Sustainable Livelihood Improvement & Holistic Community Development for the Poor Ethnic Communities around the Environmental Protection Areas
Location: Gaoligong mountainous area, Yunnan Province
No. of recipients households: 300
No. of pass-on families: 600
In Yunnan, there is diversified geographical condition with altitude ranging from the lowest of 76.4 to the highest of 6740 meters. Therefore, the poverty distribution also varies accordingly. While attention has been paid to the minority and the poor in the region, villages located around environmental protection zones shall also catch the public's attention. Villagers live in these areas are facing pressure from both their livelihood and environment protection. Between the short-term objective of fulfilling daily needs and long-term objective of natural conservation, there is always a contradiction to cope with. As a result, conflicts occur from time to time between nature protection institutions and the local community.
The Gaoligong mountainous area is one of the poverty-concentrated areas in Yunnan. This project provides cattle, goats, pigs for 300 families in 12 poor ethnic communities in the Gaoligong Mountain Nature Reserve. Besides, training on participatory development planning, Farmer Field School, gender equity and Self-help Group management provided for project families. Local government is asked to support the basic infrastructure to enhance the community development and the communities participate in local nature conservation through community-based protection. Heifer also educates children in these 12 communities about nature conservation. In each community, moreover, Heifer helps organize women's Self-help Groups to empower women to manage a community fund and hence, improve their economic situation. Project families will pass on animals, skills and knowledge to another 600 families within five years, thus a total number of 900 families will benefit from this project.
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