BKK . 104.A.1.b.MRD.2.Burma.2

BKK
. 104.A.1.b.MRD.2.Burma.2-79.RGN.
Myanmar Farmers Innovating for Rural development
and Environmental restoration
GRET
8.54 million DKK
3 years (June 2013 - May 2016)
Appropriation years: 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016
1.5 million DKK. Aug 2009 - Mar 2011 (Chin)
3.1 million DKK. Jan 2010 – Dec 2010 (Delta)
5.5 million DKK. Nov 2010 - Dec 2012 (Delta)
10.0 million DKK. Nov 2010 – Jan 2013 (Dry Zone.
Committee meeting on 13.10.2010, agenda item 5)
The government policy on efforts in fragile states
EU Common Position 2010/232/CFSP
06.32.02.05.41
N/A
Aticha Wongwian
Ulrich Sørensen
The overall objectives are twofold: i) to contribute to livelihood security and local governance improvements
in rural areas of Myanmar and ii) to support the emergence and strengthening of appropriate services for
rural development along with production and dissemination of relevant information for rural farming
communities. The specific objective is to implement actions focused on innovation that aims at supporting
local stakeholders to deliver services, create sustainable development of rural farming communities and
sound natural resource management.
Myanmar ranked 149 out of 186 countries in the 2012 Human Development Index and is
lagging behind its neighbours in most socio-economic indicators. It is the second poorest
country in South-East Asia in terms of GDP per capita and it is estimated that around 1/3 of
the population lives below the poverty line. Despite on-going democratic reforms and the
recent opening of the country, the living conditions of vulnerable populations in Myanmar, and
their access to basic services remain extremely preoccupying.
The Dry Zone, comprising much of Magway, Mandalay and lower Sagaing divisions, is one of
the most food insecure areas in the country. Irregular and scarce rainfall leads to extreme water
shortages and is a constant threat to the viability of rural livelihoods. As water is the primary
driver of income generation in the agricultural communities that dominate the rural Dry Zone,
the failure of rains or seasonal scarcity stretches coping strategies and lock households into a
cycle of poverty and vulnerability.
The Ayeyarwady Delta is the largest rice production region in Myanmar. In May 2008, the
Delta suffered a major natural disaster when Cyclone Nargis hit the region. It killed some
140,000 people and severely impacted the long-term rural population livelihoods, including
agriculture production, paid employment and local trade of agriculture goods.
GRET has been working in Myanmar for 17 years developing expertise and in depth
understanding of the context of intervention on agricultural development, value chains, natural
resources management, nutrition and microfinance issues. It aims at improving agriculture
production and securing livelihoods of the most vulnerable households by promoting income
generation activities related to rural areas opportunities. In the meantime, GRET is working
intensively to build the capacities of local actors and communities in order to ensure that
actions undertaken are appropriate and sustainable.
Following several projects implemented with the financial support from Danida between 2009
and 20131, bilateral discussions have been initiated to establish a long term and stable
framework for supporting the implementation of structuring development oriented actions in
Myanmar. Core funding will enable GRET to flexibly plan and implement development
activities over a longer duration within a negotiated budget. The aim is to support the
development of innovative projects strengthening the capacities of rural population and more
widely the civil society organizations of Myanmar’s Dry Zone and Delta region.
The focus of this project is within the following interventions: food security, agriculture and
livelihood development, natural resource management and local governance. Given the recent
reforms and the constantly evolving situation in Myanmar, GRET plans to promote
information production and dissemination in rural areas as well as advocacy support whenever
possible.
GRET administrative and operational set up is designed to support efficient use and
management of resources. GRET ensures that the major part of agricultural inputs provided to
beneficiaries during the project implementations are found locally, keeping transportation costs
1 In
Northern Chin State, Ayeyarwaddy Delta and Dry Zone of Myanmar.
and industrial processes at a minimum level. Organic production is promoted and when inputs
are not biodegradable or are polluting by their waste, their use is limited. In addition, effort is
taken to raise awareness of project staff about environmental issues and part of the
international staff’s responsibility is to strengthen the capacity of their local counterparts, in
order to increase the impact and sustainability of implemented actions. Similarly, the
operational setup at the project level is designed to limit unnecessary transportation and
maximize project support to community and farming households’ development.
