Consultation/Trainng with Armenia Round Table

In August 2006, a representative from the World Council of Churches Armenia Inter-Church Round Table attended Village Earth/IISD's two week flagship training in Participatory Practices for Sustainable Development at Colorado State University. She quickly saw the applicability of Village Earth's approach to sustainable community-based development for the network of organization that her organization supports in Armenia. Before the end of the training at CSU she had already made preliminary arrangements for a team from Village Earth to travel to Armenia to provide training and consultation to A.R.T. and their partner NGO's.

Below is an excerpt from the WCC's web page.

"Through October 20 to November 3, 2006, the Armenia Round Table invited the Consortium for Sustainable Village Based Development “Village Earth” to Armenia with the request to provide consultancy to ART staff in development of ART strategy axe “Integrated Community Development” and provide a training course for ART staff and ART local implementing partners in “Sustainable Village Based Development” to assist with the conceptual development and professional management of ART and its partners.

Throughout the Mission, the ART staff and Village Earth representatives, Ms. Mimi Shinn, Dr. Ed Shinn and Mr. David Bartecchi paid visits to ART supported projects, particularly to “Culture as a tool for Child Development and Socialization” implemented by Cross of Armenian Unity NGO, Establishment of Social Center in Jervezh” implemented by “Youth of Jervezh” NGO, “Establishment of Social Center in Gyumri” implemented by Diocese of Shirak and “Water and Sanitation for Six Communities” implemented by “Caravan-88” NGO and had discussions over project activities and community involvement in projects with clergymen, project managers, educators, youth groups and ordinary villagers.

The site visits and discussions assisted the Mission in its work with the ART staff on the development of the Integrated Community Development proposal.

Following the discussions in the ART and site visits, a training on “Sustainable Village-Based Development” was carried out by Village Earth for ART partners representing Armavir Diocese, Shirak Diocese, Catholic Our Lady of Armenian Center, “Syunik” NGO, “Bolor Sar” NGO, “Caravan-88”, “Cross of Armenian Unity” NGO, “Eco-99“ NGO, “Youth of Jervezh” Cultural-Educational NGO, “Legacy of Perished and Disabled Soldiers” NGO, “Sisian Center for Development” NGO through October 26 to November 1, 2006 in the Writers’ House of Tsakhadzor.

The course introduced the principles of community development approach as elaborated and experienced in Village Earth. The training mainly covered Introduction into Sustainable Village Based Development, Approaches to Village Based Development, Roles of Activator, Service Center, Strategy Planning; the Village Earth provided practical guide for work with communities and shared own experience of development work in communities.

In the result of general and groups’ discussions participants created models of Service Centers, shaped vision of the Center, identified strategic priorities and obstacles that can impede the work and achievements of Centers.

The training was inter-active and participants were engaged with group work and discussions, expressed their thoughts and opinions on points at issues, suggested different solutions to obstacles. An important fact worth mentioning is that good relations were established among participants, which was contributory to the development of ART partners’ network.

The Mission in general was successful in terms of comprehending the local context in relatively short time and providing consultancy and training relevant to local needs. Based on the experience of the training, evaluation of the training and feedback by its participants, the ART would like to continue cooperation with Village Earth."

Microenterprise Development in Nashik, India

180 km northeast of Mumbai in Maharashtra state lays Nashik, India, an ancient city and a place of pilgrimage for Hindus. It is fast becoming an important industrial center for Western Maharashtra. Village Earth has focused on the rural area surrounding Nashik, which consists of 12 villages with around 2000 people each. The population of these rural areas consists of three major groups: Adivasi tribal members who are mostly landless laborers; Maratha Hindu farmers who are mostly small land holders; and Neo-Buddhists who are a combination of small land holders and landless laborers. Originally, eighty-percent of the population was solely dependent on agricultural activities that could only take place during the monsoon season. Once the harvest was over they would become migrant workers and flock to the city. After the monsoon season, the community also experienced a shortage of both drinking and irrigation water. This lack of water led to undernourishment and poor health of many vulnerable community members especially children.

