ICIMOD in partnership with the Myanmar Institute for Integrated Development (MIID) has been implementing the EU-funded Rural Livelihoods and Climate Change Adaptation Programme in Myanmar since last two years. The programme aims to support vulnerable communities in building resilience and enhancing income through piloting good practices on livelihoods with emphasis on water management, climate smart agricultural practices and market linkages. The pilot villages face acute water shortages both for drinking water and agriculture for half of the year and also low soil productivity and poor access to market. The situation is exacerbated by climate change, recent population growth and land rights issues. With the help of ICIMOD specialists and Himalica project implementing partner – MIID brought together representatives (both men and women; old and young) from the villages to develop a Participatory 3 Dimensional Model (P3DM) terrain map of the area. The map is used for the development of village micro-plan that will ensure environmental sustainability in the face of climate change and livelihoods improvement of community people. The development of P3DM as well as the micro-planning process helped the village tract leader as well as MIID team to make a convincing   case for designing programmes with external agencies.

In this process, Director of Department of Rural Development (DRD) in Taunggyi Southern Shan state along with assistant directors from district and township, Nyaung Shwe visited Himalica pilot villages in Letmaunggywe area to observe water situation and verify with villagers and MIID team members about the acute water scarcity problem they face. Department of Rural Development delegates mentioned that they learnt about the issues from the news articles published in social media by the journalists who participated in Journalist training conducted by ICIMOD. Moreover, the Director, DRD and his team discussed with MIID in detail and studied water situation reports prepared by MIID. After assessing the field situation and observing the landscape with P3DM, the Director promised to contribute to installing a water pumping system from Yan Chat water source (located near the lower part of the hill) for five project villages under Letmaunggywe village tract. The local government has applied to the national authorities in Naypyidaw for funding to support development and capital cost of piping infrastructure to the five villages. The five villages will need to contribute labor for transportation, earthwork in digging for distribution pipe line and site clearing for pipe line and water source, Once approved, the DRD in Nyaung Shwe will implement as soon as possible.  Village Tract Leader thanked the visitors by expressing his happiness, hoping the project will improve the water situation in the village tract.

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