The Hindu Business Line : Chinese team to study work of Indian NGOs

The Chinese are visiting Pune again and this time it is not to brush up their English language or IT skills. Instead, it is to participate in an exchange of knowledge on issues of environment and livelihood.

A12-member team of volunteers from Partnership for Community Development, an NGO working in Hong Kong and villages in mainland China, will participate in a 10-day study tour being organised by the Pune-based Kalpavriksh environment action group.

The Chinese NGO works on community and livelihood issues and hopes to carry back vital lessons from the work being undertaken by various NGOs here.

The programme, called `Evolving Alternatives - Indian explorations in sustainable development,' will focus on success stories at the grassroots level and showcase the significant rural development work done in several villages of western Maharashtra, said Ms Manisha Gutman of Kalpavriksha.

Starting with a two-day workshop in Pune that will outline the current situation in environment and development in India, the study tour will visit the villages of Ralegan Siddhi, Hirve Bazar and Wadgaon Ambli in Nagar district and see the work done by BAIF and rural communes in the villages of Jawhar district.

"A country can develop meaningfully only when ecological sustainability and social equity are guaranteed, and a sense of respect for and oneness with nature and fellow humans is achieved and this is most keenly felt by rural communities, whose livelihoods are still intrinsically and directly connected with access to natural resources," said Ms Gutman.

"Appropriate management of natural resources such as forests and water sources can slowly restore degraded ecosystems. The health of the environment, in turn, ensures agricultural yields and plentiful fodder, bringing financial security. This can be clearly seen in the cases of villages such as Hirve Bazar, where the transformation of the village in the past 15 years has established a clear trend of reverse migration into the village."

With much of the success achieved by villages such as Ralegan Siddhi, Hivre Bazar and others becoming reality through empowerment of the community, brought about by dynamic leaders like Anna Hazare in Ralegan Siddh, the challenge for the Chinese visitors will be in taking these lessons and transplanting them back home.

"Both the countries are facing the impact of rapid development but each of these countries will have to face the challenges brought about in different ways. The study tour will help the visitors take a page out of our book for their communities," said Ms Gutman.

More Stories on : Rural Development | Environment | Maharashtra

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