Mawblei COMMUNITY LED LANDSCAPE MANAGEMENT PROJECT

Village Profile on

Mawblei Village under Mairang C&RD

Block

District: Eastern West Khasi Hills District

3^rd March, 2021.

COMMUNITY LED LANDSCAPE MANAGEMENT

PROJECT

(CLLMP)

Community Led Landscape Management Project (CLLMP)

The Government of Meghalaya with financial help from the World Bank is implementing the Meghalaya Community Led Landscape Management Project (MCLLMP). The project will cover the entire state of Meghalaya and implementation of community led plans will be rolled out in phase manner throughout the state. The Meghalaya Basin Management Agency (MBMA) will facilitate community-led planning by providing support, technical inputs, and funding.

The project is intended to strengthen community-led natural resources management in selected landscapes within the 11 districts of the state. This would be achieved through a variety of planning, capacity building, and on-the-ground interventions to promote the conservation, sustainable use of natural resources, social inclusion, and community mobilization; building traditional knowledge and learning, mapping of natural resources management; strengthening the community institutions and creating linkage with financial institutions and community organizations.

The project interventions will include preparation of community led natural resource management plans. The CLLMP has the following three components:

Strengthening Knowledge and Capacity of Communities for NaturalResources Management.
Community-Led Landscape Planning and Implementation.
Project Management and Governance.

Objectives:

The project objective is “to manage and conserve the natural resources, especially forests, soil and water sources, in a manner that supports the financial and physical well-being of communities in the State”.

SCOPE:

The CLLM-Programme focuses on increasing the capacities of communities and traditional institutions (TI) by adopting a landscape approach to manage their natural resources such as soil, springs and other water sources, forests and bio-diversity, etc.
The project will be planned and implemented in about 400 villages across the state.
CLLMP has a strong focus on institution-building at the village-level, by ensuring systematic capacity-building on technical and social skill-sets.
The project will also extend such training to communities beyond the targeted villages and support efforts made by them to access funding from various rural and natural resources initiatives and schemes.
The Programme will also invest in improving the process and outcome delivery, by developing and adhering to effective systems and procedures, supported by the appropriate technology.

BENEFITS:

Benefits for community (Skills and Capacity relating to technical and managerial areas like NRM and Conflict resolution
Benefits to traditional institutions (village councils, traditional leaders, community-based organizations, SHGs etc) through Knowledge sharing, promotion of innovative approach, access to technology, technical managerial and financial support.
It is estimated that the project will impact around 1 lakh partners (of which 50% are women) who depend on land, forest, agro forestry.
Through the project, 55000 Ha of targeted area will be ensured with availability of water, biological resources and soil productivity, which will in turn benefit around 400 villages and the outcomes delivery can be summarized as follows.

IMPLEMENTATION AGENCY:

The Project will be executed by the MBMA in collaboration with other partners particularly, SIRD (for training and capacity building), Department of Soil and Water Conservation, Water Resource Department, Forest Department, specifically with respect to technical inputs, safeguards management and Community NRM plan preparation.

PROJECT PERIOD:

2018-2023 (5 years).

Sl. No.	Topics	Page No.
I.	Introduction & History	5-6
II.	Social Profile	7
	Population Card Holding Household Occupation Key Constraints Land Use Land Cover pattern	7-9
III.	CLLMP Activities	8
	Ground Truthing Sensitization on CLLMP Signing of EOI, VGA & Green Charter Formation of VNRMC Village Community Facilitators Purchase Committee Opening of Bank Account PRA Exercise Village Boundary Mapping & Resource Mapping Basic Survey on CNRMP template Focused Group Discussions Seasonal Calendar Submission of CNRMP by the VNRMC The Final CNRM Plan GIS Activities Project Implementation Fund Status	8-22

I.Introduction:

Mawblei Village is situated in Eastern West Khasi hills District under Mairang C&RD Block at 18kms away from the District Headquarter, Mairang, and 71kms from Nongstoin, West Khasi Hills District. The geographical area of Mawblei village is 678.17ha and a total population of 2014 villagers from 350 household.

BRIEF HISTORY:

Mawblei village is part of the Hima Nongkhlaw. Mawblei village was established about 100 years ago before the ruling of Syiem Tirot Sing of Hima Nongkhlaw. The first people who resided at Mawblei village belonged to the Nongrang Clan till recently known as ‘Siejkrai’ and after them another clan resided till recently known as ‘Mawsithew.’ It was during this period that the number of houses increased and Shri. L. Monsing was elected as the Headman.

During this period, the so called ‘Niam Khasi’ was highly believed; the practice remained deeply in the village till the arrival of Christianity. The villagers celebrated their rituals on a large stone at the edge of the village. Until recently, this stone was commonly called as ‘U Mawblei’ where the village gets its name from. Mawblei is well recognised in Eastern West Khasi Hills District as well as by the Government of Meghalaya for its developmental activities.

