Participatory approaches to watershed area planning and management:

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1 Page 1 of 5 Participatory approaches to watershed area planning and management: Participatory Watershed Management in Hoanh Bo District Quang Ninh Province PROJECT BACKGROUND Project GCP/VIE/019/BEL "Participatory Watershed Management in Hoanh Bo District" has been operational since October The general objective of the project is to support the Government of Vietnam (the representatives are Quang Ninh Province People's Committee and Hoanh Bo District People's Committee) in sustainable management of natural resources in the protected watershed forest area of the Yen Lap reservoir. This objective is implemented through: "An active involvement of local communities in the watershed's management and development suited to the production needs and socioeconomic systems of local communities. In particular, care should be taken to improve farmers' and community capacity in management, utilisation and protection of forest lands, as well as ensuring enhanced food production and food security. Related effects are sustainable improvement of incomes and general living standards, development of methods suitable to planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating local development activities and increasing farmers' self-effort in management and conservation of their land resources.. Documentation of the process simultaneously contributes to the dissemination of experience and information to the national policy level." The project was originally conceived as a single commune integrated natural resources management project whose objective was to pilot methodologies and technologies for subsequent wider application. Project duration was set at 36 months. To improve the relevance of its capacity to generate experience the project has been scaled-up to cover 3 communes (11 villages). The increase in geographical coverage has been accompanied by a one year increase in duration. Project changes take place within the framework of the existing budget. A PARTICIPATORY APPROACH OVER THE WHOLE PROJECT CYCLE Community involvement to increase the strength and capacity of local inhabitants in watershed management is set out as an objective and facility to implement the project. Starting from this, the project cycle involves an iterative process of participatory planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation (M&E). After an initial participatory planning phase, more than a year of implementation has passed in the first commune. Detailed planning activities for the launching of project activities in added communes were recently completed (mid 1997). For this purpose planning methodology was modified to a more detailed and goaloriented level. Planning, in 8 villages, was carried out following 5 parallel streams corresponding to individual project components: Irrigation renovation and management Field crop and orchard management Livestock and veterinary management Forestry management and protection Savings and credit. The project's participatory character matches intensive involvement in local planning with strong. demands on local responsibility-sharing. This applies for all aspects of project activities ranging from Organisation and management to local financial and in kind (labour) contributions. Participatory monitoring and evaluation mechanisms originally introduced on a more formal basis are gradually taking root as part of the regular village/commune planning cycle. These M&E exercises are especially helpful in exposing and addressing organisational and managerial problems.

2 Page 2 of 5 Initial entry points for extension At its start, the project looked for entry points with the potential to show early success and impact. A combination of animal husbandry/veterinary extension and training of local savings and credit groups was initially selected. Animal husbandry was selected for its relatively commercially oriented production focus and short term return on capital investment. Savings and credit (S&C) were chosen because of their complementary character to the first, component and the perceived strong demand for improved savings and investment capacity. The selection of S&C as an early component meant that the presence and relative organisational strength of the local Women's Union chapter also played an important role. Following early interventions in both areas, other components such as irrigation renovation and management, cropping trials and demonstrations, and forest management and protection, have all gradually begun. Extension activities form an important aspect of the project where household production interventions are concerned. Savings and credit structures in the commune combined with existing credit as well as new VBA guarantee-fund based interventions support the process of agricultural diversification resulting from household-oriented extension activities. Thus, the project's working concept of extension can be described as: "Provision of a combined package supporting household assessment of production needs, institutionally supported technical options and design of on-farm testing and demonstrations, farmer-led selection of technical option's and, ultimately, organisational support in scaling up and the diffusion of preferred options. The whole-process of extension is seen as the strengthening of the inter-linked local data and information collection and dissemination approach. This takes place on a two directional basis leading to careful selection, introduction and training in relevant technical messages." Utilisation of local human resource capacity The project is district based and by its nature prefers strong reliance on technical human resource capacities available at this level and below. Concentration on district capacities is very important in terms of possible replication and sustainability of future project interventions. By bringing district technical staff under contract to the project, the weight of extension implementation responsibility and related training lies with them. To broaden the scope of technical options, assist in trial design, monitoring and evaluation of results as well as reporting, the project relies further on specialised technical support contracts with national consultants and central level institutions such as the Hanoi Agriculture University No. 1. Approaches to technical development Initial project supported field level extension has been strongly training based. Important issues, such as improvements in the para-veterinary system, were set up through sustained training and follow-up inputs by district veterinary staff. Paddy-and maize trials as well as IPM classes started crop-based extension activities. A major goal of the project is to provide high density, highly visible, but relatively small-scale trials and demonstrations in various sectors of local interest. Regular district organised and supported farmer observations of trials secure a further increase of their visibility. Cropping trials and demonstrations culminate in well advertised harvesting and measurement exercises followed by the calculation of the.. comparative benefits of different varieties and treatments. Trials and demonstrations take place on the basis of limited input supply by the project (new variety seeds and fertiliser and insurance of the crop against failure or production losses). For instance, specific training in orchard improvement and homegarden management including nursery multiplication techniques were followed by practical implementation of small-scale orchards which are fully farmer financed. Small-scale contract nurseries for forest tree species were also established. Here the project provides technical training and follow up, partial inputs on a cost recoverable basis and purchase guarantee for one year supply of quality produce. Recently fodder crop trials were started in 3 communes with a total of 18 households. Again this activity starts with a strong training input (this time facilitated by the Ba Vi Goat and Rabbit Research Centre). Trials are also contracted, including purchase guarantee of seeds or vegetative produce for a maximum of 100m 2 / participating household.

