Tài liệu Annual Report doc

4 Vision & Guiding PrinciplesVision & Guiding Principles Live & Learn Environmental Education’s mission is to reduce poverty and foster greater understanding and action towards a sus

Annual Report

environmental education

www.livelearn.org

With great appreciation The Board

of Trustees and the staff of Live

& Learn Environmental Education

wish to acknowledge the support

and valuable partnerships shared

with organisations, Governments

and communities in fulfilling the

commitments of our work

In particular we thank our major donors; European Union

Australian Agency for International development, New Zealand Agency for International Development, Asian Development Bank, World Bank, United Nations development Programme, United Nations

Children’s Fund, Macarthur Foundation, Packard Foundation, Marisla Foundation, Global Green Grants and Vodafone

Partners & Offices 31

Partners

Australia

International Office

Executive Director: Christian Nielsen

Ross House - 4th Floor

Regional Advisor: Jady Smith

Country Manager: Bunthan Keat

MRC Building, 3rd Floor, Room 303

Maldives

Country Manager:

Fathimath Shafeeqa

H Huba 1st FloorMedhuziyaaraiy MaguMale’ Republic of MaldivesTel: +960 330 3585E: maldives@livelearn.org

Papua New Guinea

Country Manager: Ben Ngava Talesea Local Level Government Offices

PO Box 844 Kimbe, West New Britain Province Papua New Guinea

P: +675 983 4716 P/F: +675 983 4237E: png@livelearn.org

Solomon Islands

Country Manager: Jacob Zukuli DSE Building –Lombi Crescent Street New China Town

PO Box 1454 Honiara – Solomon Islands P: +677 23697/24453 F: +677 24454 E: solomons@livelearn.org

Vietnam

Country Manager: Do Van Nguyet

32 Xuan DieuHanoiVietnamM: +844 371 901 09E: vietnam@livelearn.org

www.livelearn.org

environmental education

Annual Report 2008

Contents

4 Vision & Guiding Principles

Vision & Guiding Principles

Live & Learn Environmental Education’s

mission is to reduce

poverty and foster greater

understanding and action

towards a sustainable

future through education,

community mobilisation

and supportive partnerships

Our Purpose and Aims

• Develop and implement projects and programs for teachers, schools, communities and other target groups in the field of environmental and development education

• Encourage individual and community attitudes, values and actions that are ethical and environmentally sustainable

• Share knowledge, skills, learning experiences and resources with others for the benefit of the physical and human environment

• Promote the integration of environmental, human, cultural and peace concepts in all education projects and programs

Guiding Principles

We believe that local knowledge and global understanding are the starting points in developing an ethic

in environmental and development education Local ownership of environmental and development education programs, open participation and equality remain the foundation of our organisation We aim to strengthen this foundation through the following guiding principles:

• Live & Learn seeks to establish action-based, effective and creative learning models and teaching methodologies of environmental and development issues in the developed and developing world

• Live & Learn emphasises the importance of linking schools, school managers and teachers with the community, chiefs, elders, parents and NGOs so that communities in their entirety are involved with environmental and development education

• Live & Learn promotes attitudes, policies, institutions and practical actions that support community-based education and sustainable development

• Live & Learn advocates and promotes peaceful and humanitarian activities and actions

in recognition that peaceful and cooperative partnerships are a fundamental foundation for building sustainable futures

• Live & Learn strives to work in appropriate partnerships with local teachers, communities, NGOs, and government agencies, respecting their position and addressing their needs

• Live & Learn shares knowledge, information and lessons learnt with national partners and colleagues along with the wider regional and international community

• Live & Learn does not discriminate between gender, race, political opinions, age, sexual preferences

or religion and does at all times promote equality and fairness among staff, beneficiaries and partners

Executive Director’s Report 5

This past year Live & Learn

has focused on diversifying our

support base and networks while

continuing to ensure our work is

grounded in community-based

institutions and organisations

The expansion of many local

economies has seen an increased

interest for natural resources, in

particular; timber, fish and palm oil

Communities need to be able to

continually assess the broad range

of risks that large-scale developments

can bring and–based on such

knowledge and analysis of those

risks–be then able to take charge

of their own development

Live & Learn has continued to

advocate and provide support

for organising and mobilising

communities towards counteracting

increased pressure on natural

resources This includes aligning

community structures and

processes with participatory

principles, transparency and

accountable leadership alongside

empowering all groups within

communities, especially women, to

be advocates for action and change

In the context of Live & Learn’s work

this particularly relates to mobilising

sustainable livelihoods, providing sound environmental management, construction and maintenance of water and sanitation infrastructure, and developing youth leadership