The actions planned to be implemented within the framework of this agreement will tackle the
following challenges:
i) Environmental issues: To cope with the different challenges relating to water shortage in Dry
Zone, GRET has decided to focus the new phase on soil and water conservation. This will
go along with a strong focus on local governance through the strengthening of the local
communities’ capacity. In the Ayeyarwaddy Delta, GRET will ensure that all actions
dedicated at improving agriculture production will be implemented following best standards
in terms of environmental friendly techniques.
ii) Poverty reduction and economic empowerment: Economic (green) growth will be central to the
interventions. The actions are expected to contribute to strengthening and structuring the
rural communities, through the emergence of collective strategies to address constraints and
challenges faced for each sector of activities and a sound management of community based
tailored services. GRET will support mainly landless and resource poor farming households
in the Delta, and, small and medium farmers in the Dry Zone. In both cases, actions will
intend not only to increase their economic activities and improve their livelihoods but also
to empower such target groups in voicing their problems and constraints and enhancing
their participation in local governance.
iii) Building strong country operational and coordination set up: When operating in Myanmar, it is
important to take into consideration the changing political situation in Myanmar and the
constant arising of needs and opportunities. It is vital for GRET to develop a strong
national operational and coordination set up. This will concern mostly technical support for
administrative, logistic and financial functions, constitution of a pool of competent national
experts, networking and sound relationships with the government of Myanmar as well as
donors.
Lastly, at the project level, GRET will focus on building a proper local expertise of specialists in
agro-ecology (Dry Zone) and advice to farmers (Dry Zone and Delta). It will also endorse a
local project manager in charge of the day to day management in the Dry Zone, and support a
similar process in the Delta, where a local project manager will be identified during the project
implementation. This will allow local population to be more prepared for any development
action in their own areas.
Overall objectives: i) to contribute to livelihood security and local governance improvement in
rural areas of Myanmar and ii) to support the emergence and the strengthening of appropriate
services for rural development, along with production and dissemination of relevant
information for rural farming communities.
Specific objective: To support local stakeholders in delivering services that enable sustainable
development of rural farming communities and sound natural resource management.
Project areas: The main project areas are Bogale and Mawlamyinegyun Township in
Ayeyarwady Delta and Monywa, Yinmabin and Budolin Township in Dry Zone. The
geographic focus is not fixed and room is left for assessing opportunities for development of
new actions in other areas.
Financial framework: GRET relies on funding from several donors including Danida, LIFT
(Livelihood and Food Security Trust Fund) and AFD (French Agency for Development).
Funding from Danida will mainly address follow-up projects in Ayeyarwaddy Delta and Dry
Zone along with complementary studies. In the Ayeyarwady Delta, Danida funded actions will
contribute to complementing on-going LIFT projects. In the Dry Zone, Danida funded actions
will build upon achievements of the previous project in Monywa and Yinmabin townships, and
will extend its intervention to Budolin Township. Thus, GRET will rely on Danida funds to
initiate and develop innovative actions that could be replicated and up-scaled later on with
support from other donors (LIFT, AFD).
Activities: Overall, the funding will support 3 different kinds of activities:
- Follow-up on activities in Delta and Dry Zone where GRET has been working since 2008
and 2011 respectively.
- Engage in new activities in either surrounding areas of existing projects or new areas based
upon identified needs.
- Conduct in depth studies complementary to existing or upcoming projects and feasibility
assessments in potential new areas of intervention.
Component 1: Micro farmers2 in Ayeyarwady Delta develop new skills and technologies that enable them to
diversify their production and secure their livelihoods. Furthermore, they get organized collectively to carry out
further sustainable development actions.
The situation of micro farmers in the Delta is very different from other category farmers since
they usually sell their workforce during peak season, preventing them from investing in their
farm. As a result, they don’t have the capacity to capitalize on their farm. In general terms, they
represent the most vulnerable part of rural communities and also the majority of household, as
they account for more than 50%. It is clear that many levers exist to improve their livelihoods.
For some, an access to reliable and affordable financial services can enable the shift towards
more profitable and labour intensive activities. For others, access to technologies and exposure
to new practices will create the conditions for intensification or diversification. In addition,
facilitating linkages and collective actions between farmers can be crucial to access good
markets, while gaining knowledge about their rights can be key to securing livelihoods, for
example through the clear ownership of their small plots of land.
3 outputs will be considered under this component
Output 1.1: Economic empowerment of micro-farmers
Output 1.2: Knowledge of their rights and capacity to advocate
Output 1.3: Self-management of services and emergence of leaders.
