Project Name: Protection and Promotion of Natural Resource Management Systems in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (PPNRM)

Donor: Misereor (Germany)

Total Budget: 21, 25 000

Staff: Four

Duration: October 2007 to September 2010

Working Area: Two villages of Khabakhali Union, Dighinala Upazilla

Participants : 906 (391 male, 379 female, 136 children) PPNRM works with the households of Khetrapur and Jorabridge, two remote, hilly villages with little access to basic services. Cultivable land is limited, and villagers depend on jhum farming to survive.

Project Purpose:‘To revive and strengthen social ownership over land and natural resources through the promotion of indigenous agro-forestry practices’

Project Summary: Through PPNRM, TUS supports the formation and activities of ‘Para Development Committees’ (PDCs), village-based organisations responsible for leading development activities and the protection of natural resources in their communities.
PPNRM works with PDCs and community and traditional leaders in the area, building their capacity to sustainably manage the natural resources and development of their villages. PDCs organise monthly village meetings to discuss development activities, and the futures of their villages. TUS staff support these meetings, and include regular awareness-sessions on basic health, hygiene, education and natural resource management issues.
In each of the villages, TUS has supported communities to prepare a three-year ‘Community Development Plan’, outlining hopes for their development and protection of their land and resources. With the help of the plans and ongoing capacity-building and awareness-raising TUS staff, PDCs have already started bringing changes to their communities. For example, they have applied for, and received, government funds for new village facilities, including dams and hygienic latrines.
TUS organises a series of capacity-building trainings for PDC members and communities. Training for PDC members, including on organisational development, financial transactions and record-keeping, leadership skills and conflict resolution, has helped ensured they have the skills and knowledge they need to function as organisations and lead their communities’ development.
Training on ‘Legal Rights’ and ‘Legal Counselling for Natural Resource Management’, with support from Khagrachari Bar Association, has helped communities to understand land registration processes, and their rights over their land and resources.
The TUS-supported 'Mouza Advisory Committee', including TUS staff, community members, mouza headmen and local government representatives, gives additional advice to communities on land utilization and registration processes. PDCs have now started to register their communities’ land, a significant step in securing ownership of their land, and protection of their environment.
Events celebrating indigenous culture, such as workshops on ‘Indigenous Knowledge, Women's Knowledge and Sustainable Development’, have helped recognise the role of indigenous knowledge in the preservation of natural resources, and traditional practices that can be used for sustainable development. Discussions on gender, such as through workshops on 'Gender and Inheritance Rights' have helped to raise awareness of women's role in decision-making and development processes in the communities.
In each village, TUS has worked with PDCs to develop a ‘Community Nursery’, run collectively by the community. With TUS support, PDCs have chosen suitable sites, and begun collecting and planting seeds and saplings. TUS has also organised a series of trainings facilitated by Upazila Agricultural Officers on ‘Nursery Management’ for community members, helping to ensure the nurseries’ success.
TUS has also supported PDCs to develop and manage ‘Community Solidarity Funds’, allowing villagers to save without individual bank accounts. Families can borrow money at low interest rates to start income generation projects, like vegetable gardens, or in times of emergency.
Phase One of the project has recently been completed. In 2010, the project will start Phase Two, in which it will also expand to an additional five villages. In the seven villages in which it will work, TUS will continue to support communities to lead their villages' development and protect their land and natural resources.

Reference Contact Details:
Dr. Josef Sayer
Secretary of the Bishops’ Subcommission for MISEREOR
NEED TO ADD ADDRESS
Phone:+49(0)241/442-0
Telefax:+49(0)241/442-188