Lately, the village grew and prospered. However, there remains monuments and relics of the past in the village that are still considered sacred today.

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III. CLLMP Activities:

1.Ground Truthing:

The DPMU-CLLMP team conducted the first visit to the village of Mawblei on 23^rd Feb, 2019. The DPMU-CLLMP met with Shri H. H. June Mairang, Headman of Mawblei village and other village representatives for field assessment. Shri. H. H. June Mairang provided the team with important information regarding the current scenario of the landscape and the natural resource management under his Headmanship in the village. They found that there was availability of degraded land which were mostly fallow and barren and some eroded areas. The village mostly depended on springs for drinking water and streams for other domestic purposes. The soil type in the village was sandy loamy and reddish brown.

Case finding:

There are a total number of 350 households.
Actively performing VEC.
Forest on hills slopes is prone to forest fires. Loss of natural vegetation.
Lack of water resources.
The village have access to drinking water.
Few patches of degraded land have been left unused.
There are 5 Schools in the Village i.e., Primary Schools.

2. Sensitization Programme:

The first sensitization programme of Mawblei village was conducted on the on the 22^nd March, 2019, by the District Project Manager and the Assistant Manager on the Community Led Landscape Management Project. The DPMU team gave a detailed presentation on CLLMP as well as the guidelines related to the Project. Villagers who participated in the programme voiced out their concerns and questions regarding the project making it a huge success.

Highlights of the meeting:

Awareness about Community–Landscape Management project.
Laying importance on the involvement of the community in making the CNRM plan and its success.
A brief awareness on cleanliness was conducted based on our findings during the ground truthing phase.
An interactive session was held to answer the doubts of the villagers regarding the project.

2.1. Signing of EOI, VGA and Green Charter:

Mawblei Village signed the Expression of Interest (EOI), the Village Grant Agreement (VGA) and the Green Charter on the 30^th August, 2019, after a uniform agreement by the enitre community that the Community-Led landscape Management Project (CLLMP) be implemented at Mawblei Village.

2.2 Formation of the VNRMC:

The Formation of the Village Natural Resource Management Committee was done on the 13^th June, 2019, in a public meeting in the presence of the entire village and the CLLMP team. The community chose the President, the Secretary, and other executive members of the committee.

Listed below are the members of the VNRMC:

Village Natural Resource Management Committee (9-member committee constituted from Village Council, SHG group, Women’s group, youth, VEC)
Sl. No.	Name in Full	Gender M/F	Age (in Yrs)	Education	Designation	Occupation	Community	Contact No
1	H. H. June Mairang	Male	48	X	President	Teacher	Khasi	7085361706
2	K. Ryntathiang	Female	50	BA	Secretary	Teacher	Khasi	8837297614
3	Andreas Ryntathiang	Male	24	XII	Finance Secretary	Student	Khasi	9383284625
4	C. Ryntathiang	Male	40	X	Member	Carpenter	Khasi	8787653509
5	R. Ryntathiang	Male	30	XII	Member	Labourer	Khasi	9383284907
6	Mardrane	Female	36	VIII	Member	Farmer	Khasi	8974736452
7	S. Ryntathiang	Male	45	X	Member	Teacher	Khasi	NA
8	S. Nongsiej	Male	36	IX	Member	Farmer	Khasi	9366161358
9	B. Ryntathiang	Male	47	IX	Member	Farmer	Khasi	9383284907

3.Opening of Bank Account:

$C:\Users\Personal\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache\Content.Word\1646668899504.jpg$ The opening of the bank account in Mawbei village was done after the signing of the EOI (Expression of Interest), the VGA (Village Grant Agreement) and the signing of the Green Charter at the respective villages. A meeting was held for all the VNRMC members of Mawblei to brief and assist them before opening the VRNMC bank account. The bank account was opened on 3^rd September 2019.

4. Participatory Rural Appraisal Exercise (PRA):

The PRA exercise aims to incorporate the knowledge and opinions of the community in the planning and management of development projects and programmes. The PRA exercise at Mawblei village took place, where a total of 35 villagers, men and women included, took part in the exercise.

The initial stage of the Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) exercise at Mawblei village commenced with a meeting cum orientation program on CLLMP. While conducting the meeting, the community members were made aware of the various PRA exercises conducted for the development of the Community Natural Resource Management Plan (CNRMP) of the village, the community members’ contribution in the exercise and the objectives to be achieved. The key informants, the VNRMC and the VCFs, helped facilitated the maximum participation.

Commencement of PRA:

Introduction: Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) is the process of involving local people in the analysis and interpretation of their own situation of a given rural area. The local people i.e., the participants take a leadership role in collecting, analyzing, interpreting and presenting information and in this process impart knowledge and development insight to the specialists and extension agents.

For management of natural resources, participatory Rural Appraisal is conducted to establish rapport with the village community as well as to identify and define problems for prioritization in the village itself. It is a way of learning from and with community members to investigate their need assessment, analyze and evaluate constraints and opportunities and find out priorities in the area of agriculture, small scale rural enterprises and any other social and economic development programs addressed to village development. Based on the principle of listening and learning.

