“Health Mela” at Jang, Tawang

A 2-days “Health Mela” was organised at Jang in Tawang district on the occasion of World Population Day. The theme “Khusiyon ka aadhar, chhota parivar” focused on family planning and maternal health. Pragya Tawang staff supported the initiative led by the district Health Department. The Minister of Tourism, Arunachal Pradesh and the Deputy Commissioner, Tawang, attended the event.

Resource Center in Shibuye, Kakamega

As a part of Pragya’s initiative to improve educational facilities for children in remote, disadvantaged areas of the Rift Valley Province, Northern Kenya, rural learning centres are being set up. The first of these were set up at Shabwali Secondary School located in Shinyalu constituency in Shibuye, Kakamega district.

Pragya staff along with the partners Muliru Farmers Conservation Group (MFCG) worked with the school authorities to set up the Learning Centre in the school premises that would serve the 891 students of the Shabwali Secondary and Shabwali Primary schools along with the population of the entire neighbourhood. The Centre is equipped with a variety of learning and information resources, AV and IT equipments for bridging the digital divide and innovative teaching and learning aids for children. It would also deliver vocational courses for the youth in the area. 

The children, as well as the teachers were quite excited as they explored the new equipments and the learning toys. Mr Justus, the Geography Teacher exclaimed: “I will now be using the 3D Atlas DVD in the computer to explain during my Geography class...It’s time we embrace technology”.

Fodder farm and Woodlot in flood affected village in Leh

The village Ney in Leh district was affected by flash floods during August, 2010. Agricultural land and land meant for fodder cultivation had been washed away or rendered unfit for cultivation due to deposition of silt. Salix and poplar plantations of the community, typically used for fodder as well as fuelwood and timber, had likewise been uprooted and washed away in the floods. As a result, the community faced acute shortage of both green and dry fodder all through 2011. They were forced to buy fodder from other villages incurring considerable costs on transportation. Some were forced to sell their livestock as they could not provide adequate fodder to the animals. Following the disaster, the community’s priority was of reinstating their livelihoods and food production systems, and hence much of the year 2011 was spent on reclaiming their agricultural lands, with little attention paid to fodder cultivation or timber/fuelwood plantations. Relief supplies of fodder and fuelwood by the government helped them meet their requirements during that year, but the community realized that such government aid would not last long and efforts towards a permanent solution would need to taken up very soon.

In May 2012, Pragya intervened in the village to establish a fodder farm and community woodlot. Women in the village took up the initiative and identified suitable land owned by the village council (panchayat) for setting up the fodder farm and woodlot. A village meeting was convened and the proposed use of the village land discussed, the council’s permission sought for taking up cultivation on the land, and the plantation details worked out, viz, species to be planted, numbers of saplings/area under specific species, beneficiaries of the produce, and the community members to be engaged in the plantation activity. It was decided that one acre of community land was to be used for the purpose and the produce would be available to the 30 households that had lost all their personal fodder or fuelwood source as a result of the floods.

The land was made ready for sowing with the involvement of one member of each of the beneficiary households in the Ney community. 5 kgs of alpha alpha seed (Medicago sativa) were sown and 250 saplings of Salix and 150 saplings of Poplar were planted in early summer. By October, the beneficiary households had harvested the fodder twice and were able to feed their cattle with healthy green fodder. Women of the village have formed a CPR (Common Property Resource) group and take turns in management of the plantation, including activities such as irrigation, tending, harvesting. The woodlot is estimated to take about 3-4 years to provide benefits to the community, although the leaves of the Salix and Poplar could be harvested for use as fodder to harvest. from the second year onwards.

Sonam Yangdol (Female; 63 years), one of the members of the women’s CPR group in Ney, and a beneficiary of the fodder farm and woodlot, says that she could provide fodder generated by the plantation to her animals during much of 2012. The good quality green fodder (as against the dry fodder provided as relief) has also resulted in a 1-1.5 litre increased yield from the milch animals, over the previous year as well as an improvement in animal health. The women’s CPR group, she says, plan to double the area under the plantation in 2013, so that their fodder & fuelwood requirements are met wholly from it.

