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DORS is a British charity working in rural Sichuan Province, China. DORS aim is to help relieve poverty in Sichuan by implementing small-scale village-based projects that promote rural development through capacity building, income generation, service provision (water and electricity), and environmental improvement. DORS focus is on women and the poorest in the community.
DORS works in two particulary poor counties in Sichuan where the average annual income was less than 850 Chinese Yuan or GBP 65 in 1996. These counties, Hanyuan in Ya'an Prefecture, and neighbouring Ganluo in Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, are in the south west of Sichuan, high up in the mountains that rise to the Tibetan plateau in the West. From the DORS' office in Hanyuan, poverty alleviation projects are designed and implemented specifically in response to the actual needs of the farmers in the counties poorest villages.
DORS approach is to work together with communities to find out what assistance they need to improve their livelihoods. We believe that the farmers themselves are the people most able to understand their own situation, and to initiate change. DORS rural development projects are integrated and sustainable, so that the benefits will complement each other.
The charity was established in 1996 by Rose Acock and is a registered UK charity (no. 1061133).