One of the most significant achievements of the past year was the provision of safe drinking water and sanitation to more than 30,000 people in rural island communities

in Papua New Guinea and Fiji Trials

on the development of composting toilets, both in PNG and in Cambodia, were also carried out with promising preliminary results

2007 has also seen a wealth of education resource development;

significantly strengthened by our use of local artists to ensure relevant and familiar illustrations, coupled with professional graphic design to ensure that Live & Learn is at the forefront for meeting high standards and expectations for education materials

All our education resources, research findings and technical reports are available via our website www

livelearn.org and we welcome their use to support other programs and organisations in their work

Climate change, water and forests are three big thematic areas for the year ahead New programmes will commence on sustainable livelihoods and rural learning on the Tonle Sap

in Cambodia; community-based environmental management and

gender training in the Maldives; protection of forest and reef systems

in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands; climate change and avoided deforestation in Vanuatu and peace building and waste management in Fiji

The most valuable asset of Live & Learn is the immense commitment from our staff and network partners towards improving living conditions for thousands of people living in poor and resource-constrained areas This commitment has strengthened with new realities of climate change, lack of food security and conflict and my greatest acknowledgement goes to our staff and managers that are working and living many hours in the field with communities facing difficult challenges This commitment will pave the way for further achievements in the coming years and we will continue to put communities and people at the centre

of everything we do

Christian Nielsen

Executive Director

Executive Director’s Report

Building on strengths and commitment

Board of Trustees

MALDIVES

VANUATU

CAMBODIAAsia Regional Office

Regional Office Country Office In-country Program

AUSTRALIAInternationalOffice

AUSTRALIA

Indigenous Programs

FIJIPacific RegionalOffice

GUINEA

SOLOMON ISLANDS

NAURU

6 Organisational Structure

Organisational Structure

Regional Manager’s Report 7

Live & Learn’s long-term goal is to

establish Regional Management

Teams to encourage greater regional

co-operation, networking and the

conscious development of a regional

identity and focus The Asian regional

program has a focus on Cambodia

and the Maldives Over the past

12 months both country programs

have grown exponentially, now with

more projects and larger teams of

skilled and committed staff that will

continue to work on a range

of challenging issues

The Live & Learn Strategic Vision

2020, completed last year, has helped

to coordinate and focus our approach

The Maldives and Cambodia Live &

Learn teams have made significant

progress on developing their individual

country strategies that complement

and build upon the organisations

Strategic Vision The thematic areas

of priority in the Asia program

include: water sanitation & hygiene,

sustainable use of biodiversity,

environmental governance, natural

of thematic areas and to effectively cover these we have developed strong partnerships to strengthen our approach rather than to duplicate the work of others Ultimately we hope that through such partnerships the communities we work with can gain increased benefits as the activities of different organizations become more coordinated

In the Maldives we have formed some mutually beneficial corporate partnerships such as with ecotourism resorts where we work with their staff and local communities on environmental management issues

One of our larger organizational partnerships has developed for the specific focus of developing

a ‘Floating Latrine Design’ in collaboration with Engineers Without Borders (EWB) as well as other partners This partnership helps us

to maximize the use of action-based approaches: merging the technical engineering skills of EWB with Live

& Learn’s education and community mobilization skills

Live & Learn is expanding in response to interest from individuals, government and organizations in

other countries that are seeking

a more sustainable quality of life Over the past year the first steps towards setting up Live & Learn in Vietnam were taken and potential opportunities in South Asia, particularly in response to specific requests from Sri Lanka, Bhutan and India, will be pursued

From its early Pacific focus Live & Learn now truly has an Asia Pacific focus, but it is not just geographical –it is philosophical: we are unified

by a desire to work toward reducing poverty and fostering greater understanding and action towards a sustainable future through education community mobilization and

supportive partnerships It is certainly challenging work but it is important to remember that you are part of a large and growing team of like-minded people who are there to support you I wish you all lots of success in your activities for the future and look forward to continuing to strengthen Live & Learn through our collaboration with all the offices

