Environmentally friendly livelihood improvement

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Background

Economic development continues to proceed and the Vietnamese government is aiming for Vietnam to become an industrialized country by 2020. However, in the shadow of this economic growth, there is an increasing discrepancy between rural and urban livelihoods. We are therefore continuing to provide aid so that rural villagers may have stable livelihoods, where they are able to make full use of various types of information in order to build prosperous communities.

Summary of activities

1. Environmentally friendly livelihood improvement and community building in Hoabinh Province

In 1999, we created "Community Development Committees" in five villages in Tanlac district of Hoabinh Province. JVC aims to use these committees as focal points through which the villagers can initi-ate and implement projects in response to issues that they themselves identify. Since 2003, we have been implementing environmental education and environ-mentally friendly sustainable agriculture projects in Nam Son and Bac Son villages.

In 2005, we invited an community development specialist from Minamata town to carry out a training programme designed to help the local people to re-discover the charms of the local area and its resources (nature, ancient wisdom and technical skills). The results of this training proved to be useful in the envi-ronmental education curriculum of the elementary and junior high school students.

In 2006 we have been facilitating training sessions, workshops and farmers' meetings with the aim of deepening the local community's understanding of environmental issues and sustainable agriculture.

2. Forest conservation and secure livelihoods (Sonla Province)

JVC has been providing aid to support forest con-servation and secure livelihoods in Coma village, Thuan Chau district, Sonla Province. In a project aimed at the minority Mon people who live in Coma village, we have been supporting the local people to manage the natural resources in the area. We are working to increase awareness regarding sustainable agriculture that minimises harm to the environment and allows the local people to jointly manage the forest.

In 2005 we saw some positive changes, for exam-ple, by means of the joint forest management mecha-nism the local people took a self-guided decision to plant trees. Furthermore, yields increased when the fertiliser from the training sessions was used in the fields.

In 2006, we worked to expand knowledge of the complex farming and livestock rearing techniques that we had used thus far. As such, we selected model farming households that could act as leaders in the villages and we have been conveying our message through them with a focus on technology. In doing so, we are supporting the exchange of knowledge and technology amongst the local people.