US NGOS SUPPORT LIVELIHOOD PROJECTS AMONG ETHNIC TIBETANS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 CHENGDU 000149

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EAP/CM

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON SOCI PGOV CH
SUBJECT: US NGOS SUPPORT LIVELIHOOD PROJECTS AMONG ETHNIC TIBETANS
AND OTHER MINORITY GROUPS IN NORTHWEST YUNNAN

REF: CHENGDU 197 (2008)

CHENGDU 00000149 001.2 OF 003



1. (U) This cable contains sensitive but unclassified
information -- not for distribution on the Internet.




2. (SBU) Summary: Ethnic Tibetans and other minority
communities benefit from income-boosting and cultural
preservation projects in northwest Yunnan implemented by U.S.
NGOs and funded by USAID or private donors. Northwest Yunnan
remains the easiest ethnic Tibetan area for international NGOs
to work in -- the area did not experience the unrest seen in
other Tibetan areas in March 2008, and local officials there
remain relatively tolerant of their work. In a Naxi minority
community, development of locally cultivated feed and better
storage has enabled semi-nomadic people to settle down with
their livestock. In one Tibetan village, development of local
Tibetan handicrafts helps protect cultural traditions while
increasing incomes of vulnerable populations. In another
Tibetan village, eco-tourism development has strengthened local
residents' stake in preserving the natural environment while
improving livelihoods. End summary.




3. (SBU) Congenoff recently visited rural communities in
northwest Yunnan's Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, where
US-based NGOs Heifer International and The Mountain Institute
(TMI) currently are carrying out livelihood development projects
in minority communities. TMI is a current recipient of USAID
funding for its work in Tibetan areas. Heifer has not
previously applied for USAID funding, but is currently preparing
a USAID application. (Note: Tibetans are the largest ethnic
group in the prefecture; they number more than 110,000, which is
approximately 30 percent of the total. The prefecture is also
home to significant Lisu and Naxi populations, each at more than
ten percent, with smaller populations of several other groups.
TMI estimates that approximately half the population lives below
the official poverty line, and that the majority of these are
Tibetan. End note.)



Heifer International:

Supporting a Naxi minority community in Sanba

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4. (SBU) According to its field staff, Heifer has about 30
on-going projects in Shangri-la County (formerly Zhongdian).
Heifer's programs in Shangri-la, managed by two full-time Heifer
staff, encompass most of the minority communities living in the
county, including Tibetan communities which comprise the largest
group, as well as Lisu, Naxi, Yi, and others. Staff accompanied
Congenoff for a visit to their site in a small Naxi minority
village near Haba Snow Mountain, about a three hour drive from
Shangri-la town. They noted that this is their most successful
project measured by both increased community involvement and
higher incomes. Most of the community of about 500 (54
households) are engaged in agricultural work, with
cattle-raising as the primary income source. The community
previously led a semi-nomadic lifestyle, following their
cowherds to grazing areas in the surrounding mountains. Under
the new Heifer-supported model, they now cultivate enough grass
locally and no longer need to graze further afield. The
village's elected leader explained that this has resulted in
better fed and healthier cattle that command a higher market
price.




5. (SBU) Additionally, Heifer has worked with the community to
set up five "self-help groups" that work together on activities
such as tree planting, learning about traditional culture,
improving public hygiene, building and maintaining winter feed
storage, and using technology to work more efficiently. Heifer
staff and community members pointed out newly built toilets,
cattle pens, feed storage facilities, and solar water heaters
all of which they noted were built with project support. The
Heifer staff reported that they travel regularly to the village
in order to provide further training to community members.
However, despite the evident improvement of livelihoods, the
lack of a road to their community makes access to basic public
services still difficult. The nearest health clinic, staffed
with two doctors, is about an hour away by foot, and there are

CHENGDU 00000149 002.2 OF 003


few vehicles in town. While community members reported that the
vast majority of their children complete high school, they must
move to the county seat at Shangri-la and reside in school dorms
to do so.




6. (SBU) Heifer's Shangri-la field staff confirmed that the
county government is supportive of the Naxi village project in
the context of their official nomad resettlement program
launched in 2008. According to online government information,
the program targets nomads, semi-nomads, various rural
populations facing relocation for unspecified reasons, and rural
victims of natural disaster. In 2008, they settled 286 families
during the program's first phase. The second phase, currently
underway and due for completion by April 2010, aims to settle an
additional 2,135 households. Comment: If the Naxi village
project is typical of the settlement approach, then it arguably
bodes well for the overall program as implemented in Shangri-la.
However, it should be noted that nomad and other rural
settlement programs often involve policies of much less benefit
to the communities involved. For example, some nomad settlement
programs in Sichuan province involve relocation to new urban
housing developments that cut the connection to traditional
livelihoods, while providing little in the way of viable new
livelihood options. End comment.