Jady Smith

Regional Manager: Asia

Regional Manager’s Report

Growing in a Sustainable Way

8 Avoided Deforestation

Those working in the climate

change arena are looking at

ways of mitigating dangerous

climate change through curbing

the manner in which we treat our

forests There exists a key relationship

between forests and climate change

Deforestation and degradation

accounts for approximately 20% of

global anthropogenic greenhouse

gas emissions (Mollicone et al., 2007)

While this loss of forests contributes

to emissions, forest ecosystems

are also important for sequestering

and storing carbon Forests, as large

stores and potential emitters of

carbon are therefore a key element

of the climate change debate

Among the many and varied tools

for mitigating climate change is

that of Avoided Deforestation The

central idea is to create an economic

incentive to curb the need for

deforestation by forest dependent

people For each tonne of carbon

not released through avoiding

deforestation and degradation of

the world’s forests, one carbon

credit (equivalent to one tonne) can

be produced and sold into the ever

growing carbon market

This idea is gaining increasing

attention in both voluntary carbon

markets and in mandatory schemes

These projects, otherwise

known through the Reduced

Emissions through Deforestation

and Degradation (REDD) policy

mechanism, are on the table for

implementation within the

post-2012 Kyoto Protocol framework

Governments, NGOs and international organisations are turning their attention to Avoided Deforestation

as a way to speed climate change mitigation, conserve forest ecosystems, pursue sustainable development objectives and involve developing nations further in the climate change agenda

While Avoided Deforestation projects provide an avenue for climate change mitigation, few examples of their implementation and overall success are currently available Current debates about how to structure and manage these projects focus

on technical, political and financial issues The involvement of local forest dependent people is, however, one

of the most important but under emphasised issues in this debate and deserves much attention

Much of the world’s remaining forests exist in developing nations, especially tropical forest ecosystems

The numbers of people dependant

on these forests for their livelihoods

is immense A report by the World Commission on Forests and Sustainable Development states that over 350 million of the world’s poorest people rely almost entirely on forests for their subsistence and survival needs (Salim & Ullsten, 1999)

These least developed communities face continuing challenges as

their access and rights to forests become increasingly restricted by ranchers, loggers, public and private expansion Poorly managed Avoided Deforestation projects could continue this pattern of disenfranchising and further marginalising local, forest dependent communities There is the possibility that once large amounts

of money become available through these projects, corruption and abuse

of community rights will increase as land speculation, land grabbing and increased state and expert control over forests ensues

Conversely, well managed Avoided Deforestation projects can recognise the important role of local communities in sustainable forest management by providing an avenue for their continued or increased stewardship A well managed project

will create income generation, social capital and raise living standards through generating meaningful involvement with local communities Involvement needs to start very early

on in the process where land rights and general project viability is being discussed Conflicts over land to be used under these projects can only

be resolved with the consultation and involvement of locals

Avoided Deforestation

Protecting livelihoods and tackling climate change

If locals do not understand why international investors are sending money, or even what the climate change issue is, it will be very difficult

to ensure that deforestation and degradation are avoided

An important aspect of the

involvement issue is that of

knowledge transfer If locals do

not understand why international

investors are sending money, or

even what the climate change issue

is, it will be very difficult to ensure

that deforestation and degradation

are avoided This knowledge

transfer to local communities

is especially important where

contracts will be signed between

local communities and companies

Without education and involvement

of local communities, these projects

could produce extremely negative

outcomes

High level involvement from local

communities will provide greater

opportunity for communication

and information exchange In less

successful Avoided Deforestation

projects, there has been a large

communication gap between

local communities and other key

players such as project developers,

governments and international

investors This gap is often seen through power imbalances translated through language, knowledge and information In failing to address this inequity, these projects have produced poor outcomes for local communities and have damaged the project overall

NGOs can play an important role

in generating and supporting local community involvement Donor agencies and NGOs may be central in ensuring that the benefits of Avoided Deforestation projects reach local peoples These organisations are often highly experienced in projects within the developing world and bring high-level experience and technical knowledge In addition to this, they are generally not seeking large profits for projects and come with a pro-sustainable development mandate

As project developers, they can represent the rights of locals and in cases be objective intermediaries

