SUMMARY REPORT SEPTEMBER 2022

BACKGROUND OF THE PROJECT:

The project “Empowering indigenous communities through Agroecology Learning Circles (ALCs) for
resilient, integrated and innovative natural resource management” is funded by the World Bank and
supported by Meghalaya Basin Management Agency (MBMA). ALCs combined agroecology with
participatory research and aims to empower indigenous communities to recognize, revive, practice, and
eventually further develop traditional agroecology technologies and practices and stimulates local innovation
for sustainable local food systems. Natural resource management investigated through ALCs include :

• Land planning and seed selection for community resilience;
• Increasing Yield by reducing loss through Pest Management;
• Reversing soil degradation.

The project also aims to achieve:

• Greater accountability across ALC members to resolve priority issues;
• Ease of access to blended indigenous-contemporary solutions already documented;
• Continued and expanded community learning through intuition and community led experiments;
• Ease of knowledge exchanges across different ALC clusters;
• Preparation for long term ALC community ownership.

The project area includes 100 villages from all three major indigenous communities in Meghalaya (Khasi,
Garo and Jaintia) across 7 of the 12 districts in Meghalaya.

INTRODUCTION:

The project’s MOU was signed in November 2021 and funds of Rs 1,74, 24,931. 00 (One crore seventy four lakhs twenty four thousand nine hundred and thirty one only) received on December 23, 2021. December and January was mainly preparatory works focused on recruitment, setting up systems, startup workshops with the partner organizations namely: Society for Urban and Rural Empowerment, Jowai and Social Service Centre, Shillong and confirming with the project villages through the Free Prior and Informed Consent process. The report highlights the key activities undertaken during September 2022.

ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN:

1. Supervise and facilitate experimentation & ensure ALC accountability : Under this activity, the Field team members- Associates and the Community Facilitators (CFs) have continued the supervision on the experiments that have been conducted by the ALC members. In this regard, a total of 60 supervisions have been achieved till the month of September.
2. Support community to design their ALC experiments: During the month of September, the Field team members have initiated a follow up on the  designing of the ALC experiments. In this regard a total of 14 follow ups have been achieved.
3. Training on Participatory Research methodology for ALC Experiments: Under this activity, the Field team members- Associates and the CFs have initiated a follow up on the methodology for conducting the participatory research on all the ALC experiments. In this regard, a total of five follow-ups have been achieved for the month of September.

Output Tracker

Sl.no 1	Category 1: Awareness and Community Trust for newly selected 71 villages	Total targets	Targets achieved till Sep, 2022	Remarks
A	General awareness and invitation to participate given to whole community – General awareness with entire community programme about the project explaining project goals and objective. Manage expectations by sharing the list of activities available under programme.	100	100	Completed
B	ABD (Agrobiodiversity Walks) with community and NESFAS experts to explore diversity of local species together	40	100	Completed
C	With Custodian Farmers that agreed to join ALC – orientation and and invitation to sign free and prior informed consent and engage support of Village Council	30	30	Completed
D	Community led ALC Kick-off Workshop – explaining the purpose of ALC, ways of working, allocating leadership responsibilities, agree meeting schedules, initial expectations for long term ownership of ALC	30	103	Completed
Sl.no 2	Category 2: Analysis of Existing Information and Identification of Knowledge Gaps and Opportunities	Total targets	Targets achieved till Sep, 2022
A	ALC Agroecology Problem Solving and Objective setting Workshop (2-3 days) – Ask community to discuss problem; reveal solutions already available in the community; identify knowledge gaps	40	40	Completed in 71 ALCs
B	Develop a community work plan that addresses priority problems agreed on by consensus and decide on the need for additional experts or not	40	100	Completed
C	Training from NESFAS and or experts to share relevant technical and practical guidance and give ALC members opportunity to ask questions e.g. how to set up a seed bank, how to choose seeds, how to create good compost	40	48	Completed
D	Facilitate exchange visits between villages that have complementary problems/solutions so ALC members can learn from other ALC members in other regions	40	40	Completed
Sl.no 3	Category:3 Community Led Participatory Research and Experiments	Total targets	Targets achieved till Sep, 2022
A	Training on Participatory Research methodology for ALC Experiments that includes information on data collection, stakeholder engagement, data analysis	25	46	Follow up Ongoing
B	Support community in design their ALC experiments	30	53
Sl.no 4	Category 4 : Supervise and facilitate experimentation & ensure ALC accountability	Total targets	Targets achieved till Sep, 2022
A	Variety of activities to include field inspections, support in answering practical questions, sourcing of missing information, accountability	55	60	Follow up Ongoing
B	Analyse experiment results and draft feedback and recommended follow-up actions	35	0
Sl.no 5	Category 5 :Knowledge Dissemination and Propagation	Total targets	Targets achieved till Sep, 2022
A	Transfer experiment feedback and findings into videos, leaflets, community demonstrations	30	0	Ongoing
B	Share experiment findings at village and cluster level through meetings and workshops and events e.g. food festivals, seeds fairs	10	0
C	Develop a Detailed Knowledge Collation and Communication Strategy	1	0
D	Execution of social media and radio campaigns as per strategy	216 Social media	60
		10 Radio programmes	0
E	Regular identification of ALC community member ready to share their findings and participatory video and audio interviews	60 stories	39
		15 PV	0
F	State level workshop to share findings with policy makers	1	0
Sl.no 6	Category 6 :Empowering Community to Continue Long Term Problem Shooting	Total targets	Targets achieved till Sep, 2022
A	Workshop to develop a plan of action with the village councils to take forward the initiative	50	0	To be conducted after development of workplan

 

 

 

1. Agroecology Learning Circle members of Mynri Umsning adopt local composting technique
   https://nesfas.in/agroecology-learning-circle-members-of-mynri-umsning-adopt-local-composting-technique/
2. Farmer from Jaintia Hills adopts natural pest control methods
   https://nesfas.in/farmer-from-jaintia-hills-adopts-natural-pest-control-methods/
3. Traditional Farming over the decades with Bah Bini Suchiang of Thadmuthlong
   https://nesfas.in/traditional-farming-over-the-decades-with-bah-bini-suchiang-of-thadmuthlong/