2
A micro farmer is a farmer without a paddy field or with a very small one usually up to 2 acres (0.81 hectares).
The key activities towards these outputs include:
- Creating a development fund for micro-farmers, designed, managed and monitored by
them.
- Strengthening micro-farmers for economic analysis of their activities and Family
management through the continuation and development of Management Advice for Family
Farms3 (Malasaka).
- Technical assistance on production based on demand (through Malasaka or other trainings
approaches) with a special attention on diversification productions.
- Facilitation of linkages between farmers and markets to improve the inclusion of microfarmers in the market.
- Information access and awareness raising about the rights of farmers
- Facilitating advocacy by micro-farmers and rural communities to express their voices.
Component 2: The rural populations of Dry Zone develops techniques for sustainable watershed management
in drought prone regions, get knowledge about economic opportunities of selected value chains and local agents
become able to disseminate innovative agro-ecological practice to farmers’ groups in demand.
This component aims at improving the living conditions of small and medium farmers and
vulnerable people, through suitable innovations in 3 townships in Dry Zone. Activities focus
on improving living conditions of small and medium farmers through the management of pilot
watersheds that are used as show sites for farmer visits, trainings and the empowerment of local
communities. An expertise of 15 local agents will be built by trainings and testing innovations
and doing field actions benefiting to the needed rural population.
3 main outputs are expected for this component:
Output 2.1: To reduce environment degradation in 40 hectares through agro-ecological
watershed management and good agro-ecological farming practices.
Output 2.2: To improve incomes of the rural population in 45 villages through farmer advice,
technology dissemination and trainings.
Output 2.3: To train 15 local agents in agro-ecology in order to build local expertise.
Tentative activities for achieving expected results are:
- Agro-ecological watershed management with soil conservation using physical and biological
measures, integrated farming system, support to farmers for tree planting, intercropping
cereals/pulses, Integrated Pest Management, topographic studies.
- Farmer field schools (FFS), plant demonstration plots, farmer advice (Malasaka), quality
seed production, post-harvest handling, farmer organization trainings, livestock
improvement, gazette production and dissemination.
- Staff training and exchange visits within Dry Zone area, outside the Dry Zone area,
exchange visits in agro-ecological watershed management sites.
Component 3: GRET builds capacity to coordinate actions in Myanmar through a team of experienced
Myanmar professionals dedicated to the development of rural communities, while conducting complementary
studies and feasibility assessments for further interventions.
Malasaka aims at strengthening farmers’ ability to manage their farm and improve their autonomy with regards to their
economic and social environment. It help farmers to manage their farm like a small business; improve management of rice
stocks, improve treasury planning, optimise amounts of inputs, innovate in crop choices, invest and get access to credit if
needed and optimise products marketing.
3
Under this component, activities will address:
- Keep and maintain close relationships with the government of Myanmar and ensure
authorizations to work in the country.
- To enable the scale up of Danida funded action achievements by maintaining close
relationship with donors.
- Identify new opportunities in order to address innovative actions in new project areas.
- Support capacity building of a pool of competent national expert and organize workshops
to exchange and share experiences from the field to improve current approaches.
Cross Cutting issues: GRET considers gender equality a cross cutting issue that is part of all
interventions. At the organizational level, GRET highly encourages women to apply for
available positions within each project4 and at the operational level; GRET follows a nondiscrimination approach that ensures maximum participation of women in all activities. Active
participation of women in GRET’s collective non formal educational programs can be a
powerful tool to transfer knowledge and promote gender equity in communities. Moreover,
some activities such as horticulture production or small livestock breeding especially focus on
women headed households. Lastly, Malasaka empowers women in the decision making
regarding the farm and feedback from Malasaka members are suggesting that it increases selfconfidence of women and improve their position in the household.
Sustainability of the project: GRET is working intensively to build the capacities of local
actors and communities in order to ensure that actions undertaken are appropriate and
sustainable. Environmental preservation and sustainable use and management of natural
resources are at the core of Gret approach, and important aspects for ensuring long lasting
positive impacts. The services created are likely to continue to exist after GRET’s withdrawal,
since activities focus on capacity building of farmers, making them able to manage the services
by themselves in a proper way.