Avoided Deforestation projects address real and very necessary

environmental needs Whether these needs are effectively responded

to requires an understanding that environmental, social and economic issues are intrinsically linked By ensuring the meaningful involvement of local forest dependent communities, Avoided Deforestation projects may be highly successful This meaningful involvement will require trust, responsibility and partnership on behalf of all players but the projected outcomes more than justify this commitment

References

Mollicone, D et al., (2007) Elements for the expected mechanisms on ‘reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation REDD’ under UNFCCC, Environmental Research Letters, vol.2, pp.1-7

Salim, E & Ullsten, O., (1999) Our Forests, Our Future, Report of the World Commission on Forests and Sustainable Development, Cambridge University Press

Written by Anjali Brown

Avoided Deforestation 9

10 Regional Projects

The Education for Biodiversity

Conservation Project is a

European Union funded

regional project that aims to

strengthen the capacity of teachers

and educational institutions to deliver

quality education about biodiversity

conservation to communities across

the Pacific

The major achievement for

the Education for Biodiversity

Conservation Project for this year

was the completion of the teaching

and learning resource to support

the integration of Biodiversity

Conservation Education across the

region ‘Discovering Biodiversity –

An Educators Guide to Exploring

Natures Variety’ provides teachers and

students with an opportunity to learn

about, investigate, and take action to

conserve the amazing variety of life in

the Pacific

The resource was developed to fulfil

the following criteria;

• Complement existing curricula,

• Challenge educators to adopt

student centred methods of

teaching and learning,

Environmental Education; and key biodiversity conservation concepts

• Teacher’s pre-reading, a short text that introduces the concept of each learning outcome in detail for preparation for each of the learning activities

• 35 learning activities following the Inquiry Learning Model, designed

to teach the key concepts and learning outcomes in each module

• Schools Action Project section designed to give teachers inspiration and clear instruction as

to how to carry out focused action projects to complement their students learning

Along with Live & Learn’s Biodiversity Education team, this resource was developed with assistance and support from many organisations, teachers, government departments and individuals Considerable effort has been made to ensure the final resource is effective, appropriate and adequately reflects the educational needs, practical constraints and biodiversity issues, which exist across the region

The ‘Discovering Biodiversity’ resource was launched in Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea on May 22nd to coincide with local celebrations for the International Day for Biological Diversity

The next phase of the project will see the Biodiversity Education team running training workshops across the region aimed at strengthening the capacity of teachers and educators

to use the resource and become effective facilitators of action based and critical biodiversity education.Another significant achievement for this year was the regional project being showcased at the 8th Pacific Islands Conference on Nature Conservation and Protected Areas,

in October 2007, in Alotau, Papua New Guinea The Conference is a key regional meeting of government agencies, NGOs, community based organisations, and donor bodies to discuss and develop a joint vision for conservation in the Pacific islands

At this conference Live & Learn’s Biodiversity Education project was selected by the conference drafting committee as one of the success stories of biodiversity conservation projects in the whole Pacific Region This acknowledgement in front of regional biodiversity conservation peers will contribute significantly to the success and acceptance of this project across the region

Regional Projects

Biodiversity Conservation Project

Regional Projects 11

Building a Sustainable Future

is a regional project funded

by NZAID, which aims to

promote education for sustainable

development (ESD) within learning

institutions and communities in the

South Pacific

Communities in Vanuatu, Fiji,

Solomon Islands and Papua New

Guinea have been involved in pilot

activities since the beginning of 2007,

and will continue into 2008 The

pilot activities are designed to test

different and innovative approaches to

sustainable development using ESD

as a central activity

Pilot activities have included

establishment of a Catchment

Group in Vanuatu, which mobilises

community learning and involvement

in land and water management

using principles of integrated

water resource management

(IWRM) In the Solomon Islands

and Fiji, communities have explored sustainable development concepts, good governance and taken action

to develop alternative and more sustainable ways to earn income

Innovative actions initiated by communities have ranged from soap making, to establishing a native tree nursery, and creation

of ‘compost piggeries.’ In Papua New Guinea, communities have explored development issues through ‘inquiry learning,’ and have established sustainable development committees, which have focused their activities around improving water and sanitation, including building pit latrines