(More about Pragya's work on rehabilitation)

Review paper - Infrastructure development in the Himalayas

The second review paper of a series being brought out by the High Himalaya Forum advocacy initiative, was published on Himalayan Voices portal. Over the past two centuries, the Himalayan natural landscape has seen man trying to conquer it with roads, electricity, communication, as technology takes quantum leaps to triumph over the vagaries of nature. But the pertinent question that arises is that are we doing justice to the ecology of this invaluable geological and bio-diverse region? The high altitude Himalayan regions, with which we are concerned here, present a number of difficulties to the development of infrastructure. The paper "Infrastructure development in the Himalayas" seeks to highlight the most pressing issues concerning infrastructure development in the high altitude Himalayas, with a special focus on the communities and the ecology of the region. These issues have been culled from the years of experience of the scholars, scientists, researchers, community workers, and the like working in/belonging to these regions. While the debate on these issues will continue for some time to come, this paper simply intends to throw some light on basic realities and take a holistic perspective to offer solutions. (Read the full paper)

Review paper - Perspectives on Climate Change and the Himalayas

The first Review Paper on "Perspectives on Climate Change and the Himalayas" was published on Himalayan Voices as an outcome of a multi-stakeholder participative research. Though the impacts of these vagaries in climate would be felt all across the world, the immediate repercussions are likely to be local; and the Himalayas are especially vulnerable to these impacts. The region suffers from a severe paucity of information on status of climate change and its impacts. There is need for a sound understanding and real-time information on the nature, extent, and impacts of ecological change, such that scientific and appropriate conservation/adaptation planning and action could be undertaken, at the national and global level through area-specific research and micro-level studies involving local communities. The review paper explores some of the most pressing issues in the region pertaining to climate change, the status of research and initiatives by various stakeholders in the region and the gaps that still need to be addressed. (Read the full paper here)

Agricultural implement support for flood affected farmers

Stambardo village is located in Khaltse block of Leh district. Several residents of the village were badly affected by the flash floods in 2010, with many houses severely damaged and the belongings of several households having been washed away. The village is extremely remote and the floods had also washed away the road leading to the village. As a result, the village received very little attention for relief and rehabilitation, from the local authorities, and households affected by the flood have had to, by and large, fend for themselves, and deal with the destruction caused by the floods.

Tashi Angchok (age: 44 years) is a resident of Stambardo village. He is a small farmer with a land holding of 12 ‘canals’ (around 1.5 acre). Tashi’s house was badly damaged and most of his agricultural tools were washed away. Since his livelihood and incomes were severely affected, Tashi could not purchase any replacements of the tools he had lost. Throughout 2011, he had to depend on tools borrowed from other fellow farmers for attending to his farm work. This however meant that he seldom received the tools at the right time for farm operations, since the farmers owning the tools could spare them only after they had completed the farm work in their own fields. This had meant a decline in his crop production. Some farmers had also charged him a small amount for the use of their tools, thus cutting into his agricultural incomes.

In the year 2012, the agricultural implements provided by Pragya under the project have been of great help to Tashi. Tashi says that now he no longer needs to depend on tools borrowed from other farmers and he can attend to farm activities at the right time and can expect a good crop.

(More about Pragya's work on Disaster Management)

Skill building Training for Tour Operators

Pragya held a two-day training for stakeholders related to tourism sector in Tawang district, Arunachal Pradesh. Facilitated by the Ecotourism Enterprise Cluster, the training was aimed at developing entrepreneurship and skill for tour operators and tourist guides in the region along with stimulating stewardship for conservation of the natural wealth. The training session covered: fundamentals of eco-tourism; the tourism policies in India and their significance; business planning; personality development and communication skills; tourist accommodation and hospitality; and eco-tourism as a tool for conserving the natural heritage that the region boasts of. Government officials from the Tourism Department provided valuable insights on sustainable tourism to the participants.