3 Page 3 of 5 Approach to development of local extension organisation At its start, the project on purpose avoided the creation of local extension interest groups or a village contract extension network. It was judged opportune to first build up a relationship of mutual knowledge, information and trust between the commune and the project. Familiarisation with the project approach by commune leadership and members on the one side and identification of actual commune capacities by the project on the other side form important ingredients for the creation of eventually more permanent local extension structures. After the participatory planning phase the project responded to the technical issues which were raised by investing in training and securing a geographically balanced spread of trainees in the project area. Training and follow up visits to trainees by district and project staff have greatly contributed to gradual identification and strengthening of specialised interests and capacities which are locally available. It has to be accepted that some training investment remains under-utilised due to incorrect selection of trainees and shortcomings in the quality of the training itself. However, a fair percentage of the households at whom training, follow up trials and support were targeted are able to use and commercialise their new knowledge. Such persons may eventually form the core of more formal information distribution networks at the commune level, if the local authorities decide to promote such services in the communes. Altogether, this approach, which initially arose from the absence of a clearly defined local extension structure, is seen as more cost effective than continued long term external support to local extension networks. Increasing local capacity to experiment with new technologies Equally important to the specific technical message presented is increasing the local capacity to experiment with newly available technology. It is this capacity the project attempts to enhance on as broad a scale as possible. Good quality practical experience and comparison of benefits by trained farmers is required to carry technological interventions beyond the perimeter of their farm. This should be achieved on the basis of renewed desire and capacity to access new information and test such new information on a limited scale using locally generated investment capacity and marketing information as well as improved access to credit. With the two cycles of trials and demonstrations completed in one commune and the second cycle underway in all 3 communes it is too early to gauge adoption and diffusion rates for selected technical messages. In the first commune, 14 households were involved in maize and paddv trials, while 30 households (partly overlapping with those involved in trials) participated. in IPM classes. In the case of crops and fruit tree extension, direct supported interventions will span 1 full year in each commune. After this period, follow up visits will continue until the end of the project. For the first project commune a detailed study on the adoption and diffusion rates of technical messages will be carried out at the end of this year. Trials and demonstrations in all three communes will include the additional involvement of about 20 households. IPM classes were also completed in new communes. Surveys for other crops are carried out by the combined district/university teams and will ultimately result in more trials and demonstrations for such crops as peanuts, sweet potato and cassava. Rates of diffusion for the provision of veterinary services and improvement of animal housing are satisfactory. During a recent livestock disease epidemic substantially higher rates of vaccination and treatment by trained para-vets were reached in comparison to nearby villages lacking such services. Campaigns resulted in high survival rates of treated animals. Improved pig sty models are increasingly adopted on the basis of households own and borrowed investment capital. Six households in the first commune have so far been involved in orchard expansion while another six households are active in contract based forest tree seedling production. As mentioned above, the project also promotes trials with fodder crop species with a total of 18 households in 3 communes. Market information In support of technical initiatives the project also addresses the 'issues of marketing information and marketing Organisation. Market surveys are currently on-going or completed for lychee, forest products and pigs (meat and breeding), in close co-operation with local producers, district and province. Marketing studies are carried out with assistance of the National Economics University in Hanoi. The supply of information tailored to production development potential from a commercial perspective is very important to appropriate household decision-making on long-term production strategies.