The lessons learned from the pilot activities are being developed into toolkits, which provide opportunities for replication The willingness and interest of government, NGO’s and communities to continue with the

programs beyond the project cycle, has been a major outcome and success of the project to date

As part of the Building a Sustainable Future project, Live & Learn also aims to develop a module for teacher training institutions that focuses on Education for Sustainable Development The ESD module will give pre-service teachers (student teachers) an understanding of ESD goals, and provide them with the knowledge and skills to deliver ESD

in schools when they enter the workforce Live & Learn staff from the four target countries are working in partnership with education ministries and teachers colleges to develop the ESD module, which will be available for use in 2009

Building a Sustainable Future

12 Australia

During 2007 the International

Office, Melbourne team

have continued the focus

on strengthening organizational

governance including full revisions of

the Live & Learn Best Practice Manual

and Finance Procedures Manual

(FPM) Managerial and finance

support visits have been conducted

in each country where Live & Learn

has a presence In addition two

Australian Volunteer International (AVI)

accountants have assisted in the

roll-out of the FPM in Papua New Guinea,

Solomon Islands and Cambodia

In November 2007 the Melbourne

office hosted the International

Forum on Climate Change 2007: a

stimulating two weeks, full of energy,

passion, debate and laughter: a time

to be remembered by all and to guide

and strengthen the work of Live &

Learn throughout the Asia Pacific

region In addition to the core Live &

Learn participants, we were delighted

to welcome representatives and

input from International Women’s

Development Agency (IWDA),

International Development Support

Services (IDSS), Australian Volunteers

International (AVI), Melbourne

University and Oxfam Of particular

note was the excellent management

skills based training provided by

David Fair which will undoubtedly

support our move towards rising

to the challenge set down by

Steven Andrews of Carbon Balance Consulting who guided us through the technical terms of climate change and led discussion on our direction and vision for pioneering climate change mitigation activities through Live &

Learn programmes The final day at CERES (the Centre for Education and Research into Environmental Strategies) provided a timely practical demonstration of climate change and environmental education in action

The closing ceremony held in a traditional aboriginal meeting place reminded us all of the importance of our work; to maintain and strengthen the environment of our forefathers for the nurture and benefit of future generations

Research, Monitoring and Evaluation have taken a leap forward A majority

of Live & Learn programmes commence with community consultation and participatory research in order to ensure our work

‘starts where the community is at’

Whilst all research is conducted in the field through the individual country offices, having a central research advisor to ensure rigour in study design, develop detailed facilitator guides and support the analysis and reporting of findings ensures Live

& Learn maximizes the time and energy given by the community members who participate in research activities In the forthcoming

year our research capacity will be expanded to incorporate monitoring and evaluation, and in particular

to strengthen the use of Most Significant Change methodology, which collect stories straight from the intended beneficiaries of Live & Learn programmes

The production of tools and resources continues to be a growing area

of expertise for Live & Learn The graphic design team has been hard at work designing numerous manuals, toolkits, posters and other resources for all the country offices

to use in the field It is important that these materials are relevant for their intended audience and are robust for the environment where they are being used The aim of the centralised graphic design team is to provide

a consistent and ongoing technical capacity supporting the production

of high quality materials that provide clear and effective communication whilst being inspiring and informative.The international office maintains the Live & Learn website, an integral component for communicating the outcomes of our work to the global community Live & Learn maintains

a policy of broad dissemination of our resources and these are made available for download via the website

www.livelearn.org

Australia

The international office, Melbourne provides a base for technical skills,

organisational governance and managerial support.

Australia 13

Live & Learn, Northern Territory

In May 2008, Live & Learn

established an office in Katherine in

the Northern Territory (NT), which is

approximately 320km south of the

state capital, Darwin The Northern

Territory is a vast area of Australia

with a very low population density

and a significant proportion of the

population living in remote areas

The NT office has been established

primarily to provide services and

opportunities to the Indigenous

(Aboriginal) people, who constitute

approximately one quarter of the

NT population, and make up 44% of

Australia’s indigenous population who

live in remote communities

Aboriginal people are Australia’s

first people, and represent a wide

diversity of different cultures

However, Aboriginal people are also

Australia’s most disadvantaged, with

much lower levels of education,

healthcare, employment, economic

opportunity and life expectancy than the Australian average

Live & Learn was established in the

NT to assist indigenous communities

to become more sustainable and self-reliant, and in doing so improve well-being and opportunities for community members In order to achieve this aim, Live & Learn has developed a sustainable development model, which provides an alternative

to the dominant and failing ‘service delivery’ led approach to provision of basic services such as water, energy and housing Our approach is ‘people-centred’ and focuses on empowering communities to be actively involved

in education, decision-making, planning, and actions for sustainable development Development of livelihood opportunities is also a core focus of our work Live & Learn

