In TouchTarayana Newsletter

Vol 7 Issue 2 February 2015Service from the heart

“Compassion is not religious business, it is human business, it

is not luxury, it is essential for our own peace and mental stability, it is essential

for human survival.”

~ Dalai Lama

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From The Editor

February has been an action packed month for all of us as we welcomed in the Wood Sheep Year on the 19th and celebrated the 35th birth anniversary of His Majesty The King on the 21st with various national and regional events to mark the joyous occasion. At Tarayana, we rededicated ourselves to do our best in the service of the rural communities, to make ourselves worthy of the benevolence and support we continue to receive from the throne.

We have completed the field consultations for REAP II project save for the sites in Gasa, which will take place only in April. The team is currently fine-tuning the work plans drawn up jointly with the communities of the target villages. Some of the activities that are season bound have already been listed and placed on the priority schedule to be rolled out in early March.

Good progress has also been made in implementing the jointly planned activities for the NAPA project in Tsirang and Samtse Dzongkhags. The sites in Pemagatshel and Mongar will begin in May. The technical input of our Water Harvesting Specialist has been very educational both for the Tarayana team as well as for the local communities. She is helping to put in place location specific sustainable plans to manage the local ecologies at the grassroots, through the use of local resources.

All our 33 Buzip (ECCD) facilitators are back in their respective Centres after availing a week long refresher course and are getting ready to open for a year of expanding young minds creatively.

As the trees turn colour, and the biting cold gives way to the approach of spring, there is a lot of excitement in the air as we continue to serve our remote communities.

Enjoy reading about what has kept us busy this month. ~Tashi Delek~ NAPA Field visit to Tsirang & Samtse

NAPA II - Climate-resilient Water Harvesting for Rural Areas

National Adaptation Programme of Actions (NAPAs) provides a process for Least Developed Countries (LDCs) to identify priority activities that respond to their urgent and immediate needs to adapt to climate change – those for which further delay would increase vulnerability and/or costs at a later stage. For the NAPA II in Bhutan, the objective is to “enhance national, local and community capacity to prepare for and respond to climate-induced multi-hazards to reduce potential losses of human lives, national economic infrastructure, livelihoods, and livelihood assets”. The National Environment Commission is the executing agency with Tarayana Foundation as one of the local implementing partners. The project period is from January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2017 and Tarayana is working with 20 communities in 4 Dzongkhags to promote climate-resilient water harvesting practices among the poor rural communities. The table below lists project target areas and intended number of beneficiaries. These have been identified based on poverty incidence, occurrence of water scarcity, and presence of Tarayana Foundation at the grassroots level:

Dzongkhag Gewog Villages/ Hamlets No. of intended

beneficiariesMongar Kengkhar Murung 15 hhs

Nanaric 15 hhsShingchongri 15 hhsTongla 15 hhsTsalabi 15 hhsYudaric 15 hhs

Samtse Dophuchen Lotokuchu Jigme 33 hhsLotokuchu Singye 48 hhsLotokuchu Wangchuck 17 hhsLumbey 14 hhs

Tsirang Tsirang-toe Tsirang-toe 20 hhsKapasing 25 hhsThaktsang 25 hhsTongsingnang 20 hhs

Pemagatshel Chimung Redingla 6 hhsChimung 40 hhsNyasjhar 25 hhs

Dungmin Mikuri 30 hhsBangyul 30 hhsTeptepla 10 hhs

Tarayana has completed community mobilization in these communities to bring the community members on board to ensure active participation and ownership of the project right from the start and has completed a baseline survey to identify suitable water harvesting and management options and approaches, and secondly to collect a set of baseline indicators/ benchmarks for assessing impact of the project in future.

Along with the Tarayana team, an international consultant visited the project sites in Tsirang and Samtse in January-February 2015 to identify potential solutions to the water scarcity issues in Tsirang and water management issues in Samtse.

The project is funded by Global Environment Facility with an allocation of USD 315,000 towards Tarayana’s activities.

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Integrated water harvesting and management schemes will constitute an important component in implementing activities under NAPA II. As part of the field visit the project team travelled to Tsirang and Samtse districts to undertake a detailed study of the selected local villages. At Tarayana, we strongly believe that the holistic solutions for water harvesting need to emerge locally from community based water issues. There is often an assumption that solutions can be delivered by external consultants without really having to understand the local context. It became clear for the team and the community members that local sustainability solutions must not only emerge locally but should also be designed in simple and practical ways. Most of the “expert-driven-capital-intensive” solutions often do not work as sufficient time and energy is not invested in understanding local realities.The team was exposed to the complex interconnectedness of water issues. It became very clear that there is no “one-size-fits-all” solution and providing rainwater harvesting is but a small step in the right direction.If scant rains and extreme water stress were the main problems in Tsirang villages; water management, dealing with swollen streams in the monsoon was the concern of Samtse villagers – thus making the solution strategies very different for both regions.

The highlight of the field trip for the team was to learn that disturbed eco-systems – due to intense terrace farming or slash and burn and road construction - wreaks havoc in the local eco-systems. As in any disturbed eco-system, there is a proliferation of non-native species (alien vegetation) taking over banks of waterways, springs, streams and road verges. These non-native species are impacting groundwater recharge as well as in some places may be linked to the total disappearance of local springs and streams.The field trip made the team realize the fragile balance and interconnectedness of eco-systems. When the fine balance is under threat there is a gradual collapse. Shortage or excess rains both are indicators of this collapse in eco-system balance. Providing locally adaptable solutions that are climate resilient means coming to grips with the changing micro-eco-systems in our remote villages so each region can come up with appropriate integrated solutions which are sustainable in the long run.