Village Earth worked with these communities and developed a multi-sectored and sustainable village development plan that evolved from the villager’s aspirations. The villager’s selected three areas as being of the highest priority:

Economic Self-Sufficiency:

• To provide additional water for farmers to be able to grow more than one crop per year.
• To implement a large-scale watershed management effort.
• To establish a loan fund and micro-credit for entrepreneurs to start micro-enterprises.
  

Social Self-Reliance:

• To work in partnership with local government schemes that provide health services and mid-day meals to school children
• To establish an environmental rehabilitation program
• To assist schools with funding for basic materials such as books and upgraded flooring
• To improve computer literacy amongst the children
• To create an awareness program for women on health and family planning, as well as womens' literacy classes
  

Empowered Village Governance:

• To develop community organizations and training programs in sustainable community development
• To link up with single sector development and funding agencies
• To create local governing boards to give the community a voice in government.
  

Micro-Finance Loan Fund

To accomplish these goals, Village Earth worked with the communities to formulate a strategic plan of action. One action that has already been implemented was the establishment of a micro-finance loan fund for entrepreneurs to start small businesses.

Micro-finance has been established as an effective way to help economically-challenged rural people become self-dependent. One method of micro-finance is a savings-based program in which members of the community put their own money into a fund that is then lent out to members who wish to start small businesses. Initial money for starting the fund was provided the Village Earth INVEST fund. The loans associated with these funds are on the order of $50 to $500 equivalent in local currency. For larger projects that require more capital outlay, another type of fund is necessary. This is where the Village Earth Micro-Finance Loan Fund comes in to play, which provides loans from $500 to $5000 equivalent in local currency.

The Village Earth Micro-Finance Loan Fund is made available to developing communities supported by a local NGO that has established a relationship with Village Earth. Prior to establishing a specific fund for a community, the community will have participated in strategic planning event to establish a long-tern vision and a strategy for achieving it. Furthermore, they will have developed organizational structures and action plans to support their strategies.

Many small businesses have already been initiated using money from the Micro-Finance Loan Fund such as:

• An autorickshaw/ taxi/ ambulance service
• Three grocery stores
• A festival/ special events service provider
• A sugarcane juice stall
• A computer literacy institute
• A women’s agricultural trading cooperative
• A drinking water delivery business
  

After the loan fund was established and many small businesses had been established, the further economic development of this area was handed over to our partner specializing in economic development, Ecselance International.

According to a recent report from Vinod Parekh, Gramadoya Project Director, "We handed over the rural development project to the village based entity called GSBG , a self help group launched by us which is run by the youth we have trained. The micro finance project which has been adjudged a ' role model' by an Indian Bank and emulated by several banks in Malaysia is also being governed by them after they returned the loan with 5% interest to EI this January – 2 years before the stipulated timeline!

Azerbaijan Cluster Development Program

In 2001 Village Earth was invited by the International Rescue Committee to help them make the transition from temporary relief for internally displaced peoples to a longer term approach to integrated community-based development throughout the entire southern region of Azerbaijan (approximately three million people). To accomplish this, Village Earth was contracted to provide training, consultation, and evaluation support. In particular, IRC was interested in Village Earth's approach of Clustering Villages into Resource Access Networks (RACs) and linking organizations and resources through regional Service Centers.

The service center is grounded in the practical resource needs of rural areas. Its five basic functions include:

• Training locally-appointed Internal Activators and Sector Specialists to collaborate with and train other villagers to implement action plans.
• Providing support for village planning and program implementation, developing links to private and public resource institutions.
• Providing appropriate technologies and other resources needed to meet locally defined objectives.
• Facilitating village and inter-village consultations and decision making.
• Monitoring and Evaluation.
  

A Resource Access Network(RAN) involves a collection of 25 to 40 villages that come together in order to mobilize and provide necessary resources, with an aggregate population of approximately 35,000 to 50,000 people. Village Earth identifies two major role-sets within an RAU, namely, to build the capacity of:

• The NGO and external, activating staff serving the villages in an RAU.
• The village leadership, already described, to operate in a participatory, problem- solving mode with enhanced productive skills.
• The center functions to link people with essential social, economic, technical and financial resources to enhance their own self and community development, eventually building linkages with private and public sectors and become a focal point for development activities at the regional level.
  

