Scaling up technologies

There are three main thrusts of the scaling up efforts.

Collaboration with the NGO ‘Educate The Children/Nepal’

‘Educate The Children/Nepal’ is working with ICIMOD to help the vulnerable, disadvantaged, and marginalised women and children of the Tamang community in the villages of Chapakharka and Tripeni in the Phulchowki watershed to adopt various technologies tested and demonstrated at the Godavari site that can contribute to improving their livelihoods. The methodologies include preparation of bio-briquettes from unwanted biomass (mostly the forest weed banmara) for use as fuel for cooking, water harvesting for irrigating vegetables, vegetable backyard gardening, planting of fodder and fruit plants, and conservation farming. Some technologies like drip irrigation are demonstrated in farmer’s fields in these villages rather than at the Godavari site itself.

Networking with and support of forest user groups

A network has been established among the community forest user groups (CFUGs) of Phulchowki watershed, the District Forest Office Lalitpur, the Regional Forest Training Centre Godavari, the District Soil Conservation Office Lalitpur, and ICIMOD. ICIMOD and the other members of the network share their experiences of forest regeneration and forest management for mutual benefit. ICIMOD has provided training in the use of GIS and GPS for forest data management to forestry officials as a support method for the preparation of forest inventories (a prerequisite for handover to a user group) and work plans for the CFUGs for the conservation and management of the community forests.

Participatory 3-dimensional modelling (Training Centre)

Participatory three-dimensional models are topographical models of a local area constructed using available maps and the knowledge of local residents to show the important features for people’s lives and local decision-making. A model of the Phulchowki watershed (in which the Knowledge Park at Godavari is located) was constructed at Godavari with the active participation of representatives of the six community forest user groups, farmers, women groups, forest officials, and other agencies. The model shows all the natural resources and infrastructure of the area and is now being used as a planning tool by community and development agencies. Following the successful completion of this trial, the method has been extended to other areas, notably the villages surrounding Nokrek National Park in Meghalaya, India (a joint project with IFAD); the remote areas of Upper Mustang, Sagarmatha National Park, Solukhumbu in Nepal; Bomthang in Bhutan; and the Takahari (by AKF) Programme in Afghanistan.