Feb/March 2003

31st March 2003

Kadoorie funded Integrated Community Development Programme

Road construction begins in Zhongpu and Baikun Villages

DORS has been supporting two villages in Lianghe Township of Ganluo County. In Baikun and Zhongpu Village, DORS has already implemented an electricity project, is continuing support for education, assisting with the construction of fuel efficient stoves and a drinking water project. A new project: road construction, started in February. The existing winding track up the valley leading to Baikun and Zhongpu, was not wide enough for vehicles to pass and each year was blocked during summer time flash floods and landslides. Transportation remains one of the greatest difficulties for remote villages. Therefore with assistance from DORS and the Transport Bureau the villagers are making improvement by widening and surfacing parts of the road. This will prove to be beneficial to the villagers both for economic reasons and for improvement to their living conditions. Villagers will be able to carry more easily their produce to the market, and traders will be able to go up the villages with trucks to purchase produce directly or exchange goods. The road will thus save time and energy spent on marketing. It will be also more convenient for villagers to transport construction materials to improve their houses, hence improving their current living environment. The road will provide access to 856 people in three villages (DORS works in only two of those) and the section to be repaired will be five kilometres long. The Ganluo Transport Bureau designed the road plan and will fund part of the expenses (30,000 RMB) together with DORS input of 66,700 RMB and the villagers are providing all the necessary labour. The township government are overseeing the road improvement project.

Sty project starts in Lianghe Township - Baikun Village and Zhongpu Village

A village meeting was held in both Baikun and Zhongpu village, where an interest was expressed in repairing animal sties. The villagers compiled a list of households needing these repairs, and the specific needs of each household were individually assessed. A contract has been formulated and signed, and once the villagers have prepared their part of the materials, the cement and roof tiles will be transported. Priority is being given to particularly poor households.

The rebuilding and repairs will improve the conditions for developing animal husbandry. The villagers will be able to raise more livestock, and the animals will be sheltered from the harsh climatic conditions. The result will be an increased household income from sale of livestock and increased food security.

The animal sties project benefits from the road construction project, not only making it easier and cheaper to transport building materials to the villages, but also because it will also be easier to transport livestock to the market. Total funding available for this component is 33,000 RMB, which will be disbursed directly to households as materials.

Continuing Education support in Hanyuan County and Ganluo County

The new school semester started in February 2003, and DORS has been able to continue supporting education in Hanyuan and Ganluo Counties. A total of 163 girl-students and 135 boy-students from the villages of Banyang, Fuyou, Moduo, Na'Er, Shashu, Sugu, Wansheng, Hejiang, Chalin, Wanping, Baikun, Zhongpu, Teke and Dawan, were supported and a total of RMB 39,086 (GBP3257.16) was expended.

School fees for primary school range from approx. 230 RMB per semester in Hanyuan to 50 RMB in Ganluo County. Ganluo has preferential education policies, with lower school fees, as it is a national recognised poor county with high percentage of Yi Minority people. However, this amount is still too high for some parents in the mountainous region.

DORS News and Information

Rose Acock, DORS Director, received an award from the Ya' An Prefecture Government for contribution to women and child development in Hanyuan. The award was received at a ceremony organised for the International Women's Day in Hanyuan County.

DORS seeking new volunteer project assistant/trainee to begin in June 2003. The position is full-time for one year. Job description available at info@dors.org.uk

This month the Ericsson Trust (UK) donated GBP 3000 (RMB 34,500) to our organisation; these funds will be used towards DORS' forestry and forestry training.

Women's Micro-credit: a new cycle begins

In Hejiang Village, DORS started a second cycle of loan to Hamlet 1, a total of RMB 25,500 (GBP 2217). Only 17 women participated in this project last year; upon seeing the success of last year's micro-credit projects, more women were interested to loan this year, 25 households out of the 33 of Hamlet 1 received loans from DORS this year. One month after the loan date, DORS staff returned to Hejiang Village for a monitoring visit, most women had bought livestock and they are currently managing their projects well.

Women in hamlets 2,3,4,5,6 and 7 of Moduo Village have repaid part of the first instalment of their loan, which they took in April 2002. A total of RMB 65,987.50 (GPB 5738) was collected from 58 households. With this loan the women have mostly developed small-scale animal husbandry projects; the women are satisfied with their projects and the animal husbandry training which was held before the loans were acquired helped in improving their techniques in raising their animals.