Chin Project (Aug 2009 – Mar 2011)
GRET worked with Chin Organization for Rural and Agricultural Development (CORAD) on
this Danida supported project in Northern Chin State to support sustainable agriculture
systems and natural resources management. Main results included:
-
Farmer group representatives became actively involved in the decision making bodies of
CORAD.
Several Village Action Plans were designed and proposed to CORAD.
Families became able to improve their livelihood thanks to the achievement of Village
Action Plans related to food security, income generation and natural resource management.
At least 1900 families and 13 local staffs are trained on technical issues for promoting
sustainable farming systems.
Households were sensitized on low cost technologies such as solar and biogas to promote
environmental preservation.
Delta project (November 2010-December 2012)
Danida has been supporting GRET activities in the Delta since 2010, where GRET works to
4
The proportion of women in both implementation and management positions is thus relatively high, for instance, about 40
pct. of the field agents in Delta are women
secure livelihoods of vulnerable farming households and build viable foundations for
agricultural development. In the 88 villages where GRET has been working, the main results
included:
- 166 landless farmers were supported in developing or extending an economically
independent activity through a micro-project.
- Eel fattening was tested, demonstrated and disseminated to 134 households.
- More than 1400 farmers attended farmers’ extension groups and nearly 1000 farmers took
part in farmers’ exchange visits.
- 10 groups gathering 780 farmers from 32 villages formed a Community Agro-economic
Development Platform (CAEDP) to deliver services to the farming communities.
Dry Zone project (November 2011-January 2013)
The project in the Dry Zone funded by Danida, was implemented jointly by GRET and
Solidarités International. The objective was to support livelihood security of the vulnerable
population of the Dry Zone through empowerment and capacity building of rural communities.
The project main results were:
-
Rural households increased or diversified their agricultural production without damaging
their natural resources.
Landless and resource-poor households got new job opportunities and increased off-farm
incomes.
2 off-farm vocational trainings in Food processing & preservation and Knitting respectively
were implemented.
Participatory needs assessment and design of 30 village action plans and capacity building of
resource persons were carried out.
8 tree nurseries for reforestation and watershed protection were established.
Prospects for long-term sustainability and reflections on exit strategies
Sustainability of development intervention has been a main approach for GRET’s in terms of:
- Technical aspects. The ability of beneficiary farmers to select and access good and improved
quality seeds, ability of trained farmers to diversify planted crops with improved practices
on both planting techniques of each crop and cropping pattern.
- Social aspects. Social networking horizontally and vertically (farmers to farmers, project to
farmers) by organizing exchange visits and field visit. Knowledge sharing amongst project
beneficiaries and non-project beneficiaries as well as being able to pay more attention to
children’s health care and education due to increased income from farming activities and
better access to water.
- Economic aspects. Providing an increased income from farming activities, mostly due to
technical improvements, marketable crops and varieties and cost effective fertilizer.
- Environmental aspects. Reducing utilization of chemical pesticides and fertilizer through
producing and application of natural homemade botanical pesticides and natural fertilizers.
As it is the villagers and farmers who are settled in the rural areas that gain knowledge, knowhow and become empowered through local communities’ capacity, the benefit provided by the
project will stay in the place. The exit from project intervention is then obvious because once
aware and empowered, beneficiaries should not need much more assistance in coping with their
context and environment. It is as the exit strategy has started from the beginning of GRET’s
intervention
The interventions supported through this proposal are fully in line with the strategy for
Denmark’s development cooperation ‘The Right to a Better Life’. Actions are focusing in
particular on combating poverty, improving rural livelihoods and promoting human rights,
through intense support to improved local governance and inclusion of all rural households.
Economic growth is central to the intervention strategy, with a specific attention to green
growth, gender equality and social progress promotion in order to contribute to improving the
lives of poor people and their ability to create a better life for themselves.
The Human Rights Based Approach is also considered at the core of interventions.
Development of services, capacity building and dissemination of innovations for targeted
households will enable them to increase incomes, develop relationships at the village level and
beyond and increase their knowledge of their rights. As a result, poverty it is expected to
decrease, and poor households are expected to become able to participate more actively in the
democratic process as well as in the development process in their communities. In short, the
project will work not only to improve the economic capital of farmers, but also their social
capital and eventually their political capital.
Since projects implemented by GRET focus on capacity building and training, human resources
(well trained technical staff) are considered fully part of the program costs. In all project areas,
international staff will play a key role in strengthening the capacities of the national staff and
other project stakeholders. A detailed budget is outlined in annex 6.