Nirmala NairSchool of Practical Sustainability Cape Town, South Africa

Findings from the NAPA II Field visit

1. Erosion from road Construction2. Ferns that grow close to waterways3. Waterfall in the Lotokuchu region4. Slash & Burn (Samtse)5. Tree & moss indicator of water (Samtse)

6. The trees and aerial roots thriving in the forest eco-system7. Tsirang-Thakthang forest waterfall8. Waterfall even in dry season (Samtse)9. Caved in road (Samtse)

Consultation meetings for most of the communities identified for the implementation of Rural Economy Advancement Programme (REAP II) has been completed. The meetings were conducted in the presence of local leaders and gewog extension officers. The consultation process included problem analysis, finding local solutions to the existing problems, resource mapping and prioritizing the needs of the communities. Through the series of consultation meetings and focused group discussions, the following were prioritized by all the communities:

Housing improvement; Livelihood activities/Income generating activities like poultry, dairy, handicrafts and agricultural activities; Marketing of farm produce and products; Electric Fencing; sanitation and land management were the other priorities on their list.

Besides the consultation meeting, Focus Group Discussions were also carried out for women and youth through which specific issues were identified. Most of the sites are located in very far flung areas which require a good two days trek from the nearest road. It was observed that majority of the communities now have access to electricity however, there are villages where very little or no development interventions were made so far. One such example is Fetena and Sektena under Sektena chiwog in Gakiling gewog, Haa Dzongkhag. These communities have no access to any facilities as such, and the School and BHU are two hours and two days away respectively. Implementations of the activities are scheduled to start in March. Currently, the team is fine-tuning the work plan for each community.

Findings from the REAP Consultation Meetings

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Surgical Camp

Tarayana Foundation will be organizing a restorative surgical camp in collaboration with Dr.Jack Demos, Surgicorps International and Ministry of Health from 25th April till 5th May at Paro Hospital for the Correction of cleft-lips, cleft palates, burns and also for people mauled by wild animals. Anyone wishing to avail of the opportunity is requested to register with the

Foundation at the earliest to ensure proper registration and planning.Contact us at: 329333; 17323696, 17942719, 17618467 Fax: 331433 email:tarayana2003@gmail.com, Postal address: Tarayana Foundation,

TarayanaCentre, Chubachu,Thimphu, PO box#2003

Our new range of products at Tarayana’s Rural Crafts Outlet

produced by our rural artisans.

If you are interested in any of the products kindly contact us at +02339510 or leave us an email

tarayana2003@gmail.com. We also take in orders.

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Tarayana Foundation, P.O. Box 2003, Tarayana Center, Chubachu, Thimphu, BhutanPhone: 975-2-329-333 Fax: 975-2-331-433 tarayana@druknet.bt

www.tarayanafoundation.org 3

Upcoming EventsMarch 2015

March : Implementation of REAP

March 15th-20th : Wadah Global Gathering

Support Tarayana We invite you to be a part of reaching out to the most vulnerable members of our society through your support to Tarayana. We operate with financial support of

individuals and organizations, without which we would not have the opportunity of helping so many families help themselves. Tarayana complements and

supplements the initiatives of the Government in empowering rural communities towards sustainable livelihoods.

The Foundation maintains its accounts in accordance with accepted financial norms and is audited annually by the Royal Audit Authority of Bhutan. An

audited financial report and an annual progress report are published every year and is available for all interested individuals and organizations.

Please contact us for more information.

A Community Technician Training on construction of Energy Efficient Fuelwood Stove was conducted on the 1st to 7th of February at Dechen-Pelri under Samtenling Gewog. There were 17 participants from twelve gewogs under Sarpang Dzongkhag, trained in construction and maintenance of two pot cooking stove and fodder stove. As a result of the training, two sets of cooking and fodder stoves were constructed at the School and Community Lhakhang (temple) under Dechen pelri.

The participants are now responsible for constructing the allocated eco stoves in their respective villages or gewogs, hereafter. The Training was organized by Tarayana Foundation with technical support from the Department of Renewable Energy (MoEA).

Eco-Stove Training

Community Radio

A MOU on Community Radio (CR) was signed between SDC (Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation Bhutan) and Tarayana Foundation on the 6th of February, 2015 with funding support from SDC. Tarayana in collaboration with Ministry of Information and Communications (MOIC) is piloting the CR in two identified sites; Samtse and Sarpang. The First phase of the project will commence in Dechenpelri, Sarpang. Currently the Technical Consultants are in the field along with officials from MOIC and Tarayana Foundation, conducting assessment for the Community Radio.

The six-month long training for trainers (TOT) on Social Inclusion was successfully completed on 31st January, 2015. Our Programme officer Ms. Wangmo got the opportunity to work with three different Social Welfare Services institutes of Bussi-en helping people with severe mental retardation & physical challenges. The training started with site visits & orientation programmes of all Bussi-En sites, followed by a three-day lecture session on disable welfare, gentle teaching, mental retardation & epilepsy. The practical attachment programme opportunity to work in different fields proved to be very effective. Ms.Wangmo was assigned to multi tasking and management of overall office of the Bussi-En social services and meanwhile learnt of their systematic and enriching ways.For more info, please visit: http://www.tarayanafoundation.org/?p=1222

Outdoor trips with Bussi-en Client Cleaning Onsen hotspring

Working in restaurants & supporting lunch for clients

Two Pot Cooking stove

Fodder Stove

Upcoming EventsMarch 2015

March : Implementation of REAP

March 15th-20th : Wadah Global Gathering

The Social Inclusion Training