Enabling local champions to tackle water woes at poor rural villages in China

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“Most of the villagers have been manually transporting water for their entire lives. Some of them walk up to 5 kilometers per trip to collect water. To them, to be able to obtain water by just turning on the tap is a miracle. With access to a regular and permanent water source, the lives of these villagers will turn for the better.” -Student Village Officer, Chongqing Municipality

Lien AID continues with a revolutionary collaboration with the China Association of Poverty Alleviation and Development (CAPAD) in combating water woes in rural China. This is an ambitious program that is pioneering a holistic and comprehensive approach to identify and empower local champions in implementing appropriate water intervention projects in poor rural villages.

As part of a three-days training, Lien AID, CAPAD and the Chongqing Poverty Alleviation and Development co-organized a seminar for close to 50 Student Village Officers (SVOs) / 大学生村官 selected from the southwestern region of Chongqing, Guizhou, Yunnan and Hubei provinces. The training sessions were tailored to train the SVOs in project management, as well as create a platform for exposure of water issues for the SVOs; after which a ‘call for proposals’ will determine projects to be seeded for implementation subsequently.

Attendees included representatives from Lien AID; CAPAD; Chongqing Poverty Alleviation and Development; Nanyang Environment and Water Research Institute (NEWRI), Nanyang Technological University; experts from the China Center Control for Disease and Prevention; as well as the SVOs.

“Educating the SVOs is a vital step in ensuring proper implementation and follow-through of projects. Passion alone will not solve the problem; knowledge plays a huge role in contributing to a sustainable project with long-term benefits for the communities. We are hopeful that with commitment and support from the SVOs, local governments and communities, combined with proper know-how, we will witness a phenomenal change amongst the rural communities in time to come.” -Huang Zhu Shao, Vice Director (CAPAD)

This multi-year program aims to reach out to 100 poverty-stricken villages from 2012 to 2016, benefiting an estimated 100,000 beneficiaries (poor villagers); and will enhance the water and sanitation knowledge of 100 SVOs.

Projects selection will focus on Provinces with a large number of poverty-stricken villages such as Gansu, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Chongqing, Guizhou, Yunnan, Shannxi, Shanxi and Sichuan.

Thirteen projects have been completed in Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Ningxia, Chongqing and Guizhou, with 9 others slated to be completed by end 2013. The program aims to select and implement up to 25 water projects at poverty-stricken villages annually, over the subsequent years.

To find out more about our work in China, take a look at Where We Work – China.