Future maintenance of the system will be managed by the village. The village has collectively selected a system manager to oversee the function and maintenance of the water supply. In addition, each hamlet will choose an individual responsible for their respective hamlets.

PAO Thanks DORS

DORS was visited by the Ya'an Prefecture Government and Poverty Alleviation Office officials in December, who presented gifts to DORS in appreciation of the work we have done in the past 4 years. The officials drove down from Ya'an specifically to present the gifts.

The Hanyuan County Government and PAO also presented DORS with a banner of commendation and a gift.

We would like to thank them both for their continued support and hope we can continue with the cooperative working relationship in 2001.

Partner Organisations Visit DORS Projects

DORS ended 2000 with a visit from the German charity Misereor and welcomed in the year 2001 with a visit from members of the British Embassy. Both made their way down from Chengdu to look at projects their respective organisations have supported as well as the different project areas DORS work in.

Michael Busgen, the China Project Consultant for Misereor, spent a day with us in Chenhe Village. There he was able to meet the Village Party Secretary Chen Dong Xiang and see the Misereor- funded drinking and irrigation water projects as well as visit the collective forestry project that is just beginning.

Carma Elliot, Consul-General, and Lynne Sun of the British Consulate-Chongqing, and John Virgoe, Head of the China Section in the Foreign Office of London, visited the drinking water and SGS funded forestry project in Chenhe Village. They were also able to meet with the women of Banyang 1 and learn more about DORS' micro-credit scheme.

Carma, Lynne and John, in support of DORS' work, have graciously contributed a donation towards our education projects. This donation will be used towards paying school fees this upcoming semester for a number of primary school age children.

We would like to thank all our visitors this month for taking the time to learn more about DORS and the people we work with. We appreciate their continued support and look forward to working with them in the future.

Training Courses for DORS Employees

DORS Forestry Assistant, Guo Yumei, recently attended a six week residential training course on project planning and project management using PRA methodology at the Sichuan Natural Resources Conservation and Development Training Centre at Sichuan Forestry College.

The course was funded in part by the Canadian Civil Society Programme as a component of the Capacity Building for Participatory Community Development in Sichuan project and in part by the British Embassy Small Grants Scheme as a component of the Social and Community Forestry Project.

DORS Director Rose Acock is also improving skills in project management with two post-graduate courses in Development Management, taken through a distance learning programme with Open University in the U.K.

DORS would like to wish a

Happy New Year
and a
Joyful Spring Festival
to everyone!

We appreciate your continued support and look
forward to more in the coming year.