NT draws from experiences and approaches successfully implemented

in Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Fiji to guide innovation

Initial work undertaken in the Northern Territory has included establishing networks and partnerships with government and indigenous organisations Progress has been made toward establishing pilot activities with several remote indigenous communities The project involves a partnership between Live

& Learn, local communities and the Australian Government to establish community development plans The plans aim to mobilise community activities and to provide guidance to Government on community needs for resources and services

Live & Learn’s commitment to the

NT will be long term, and we expect our projects and reach to grow in the coming years

Over the past 12 months,

the Cambodia program has

nurtured a strong place as

a national NGO working towards

sustainable development The focus

has been on the development of the

National Human Rights Education

Campaign, promoting Community

Fisheries through investments,

developing community-based

ecotourism, and most recently

working with upland communities

on the development of Learning

Community models Geographically

our coverage is becoming quite

comprehensive with work in 10 of the

21 provinces in Cambodia, including

the lowlands, uplands protected areas

and work with fishing communities,

agricultural communities, vulnerable

groups and ethnic minorities

It has been an important year for

strengthening Live & Learn at an

international and national level In

November 2007 key members of

the Cambodia team attended the

Live & Learn Management meeting

in Australia More recently in April

2008, the national Cambodia country

team had a staff retreat in Ratanakiri

During the staff retreat, we discussed

our vision for the country strategy

Through group discussion, key issues were highlighted and a common vision for Live & Learn Cambodia was drafted: “Education and Action for Empowerment: Environmental, Economic and Social Well Being in the Sustainable way”

Human Rights Education Campaign

This project aims to heighten national awareness of the links between human rights and safe access to land and forests During the last

12 months the focus has been in

4 specific areas: community, women, schools and journalists Many Human Rights based materials have been developed: A curriculum for women and schools, fact sheets and media guides for journalists, land law publications and a community flip chart We have also conducted training on Basic Human Rights for

80 teachers and 162 women, and training on child rights, gender concepts and domestic violence for

160 women Journalist training has included 4 field trips for 59 journalists

resulting in 64 articles and 39 media broadcasts through TV and radio The project is successfully moving towards its aim and strong networks have been formed with other Human Rights NGOs

Domestic NGO Services

This project aims to establish relevant, practical and benefit-generating community based natural resource management (CBNRM) activities in community fisheries organizations (CFOs) around Tonle Sap Lake, the project has worked closely with NGOs and CFOs An Inception Report has been developed including the selection of 5 Subcontract Provincial NGOs and 25 CFOs A CFO Appraisal Report and field awareness raising for the selected NGOs and CFOs has been completed We also developed the CFO Investment Manual and conducted training

on it which consists of four main themes (infrastructure, conservation and natural resource management, livelihoods and social) The Project Implementation Unit (PIU), 5 NGOs and 25 CFOs were given skills to develop CFO Investment Proposals

14 Cambodia

Cambodia

Environmental Education, Human Rights and Sustainable Development

to support natural resources

management around Tonle Sap

Moreover we also developed the CFO

Management Guidelines to manage

the CFO investment activities

Community Based

Ecotourism

Live & Learn has ventured into

supporting ecotourism initiatives with

an innovative IUCN-funded project to

deliver ecotourism and mountain bike

training to a small commune located

in the Cardamom Mountains, in south

west Cambodia The Cardamoms are

a global biodiversity hotspot, being

one of the last remaining elephant

corridors and large predator ranges in

the region They host more than half

of Cambodia’s 2300 bird species and

are home to 14 globally threatened

mammal species The Cardamoms

comprise nearly 20,000 km2 of

contiguous forest cover including a

vast rainforest ecosystem and 16

different vegetation types, ranging

from dense evergreen rainforest to

lowland forest to coastal mangrove

ecosystems The mountains are a

mountain-biking and hiking paradise

They are criss-crossed with trails and

tracks, numerous rivers and streams,

waterfalls and caves and cultural

artifacts such as funerary jars and

coffins

The ecotourism project is an initiative

to provide an alternative livelihood

option and reduce the destructive

commercial exploitation of forest products Our training program covers the areas of eco-awareness, hospitality, first aid, eco-guiding, and mountain biking A total of 76 participants, 26 of whom are women, are currently involved in training

