Better environment, better livelihood
- By Duan Haiwang
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E-mail China Today, July 17, 2017
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Yishan Yishui carries out poverty relief and ecological restoration projects fitting the actual circumstances in arid and semi-arid regions. [Photo/China Today] |
Rotational beef cattle breeding
To deal with the adverse natural conditions in China's arid and semi-arid regions, Yishan Yishui has initiated a new poverty-relief model – rotational beef cattle breeding.
In acknowledgment of the benefits of participatory development as espoused by its global counterparts, Yishan Yishui encourages local residents to select poverty-relief projects and bring in management systems according to their own wishes. To maximize fund efficacy, beneficiaries are divided into two or three batches. The neediest households get a cow first. After they have calved, the cows are moved on to the next batch. In this way one cow may benefit two or three households, so doubling or tripling fund efficiency. Farmers supervise and approve the entire rotation process and order. Transparent management reduces conflicts and promotes harmonious community development. Affiliated ecological restoration plans are carried out at the same time. Each household funded is required to plant at least 0.13 hectares of fuelwood forest and at least 0.13 hectares of alfalfa. In this way, one cow may generate profits for three households and at the same time improve the natural environment over at least 0.8 hectares. More importantly, the center advocates mutual help, so motivating locals not to be passive or overly reliant on subsidies, or constantly expect aid. This victim-like attitude is one reason why poverty has prevailed in poor areas.
The rotational beef cattle breeding model has brought encouraging results. In 2014, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the State Council's Poverty Alleviation and Development Office invited Ding to a seminar in Beijing to share his successful experience. The team has continued to explore and innovate. "We have also developed a micro- loan scheme to help the poor in rural areas," Ding said.
Yishan Yishui advocates infusing environmental awareness into poverty relief programs. In addition to developing affiliated ecological restoration plans, the center shares its national-patent technology free of charge with farmers involved in poverty alleviation projects. The technology, which is included in the Ministry of Science and Technology of China Applicable Technology Manual: South-South Cooperation on Science and Technology to Address Climate Change, improves methane tanks in such a way as to increase their gas production while reducing carbon dioxide emissions. It also guarantees gas production at low winter temperatures. Widely introduced to other developing countries during the UN Climate Change Conferences in Cancun and Durban, this technology has earned China considerable commendation.
Moreover, the center provides free clean energy facilities, including solar cookers, solar water heaters, and energy-saving stoves to participants in its poverty relief projects. Yishan Yishui is determined to go all out in promoting the country's capability to tackle climate change.
Devotion to public welfare
The year Yishan Yishui was founded also marked the advent of non-government public welfare organizations in China. Yishan Yishui takes the lead in northwestern China as a professional philanthropic organization catalyzed by social and market transformation. It strives to connect with its counterparts in the region so that they may grow together and improve the social public welfare environment.
Yishan Yishui workers have always been quick off the mark at times of natural disasters. For instance, the center immediately coordinated with volunteers and other NGOs in dispatching rescue teams and relief material to disaster-stricken regions after the 2008 Wen-chuan earthquake, the 2013 Ya'an earthquake, and the 2013 Dingxi earthquake.
As a landlocked area in northwestern China, Gansu lags behind others in public welfare management. A leading organization in this region, Yishan Yishui has made remarkable contributions to the development of local public welfare by creating platforms, establishing mechanisms, and training professionals.
Public welfare organizations in the province have developed rapidly since the 2013 earthquake in Minxian County of Gansu Province in 2013. This is apparent in the establishment of the Gansu Non-profitable Welfare Relief Alliance, which was mainly initiated by Yishan Yishui. The alliance's regulations, structures and strategies have been steadily improved in recent years. As its members become more diversified, the alliance is no longer limited to disaster relief. Rather, it has expanded to include education and environmental protection. Today, it is known as the Gansu Non-profitable Welfare Network Alliance, and cooperates with 87 organizations, benefiting 13 cities and prefectures in the province. Since connecting public welfare organizations in Gansu Province into a network in 2012, Yishan Yishui has laid great store on cooperation with governments and the capacity building of its counterparts. It has frequently organized diverse personnel training courses – from large-scale lectures to tailor-made tutorials.
Helping other organizations with strategic planning is another of Yishan-yishui's commitments. Training courses that Yishan Yishui has provided on such skills as project management, monitoring, and evaluation, have boosted the alliance members' capacity building. Non-profit gatherings have facilitated the comparing of notes among NGOs in the province. Furthermore, the center has joined in a provincial program that, in collaboration with 20 NGOs, will incubate a group of 20 grass-roots public welfare organizations and build up 30 nascent NGOs. By making a platform to exchange ideas and share resources, the program aims at promoting cooperation among NGOs in various fields, and further fostering the fair development of every community. Yishan Yishui has also launched a scheme to provide small grants to developing organizations as part of the program. On top of that, it has initiated a competition to select and sponsor outstanding innovative projects dedicated to public welfare. According to One Foundation, China's first non-governmental foundation, the public welfare network in Gansu is the most stable and has the best administration among the dozens of province-level organizations it has worked with.
Global partnership
In addition to the country's government sectors such as the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, and the Department of Gansu Provincial Civil Affairs, Yishan Yishui has also cooperated with a good number of organizations worldwide, including the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, UNDP, Global Environment Facility, China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation, Hong Kong Kadoorie Charitable Foundation, Hong Kong Shih Wingching Foundation, MISEREOR of Germany, Save the Children, One Foundation, and SEE Foundation, to name but a few.
"Public welfare calls for professional attitudes and qualities," Ding said. He took disaster relief as an example: "Culture and gender awareness are emphasized when we provide aid." The Vice Chairman of Gansu Province Charity Federation went on: "For instance, we must be aware that ethnic groups like the Hui and Tibetans have specific diets. And the special needs of female victims must not be overlooked. What's more, rescue teams should follow a unified command and carry out relief work in good order. The good attributes of traditional Chinese culture should be carried forward during disaster relief work." Ding also pointed out that a charitable organization must devote considerable time, work and perseverance to fulfilling its commitment.
Statistics reveal the impressive development of Yishan Yishui. Established in January 2008, its full-time staff has expanded from one to 15, part-time think tank researchers now number 53, while volunteers surpass 1,000. So far, the center has raised over RMB 100 million to carry out more than 300 programs cooperating with 20 plus organizations at home and abroad. Ding remarked, however, that this has not been an entirely smooth process. But whenever challenged by difficulties or perplexed, Ding and his team nevertheless carry on, because they believe that the advancement of NGOs plays an important role in a harmonious society.
Since ancient times, Gansu has been a transportation hub for Eurasia, and was also an obligatory stop along the time-honored Silk Road. Yishan Yishui has carried out further studies with the aim of benefiting more people through full use of the Belt and Road Initiative (which encompasses the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road.) "The clean energy and dry farming technologies we have managed and our experience gained in disaster relief and fostering non-profit organizations can be introduced to more countries and regions along the routes. Meantime, we are looking forward to exchanging ideas with peers from these areas in such fields as policy and technology consultation and project evaluation," Ding said.
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