Description
I PROGRAMME COSTS (68 %)
1.1 Programme activities
Component 1: Delta
Component 2: Dry Zone
Component 3: Research & Studies
1.2 Programme logistics
Component 1: Delta
Component 1: Dry Zone
1.3 Programme, Human Resources
Component 1: Delta
Component 1: Dry Zone
1.4 External services and technical
support
II SUPPORT COSTS (26 %)
2.1 Support, Human Resources
2.2 Support Logistics & Equipment
TOTAL DIRECT COSTS
INDIRECT COSTS (7%)
GRAND TOTAL
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Total
June 2013 –
May 2014
June 2014 –
May 2015
June 2015 –
May 2016
June 2013 –
May 2016
1,924,000
533,000
218,000
234,000
81,000
249,000
94,000
155,000
995,000
410,000
585,000
147,000
1,924,000
533,000
218,000
234,000
81,000
249,000
94,000
155,000
995,000
410,000
585,000
147,000
1,930,000
535,000
218,500
234,000
82,500
251,000
95,000
156,000
996,000
410,500
585,500
148,000
5,778,000
1,601,000
654,500
702,000
244,500
749,000
283,000
466,000
2,986,000
1,230,500
1,755,500
442,000
734,000
586,000
148,000
2,658,000
186,000
2,844,000
734,000
586,000
148,000
2,658,000
186,000
2,844,000
735,000
586,000
149,000
2,665,000
187,000
2,852,000
2,203,000
1,758,000
445,000
7,981,000
559,000
8,540,000
Risks
Mitigation measures
1. Climate change affecting the agro ecological  Promotion of adaptation techniques
conditions of the areas and the cropping
where suitable.
practices. Natural disaster during project  Understanding and monitoring weather
implementation
patterns along with having a clear
communication system in place
2. Administrative and authorization issues in  This risk has slowly and steadily been
relation to accessing and working in the
reduced if not completely overcome. In
villages
addition, the new project in Dry Zone
employs a Myanmar citizen as Project
Manager, who is known and accepted by
Myanmar technical institutions. Having
the project run by locals and assisted by
foreign technical assistance, dramatically
decreases the likelihood of hindrances in
the implementation of activities.
3. That activities implemented are not approved  By continuing actions in the current
by the technical administration at the local
project areas in Dry Zone, the project
Ministry level. This risk is highest for the
mitigates the risk, because it makes it
new township of intervention (Budolin, Dry
possible to demonstrate previous results
Zone).
and show through meetings and exchange
visits, that beneficiaries are satisfied with
results.
4. The project plans to manage agro-ecological  Different sites are expected to be
watersheds of about 20 hectares in Dry zone.
surveyed in Budolin in order to find a
For that landowners together with farmers of
usable site, which make a low likelihood
the area should be involved in common
of occurrence happening. In case no site
action and none must disagree. Agrocan be found, the project will redirect the
ecological watershed sites have not been
intervention zone to the two other
identified yet in Budolin, while they are
townships, where an appropriate site
already known in the 2 other townships, this
exists
creates uncertainty on whether output 1 can
be 100 pct. achieved.
GRET is a French non-profit association of professionals for fair development, founded in 1976.
Since its creation, GRET has been involved in promoting appropriate technologies and practices in
developing countries. It supports sustainable development processes in urban and rural areas by
building on social equity, economic promotion and respect for the environment. Its innovative
actions, based on experimentation processes are intended to be long term without generating
dependency; they aim at strengthening actors and improving autonomous operation of the
structures set up.
With more than 17 years of working experience in Myanmar, GRET has developed expertise and
in depth understanding of the context of intervention on agricultural development, food security,
value chains, natural resources management, nutrition and microfinance issues. It aims at
improving agriculture production and securing livelihoods of the most vulnerable households by
promoting income generation activities related to rural areas opportunities.
In the meantime, GRET has also worked intensively to build the capacities of local actors and
communities in order to ensure that actions undertaken are appropriate and sustainable. Main
institutional building achievements have been to establish and consolidate the Micro Finance
Institutions in Northern Chin State (1995-2011) and in Southern Shan State (1997-2006), to
support the emergence of CORAD (regional farmers’ organization) in Northern Chin State and the
LIFAS (local group supporting agricultural input supply) in Northern Rakhine State.