We are developing and trialling an innovative two-way communication tool to assist non-Khmer speaking tourists to communicate their needs

to their home-stay and guesthouse hosts A fleet of 12 good quality mountain bikes have been purchased and delivered to site These bikes will

be used for training and will become the fleet that can be hired by tourists

The project is a collaboration between Live & Learn and Wildlife Alliance, who have a long-term Community-Based Ecotourism (CBET) development commitment at

Chi Phat

Learning Community Development Project

The LCDP project aims to develop innovative models for learning communities from six pilot communes in three targeted provinces in Cambodia: two in Preah Vihear, two in Ratanakiri and two

in Kratie During the last 4 months,

we developed and published the Inception Report including detailed workplan and travel schedules to present and distribute to the board members of the project (UNDP,

MAFF-PSU and Live & Learn) We also developed RAP tools and conducted the first RAP in 2 communes in Ratanakiri province The innovative nature of the project requires an adaptive management approach, resulting from ongoing negotiation with the donor to allow for such freedom

Live & Learn staff have been involved

in some short term consultancies They have worked on the promotion

of the Community Livelihood Fund, development of project information centres and coordination with other projects They have also trained Bunong Facilitators on how to use the Community Environmental Awareness Flip chart These facilitators will incorporate the different modules on environmental awareness in their literacy program in different villages in Mondulkiri

In the year ahead we will continue to focus on our current projects, start new work on protection of natural resources; a component of the Tonle Sap Sustainable Livelihoods Project This project includes working with Engineers Without Borders on latrine design The Cambodia office is working toward producing a country-specific strategy following from the organisational Strategic Vision 2020 Cambodia will also be working closely with the new Vietnam office to assist

in its establishment in the region

Cambodia 15

16 Fiji

Fiji

Live & Learn Fiji team has had a busy year with our schools and community

education programs We saw the completion of a 12 month project and the

beginning of another that takes environmental & development education to

the outer islands, a first for Live & Learn Fiji.

Developing Sustainable

Communities

The Developing Sustainable

Communities project, funded

by Fiji Forum of Non State

Actors (FFONSA), was designed

to support the needs identified by

the communities to strengthen

and build the capacity of the

Turaga- ni- koro (Village Headman)

as village administrator, initiate

actions to address their limited

sources of income and address

poor management of resources and

particularly, waste disposal practices

It complemented the integrated water

management approach that was

undertaken as part of the Governing

Water Programme in over 45

communities The project began with

a rapid assessment of perceptions

(RAP) that established community

attitudes towards sustainable

development, opportunities and

constraints It also identified the

role education played in sustainable

practice, and how this practice should

be sustained The identification of the roles of various groupings in the community in promoting and mainstreaming sustainable living also took place The RAP informed the development of learning tools and formed the basis for evaluation

Extensive training programs delivered to target communities saw the establishment of Community Administration Centres for the administration and coordination

of community-directed projects

These centres also provide a focal point for coordination of further training programs; documentation

of village affairs and; dissemination

of information and the Community Handbooks that were developed

on village health, micro-finance and village administration

RiverCare Fiji

RiverCare Fiji is funded by Vodafone ATH Fiji Foundation The last year has seen progress with student

and teacher training workshops, community outreach sessions and the strengthening of district networks Schools have received training in water quality monitoring and have adopted waterways within their schools locality and also together

as a network of schools In Suva, schools have adopted the Nabukalou Creek and have been active in raising public awareness on the importance

of maintaining the health of this waterway through improved waste management practices Research, regular water quality monitoring and awareness campaigns with communities along the adopted waterways have been initiatives led

by students throughout the year RiverCare schools are also engaged

in addressing waste management issues together with reforestation and beautification of their school’s environments In Sigatoka, the establishment of the “River to Reef” Network has involved schools along the Sigatoka River and coastal area