The goals of the program included:

1. To establish legitimate, accountable and self-sufficient community-based organizations (CBOs) enhancing civil society development at the community and cluster levels.
2. To promote demand-driven, multi-sector (agricultural, technical, business) economic opportunities inciting expansive market activity.
3. To strengthen community involvement in the access to self-identified and prioritized services (health, infrastructure, education).

The key to sustainability is empowering local people to build linkages with each other, to their local resources, and to the resourc institutions of the broader society. We are very excited about the work IRC has done thus far to help make this happen in Southern Azerbaijan. By our estimation IRC has gone further than any organization we have seen to date in their implementation of the Village Earth Approach to Sustainable Development. A strong foundation of community organizations has been built and sustainable access to resources is being created.

Village Earth/HELPO Microfinance Project in Pune, India

Microfinance has proven itself as a powerful force in village-based development around the world. It empowers the villagers, especially women, bringing economic success to once impoverished families. The significance of microfinance in a developing world is currently reflected in the emphasis of the work of Village Earth. which views microfinance as one part of a holistic approach in which all aspects of sustainable village based development are integrated and complement one another.

Villages need greater access to financial resources and general business skills. Taking this need into account, Village Earth and the HELPO foundation of Pune, India formed a memorandum of understanding (MOU), defining their partnership. Through Village Earth’s partnership with the HELPO foundation, over 3400 families have economically benefited by the formation of 170 Community Savings Groups (CSG’S) in Pune. These CSG’s exist in some of the most remote areas of India.

The microfinance approach that the HELPO foundation employs, widely known as the savings-led approach, is unique in the world of microfinance. The savings-led approach emphasizes asset building rather than the creation of a larger base of debt, one of the most prevalent obstacles facing the developing world. HELPO overcomes this obstacle by providing the savings alternative.

As of March 1st, 2002, 170 CSG’s have been established in 70 villages with in the Pune District of the state of Maharastra, India. With approximately 20 members of each group, roughly 3400 women and their families have begun to feel the economic benefits of microfinance.

The village of Veer within the Pune District serves as a concrete example of the growth of the HELPO foundations efforts. Veer is a remote village of roughly 7000 individuals, whose principal economic activity is horticulture due to the abundance of water resources. Within Veer there are 18 CSG’s in existence, of which 16 are composed of women and 2 are composed of men. In April 2002, a training center for the manufacture of cloth bags enabled women to learn entrepreneurial skills that allows them to establish their own businesses, with the start up capital being furnished from the loans available to them from the CSG’s to which they belong.

The overwhelming success of this microfinance work by HELPO in India indicates that the saving-led approach to microfinance is a vibrant, self-replicating approach to economic improvement that can be applied in poverty-stricken areas around the world. It is for this reason that Village Earth seeks to expand its microfinance program, carefully evaluating the success of the CSG’s in Pune, and spreading this approach to other areas of the Village Earth involvement.

Doctorate Program in Sustainable Development at Trisakti University, Indonesia

In Fall of 1995, the Director of Private Universities visited Colorado State University and met extensively with Dr. Albertson and Dr. Shinn. He was desirous of obtaining assistance with the involvement of private universities in his oversight in effective rural development practice and implementation. Fifteen professors and university administrators attended the training course offered by the International Institute for Sustainable Development called "Participatory Practices for Sustainable Development." Over the years short courses held in Indonesia for more than 100 private and some public universities. A consensus developed to build a sustainable village based development program in which universities would have both a rural and an urban project of approximately forty to fifty thousand persons to access needed resources. In the year 2000, it is anticipated that a number of courses will be held to train indigenous university personnel through the IISD in sustainable village-based development.

In a visit held in February & March, 1999, Trisakti University, the largest of the private universities in Indonesia, asked Village Earth to assist it in developing a Ph.D. Program in Sustainable Village (both urban and rural) Based Development. During February of 2000 Dr. Albertson, Dr. Shinn and Mrs. Shinn will participate in conducting two courses in Jakarta at Trisakti University as a part of the first year of the Ph.D. program.

In all projects, Village Earth:CSVBD works to establish a working relation between the project site and one or more nearby universities. This is especially needed to establish and maintain a credible Monitoring and Evaluation program