4 Page 4 of 5 The need for district level extension co-ordination One of the major experiences learnt from the present efforts in extension is the need for district level coordination of its services. At present services related to agricultural extension are fragmented between various institutions. Even though individual players are at times virtually sharing offices, there exists a dire need for improvement of interagency co-ordination and improvement of the quality of communication and information supply. This is especially important as these institutions are the main conduit for the supply of external information on technological development in the communes. If institutional information exchange proves problematic to the extent occasionally experienced by the project, this evidently also applies for the quality of communication and information supply at farm level. An important underlying factor in the success of the process is the capacity of involved staff to adopt, and have confidence in, a more participatory style of working. This capacity stems from such factors as recognising the capacity of colleagues and well as one's own weaker points and the strength of local knowledge and understanding. Such traits happen to be highly individual and cannot always be transferred through a learning process. The need for local solutions to local needs Future development of extension systems needs to take into account the highly variable conditions of both the physical and institutional extension environment in Vietnam. There is an obvious need for local solutions to Organisation and information dissemination, such solutions cannot be blue printed. Specific roles of institutional actors at different levels need to be more clearly defined. At present there often exists practical overlap in functions between central, provincial and district levels. Extension needs to be increasingly seen as a demand-driven rather than target-driven affair (e.g., the number of models established). This implies there is a need for monitoring the impact of diffusion and adaptation of such messages that do not meet its basic criteria. Compare this to a shop keeper taking commodities off the shelf which have not been sold for a substantial period of time. A clear focus on the development of appropriate extension and (applied) research linkages and entry points for information at various levels, is also of great importance. Since successful extension of technical messages needs to be under-pinned by sound production economics, there is a need to sharply reduce the levels of subsidised inputs during introductory phases. The establishment of extension budgets in many provinces reflect an exceedingly high material input component in relation to available budget for other aspects of extension. Rather start dissemination on a small-scale and increase diffusion on the strength of the message instead of promoting a message on the basis of an in-built subsidy which is difficult, if not impossible, to remove from the consumer afterwards. Extension and credit relationships The Project's working concept of rural savings and credit can be stated as "Provision of reliable and easily accessible options for rural savings and credit, which function on the basis of maximum co-operation with local (commune) institutions, with appropriate ownership of savings and credit infrastructure by such institutions. In order to secure a useful level of savings mobilisation, quality management and financial sustainability in locally managed schemes, it is important to work on an acknowledged and transparent regulatory basis with realistic market level interest rates." Obviously there exist linkages between extension and credit. Technology which increases profitability is made available through extension and often requires initially higher levels of externally supported investment. Apart from the supplementary character between credit and extension, however, the project sees no other direct linkages. Provision of extension services requires a separate set of skills from delivery of credit and the two should not be mixed. For instance, in the case of guarantee fund supported VBA loans, bank staff responsible for agricultural loan appraisal needs basic knowledge about agricultural enterprise and product market conditions. Such staff while in need of sound economic knowledge does not require detailed knowledge in regard of production technology. Technical staff involved in transfer of information require specific production skills. Such skills however are applied in a predetermined production and marketing environment. This environment is not formed by technical institutions but merely responded to. Any overlapping functions between extension and

5 Page 5 of 5 credit delivery are in risk of generating loss of credibility when extension messages prove to be commercially invalid and thereby become instrumental in the creation of credit recovery problems.