GRET is also involved in many networks and working groups such as: the Food Security Working
Group (steering committee), the Micro Finance Working Group (Yangon), the INGO forum
(Yangon), the Bogale Agriculture Working Group (Bogale) and more. As a member of the Food
Security Working Group (FSWG, a network of over 100 local and international organizations,
including non-governmental organizations, community-based organizations and individuals),
GRET is deeply involved in the elaboration of common strategies to address food security and
development issues in Myanmar. It is expected that GRET will continue to participate actively to
such coordination bodies and provide relevant data from its activities, mainly from grass root level
in order to contribute to alerting about the main needs to be addressed and to point out the main
achievements and failures. GRET will also continue participating to actions supported by FSWG
such as capacity building, information sharing and learning and policy advocacy
At Bogale and Mawlamyinegyun Townships level, GRET has been an active participant to the
Agriculture and Livelihoods Clusters since the implementation of its first activities in October 2008.
Sound collaboration and cooperation with most of agriculture and livelihoods stakeholders at grass
root level have been established through regular attendance to cluster and specific working groups
meetings leading to a good coordination process and avoiding overlapping and duplication of
activities. Moreover, GRET has been deeply involved, along with Welthungerhilfe, in the set-up,
the animation and the co-chairing of the Bogale Agriculture Technical Working Group (BATWG)
which involved a dozen of INGOs, LNGOs and local technical persons from ministries.
Main partners of GRET in Myanmar are international NGOs (Welthungerhilfe, Solidarités, Action
Contre le Faim, Care) International research centres (International Rice Research Institute), local
organizations (CORAD, Chin Microfinance Institution, Mangrove Service Network), and
government bodies (Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, Ministry of Health). Current
donors/funding partners of GRET in Myanmar are DANIDA, LIFT, European Union and UK
Aid. Coordination and dialog with donors is facilitated by the GRET Yangon Representation
office. Representative of GRET liaises between donors, project teams and GRET head office.
Myanmar is a union of 7 states with an estimated population of 55-60 million, whereof
approximately 32% live in urban areas. The country is geographically and culturally diverse, with
130 ethnic groups speaking over 100 languages and dialects. Ethnic groups comprise an estimated
35-40% of the population. The ethnic minorities have historically been marginalized under
Myanmar ruling and for long periods of time been exposed to harsh military control and significant
human rights violations.
Agriculture remains central to the Myanmar economy, with the main share of GDP derived from
agriculture, livestock and fisheries, although substantial revenue is generated by export of natural
resources. Both absolute and relative poverty declined between 2005 and 2010, but still 1/3 of the
population live below the poverty line, with 5% living in extreme poverty. Poverty incidence is
around twice as high in rural areas and is also unevenly distributed across the country’s states and
regions, with 73% of the population in Chin, 44% in Rakhine and over 30% in Shan, Tanintharyi
and Ayeyarwady States living in poverty according to UNDP’s 2009-2010 household survey. One
third of the poorest people live in the densely populated Mandalay and Ayeyarwady regions,
especially in the so-called Dry Zone area.
Myanmar held its first Parliamentary election in 20 years in November 2010, after many years of
military rule. According to the 2008 constitution, the military regime was guaranteed 25 pct. of the
seats in Parliament and the regime’s party, ‘the Union Solidarity and Development’ party proceeded
to win by more than 80 pct. of the votes. A result of both the undemocratic process leading up to
the election and fraud on the election day. Aung San Suu Kyi was released from her 15 year long
house arrest (over the last 21 years) shortly after the election and in the by-elections held on 1 April
2012 her party, NLD, won an overwhelming victory that secured her a seat in Parliament.
This political upheaval in Myanmar has been accompanied by expansions of basic freedoms,
materialized notably by the release of around 700 political prisoners, an ease of censorship of the
print media and the internet, the enactment of new laws on freedom of association and assembly,
and the establishment of a Myanmar National Human Rights. The current context is in constant
evolution and shows some positive signs of changes, as well as willingness of the authorities to
engage in dialogues.
EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy Act, temporarily suspended restrictions on economic
and development cooperation with Myanmar in 2012, as a response to the positive political
changes. The suspension of the sanctions has paved the way for a broader engagement with the
Myanmar government on political, economic and development cooperation. International
development assistance is however still hampered by lack of access to parts of the country,
especially the ethnic areas and along the borders due to conflicts between ethnic groups and the
Myanmar army.