The Mountain Institute:

Supporting Tibetan Pottery Makers and Eco-tourism

-------------- --------------




7. (SBU) Local staff at TMI's large and apparently quite active
office in Shangri-la provided a quick briefing on a range of
active projects, with primary focus on enterprise and
eco-tourism development in northwest Yunnan's Tibetan
communities. TMI's show-case enterprise development project
aims to preserve the local Tibetan pottery tradition through
support of improved craftsmanship and expanding market linkages.
Their main project partner, Dangzhen Pichu, is the son of a
master potter now turned local entrepreneur. His enterprise,
established in 2005, sits on the main road 45 minutes north of
Shangri-la on the road to Deqin, looking down over his home
village where 60 percent of its 800 residents are full-time
potters. Congenoff visited the business site, which includes a
workshop, dorms for apprentices, and a display/sale area.




8. (SBU) Dangzhen Pichu said that he received investments
totaling about 1,600,000 RMB (USD 235,000) from a variety of
sources, including the United Nations and the Agricultural Bank
of China. (He was most likely referring to the UN Environmental
Program funds that are channeled through The Nature Conservancy,
which in turn lends money via local cooperatives.) The county
government has also helped by building public bathrooms at the
roadside sales outlet and by government support to secure the
land on which the business is located. TMI has focused on
improving quality of the pottery, developing new
tourist-oriented products, and increasing access to the
expanding tourist market in Shangri-la.




9. (SBU) Danzhen explained that he takes on eight apprentices
annually, graduates of the local middle school, providing them
with living space, a monthly stipend of 200 RMB (USD 29),and
nine months of training. After completing their apprenticeship,
the young potters either remain with his enterprise or return to
work with their respective families. He also discussed his plan
for the next 5-8 years. He currently hires a number of the
younger people with disabilities from his village and hopes to
expand this program, establishing a second, more accessible,
workshop in the village. He also wants to start training women
as potters, noting that the local tradition has been that only
the men do the pottery, leaving the women currently able to earn
only about half as much as the men in the village.




10. (SBU) Congenoff also visited Hamagu, a traditional Tibetan
village of about 200 located a few kilometers from downtown
Shangri-la and previously supported by TMI in the establishment

CHENGDU 00000149 003.2 OF 003


of an eco-tourism capacity. Under the current USAID-funded
Tibet Plateau Development Program (TPDP),TMI is providing
additional training of village-based tourism operators. During
a half-day visit to Hamagu, one resident told Congenoff that TMI
trained him and several others to serve as village-based guides
for tourists interested in exploring the adjacent Napa Hai
wetlands nature reserve area and nearby mountain ranges, and
supported the purchase of several vehicles for shuttling
visitors in from town. Additionally, he noted that the TMI
project assisted with the provision of solar water heaters for
all of the approximately 40 households, significantly reducing
their need to cut down nearby forest for fuel. TMI sources
confirm that they fund about 70 percent of the solar water
heater purchases.




11. (SBU) A separate tour operator in town, a Han businessman
from Beijing who is also a TMI project partner, collected the
200 RMB fee and arranged for the village guide to meet
Congenoff. The village guide reported a good working
relationship with the town-based operator, who he said passed
the guide fee on to him, although he did not specify how it was
divided between the two. A portion of the guide fee goes to a
village environmental protection fund, managed by a village
committee, he said. So far, the small scale eco-tourism seems
not to have disrupted traditional life in the village.
Cattle-raising and agriculture continue to be the village's
economic mainstays, while eco-tourism supplements incomes and
strengthens the community's stake in preserving the surrounding
environment. Comment: As Shangri-la continues its rapid
expansion as a national tourist destination, including the
addition of several large hotels in recent years and an
increasing flow of domestic tourism, this balance may be harder
to sustain. End comment.



Ethnic Tibetan Projects in Yunnan

Relatively Free from Interference

--------------




12. (SBU) Comment: International NGOs operating in Tibetan
areas within our district, both within the TAR and Sichuan
province, have faced significant official obstruction over the
last year and a half following the March 2008 unrest in Lhasa.
However, northwestern Yunnan's Diqing Prefecture, where ethnic
Tibetans are about 30 percent of the population, remains far
less sensitive than other Tibetan areas. To date, organizations
operating in northwestern Yunnan, especially those doing
community development and medical work have encountered far
fewer difficulties than their counterparts in other areas.
Heifer International which simply provides livestock on the
condition the recipients "pass on the gift" and has no
international staff, still operates without difficulty in the
Tibetan Autonomous Region.
BROWN