As a result of the EU sanctions against Myanmar, the Danish development commitment has up to
now been managed outside the Myanmar government. Instead, the grants go through bilateral
cooperation with NGOs and a number of multi-donor funds. However, a more concrete
cooperation with the Myanmar government is expected in the future. Internationally major changes
are also taking place; there is a significant increase in assistance funds from many donors, the World
Bank has fully reengaged with the government, and the U.S. has recently dropped its opposition to
lending to Myanmar, just as it has been agreed to ease restrictions on UNDP activities in the
country.
Objectives
Overall objectives: i) to contribute to livelihood security and local governance improvement in
rural areas of Myanmar and ii) to support the emergence and the strengthening of appropriate
services for rural development, along with production and dissemination of relevant information
for rural farming communities.
The specific objective: To support local stakeholders in delivering services that enable
sustainable development of rural farming communities and sound natural resource management.
Means of
Verification
Component 1: Micro farmers in Ayeyarwady Delta develop new skills and technologies that enable them to diversify
their production and secure their livelihoods. Furthermore, they get organized collectively to carry out further sustainable
development actions.
Number of hectares achieved in soil
40 hectares Soil site reports
conservation works.
1. To reduce
Number of farmers implementing
environment
45 farmers Project agriintegrated farming systems.
degradation in 40 ha
activities’ &
through agro-ecological Number of farmers supported for tree
monitoring
planting, intercropping cereals/pulses or
50 farmers
watershed management
reports
and good agro-ecological IPM (Integrated Pest Management).
farming practices
Number of sites described with a
Topographic
3 sites
topographic study.
studies
Number of farmers/villages (1
45
Malasaka &
farmer/village) followed with Malasaka
farmers/vill monitoring
techniques.
ages
reports
Number of Farmer Field Schools (5
7 FFS
villages/FFS, 10 farmers/FFS) involved.
Number of demonstration plots carried
35 demo.
Project agriout and farmers involved.
Plots
activities’ &
2. To improve rural
monitoring
Number of acres involved in quality seed
10 acres
population incomes in
reports
production.
45 villages through
Number of farmers involved in postfarmer advice,
45 farmers
harvest handling.
technology
Number of poor/very poor households
200
dissemination and
Project vetinvolved
in
livestock
improvement.
households
trainings.
activities’ &
Number of Animal Health Workers
monitoring
(AHW) trained in livestock improvement
30 AHW’s reports
(10/township).
Existing
Number of gazette issues produced.
40 gazettes
gazettes
Number of training workshops in farmers
4 workshops Attendance lists
organisation (1 day, 90 farmers).
Outputs
Output indicators
Target
Outputs
Output indicators
Target
Means of
Verification
Staff
attendance lists
3. To build a local
Number of staff trained (through exchange
15 staffs
expertise of 15
visits in advice to farmers).
specialists in agroNumber of visits to Agro-ecological
Staff
ecology and advice to
4 visits
Watershed
management
sites.
attendance lists
farmers.
Component 2: The rural populations of Dry Zone develops techniques for sustainable watershed management in
drought prone regions, get knowledge about economic opportunities of selected value chains and local agents become able to
disseminate innovative agro-ecological practice to farmers’ groups in demand.
Number of grants
requested/distributed for
starting/extending a farming activity
1. Economic
empowerment
350
requested
300
distributed
Reports from
grant selection
committees
Reports and
attendance
Number of sessions and of participants 30 sessions
lists from the
to group Malasaka (through key
and 300
Malasaka
farmers)
participants
groups
meetings
Reports of
Number of farmers who have
awareness
participated in awareness actions
200 farmers actions and
2. Knowledge of rights (meeting, forum, etc.) on farmers’ rights
lists of
and capacity to
attendance
advocate
Number of advocacy meetings
10
Report of
organized by farmers internally or with advocacy
meetings
other stakeholders
meetings
Formalization of a CBO responsible for
1 CBO
CBO5
the management of the Development
formalized constitution
Fund
3. Self-management of
Groups
services and
Number of groups who have improved
statutes and
emergence of leaders
their statutes and/or developed a
50 groups
groups’
collective actions
projects
documents
5
Community Based Organizations (CBO)
N/A
1. Map of the main current project areas
2. Detailed Budget
3. Detailed Previous Results

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