Objectives of PRA exercise in Mawblei village:

The Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) exercise in Mawblei village was conducted with following objectives:

To identify the natural, human, and economic resources of village.
To identify the village problems and prioritize them with the help of the community members.
To prepare the Community natural Resource Management Plan of the village.

Activity 1: Village Boundary Mapping and Resource Mapping:

The GIS in collaboration with the Village Community Facilitators mapped the village boundary of Mawblei Village and to involve the local community in preparation of village resource map as perceived by the community members to solicit their participation. Infrastructure, services, and other village resources such as agricultural lands, wells, forest, wastelands, cattle population etc., were mapped. Local people prepared the Resource Map by drawing it on a chart paper as well as on the ground without much interference of outsiders.

This activity achieved the following purposes:

Rapport building and won the confidence of the villagers.
Analyzed the spatial information, particularly studied problems, and opportunities of villagers.
Got an impression about the village setting, physical layout, location of various houses and institution.

Findings Based on the Resource Map of Mawblei Village:

Main agriculture produce is Oranges.
There is only one types of Forest ownership i.e., Private Forest.
Presence of Community Hall.
Presence of Football playground.
6 springs Chamber.
5 schools in Mawblei Village i.e., Primary Schools.

Activity 2: Basic Survey for CNRMP Template:

During the PRA exercise, the External Experts of Social & Environment Management held group discussions with different groups to gather basic village information regarding number of households, demographic information, major crops, and enterprises taken in the village, trends of production and productivity of major crops in the village and demographic distribution of village population.

Information related to land use category such as forest, cultivable land, water bodies, etc., and problems and challenges related to NRM were discussed.

Activity 3: Focussed Group Discussions:

Do people have sufficient access to supply of fodder, fuel wood, leaf litter?

Not sufficient.

Has access to timber improved or reduced over the years? How is access for household use and commercial use managed?

Reduced; bought from other villages.

Are the water bodies facing any threats?

Yes.

Do all people in the village have access to drinking water? What are the challenges?

Yes.

Are there degraded areas in the village (open/ degraded forests, mining affected, high soil erosion etc.)?

Yes, open, and degraded forest, high soil erosion.

What has caused this degradation? Are there practices causing threats to availability and access to natural resources?

Deforestation; Overextraction.

What have been the changes in agricultural practices?

Low productivity.

Are there any challenges in farming?

Yes, infestation.

How would you consider the health situation in your village?

Good.

How is the situation of cleanliness, sanitation, access to toilets and waste management?

Good.

Who are the most vulnerable in the village? What can be done to improve their lives?

Poor people.
Education and employment generation

What are the livelihood aspirations of the youth? Are there any avenues available?

Employment generation.

Do any committees/ institutions/ rules exist to manage and monitor natural resources in the village?

Village Natural Resource Management Committee.

What are some of the major issues of conflict in the village?

No major issues.

Have any of the above issues been discussed in village meetings?

Yes.

How do people resolve disagreements and conflicts?

Dorbar Shnong.

5. Submission of the CNRMP:

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5.1 Final CNRMP Plan:

SL.No	Name of work	Site	Land ownership	Benefited	Priority (High/Medium/Low)
1	Afforestation	Mawkhap	Private	Mawblei	High
2	Spring Chamber	Ramkhrip	Private	20	High
3	Spring Chamber	Shalangsang	Private	20	High
4	Spring Chamber	Tiehsohiong	Private	18	High
5	Spring Chamber	Tieh Jynmu	Private	12	High
6	Spring Chamber	Twah Mawblei	Private	17	High
7	Spring Chamber	Nong Lyngdoh	Private	10	High
8	Protection Wall	Mawdirew	Private	Mawsithew	High
9	Dugged Out Pond	Phet Khlam	Private	Ramkhrip	High
10	Terrace Farming	Kyndong Dirai	Private	Mawblei	High
11	Afforestation	Sawriang	Private	Mawblei	High
12	Spring Chamber	Mawpyrdoi	Private	15	High
13	Spring Chamber	Tieh Shnong	Private	21	High
14	Spring Chamber	Mawlieh Synjer	Private	13	High
15	Spring Chamber	Kyndong Tiehshnong	Private	16	High
16	Spring Chamber	Tieh Kon	Private	15	High
17	Spring Chamber	Umslapong	Private	21	High
18	Nursery Plantation

6.Project Implementation:

1.	Type Of Intervention	Site Name	GPS Co-ordinates		Amount Sanctioned	Work Status
1.	Afforestation	Mawkhap	25.671131	91.625876	59,750.00/-	Completed

2.	Type Of Intervention	Site Name	GPS Co-ordinates		Amount Sanctioned	Work Status
2.	SC & TCA	Shalangshan	25.660138	91.605771	78,200.00/-	Completed

3.	Type Of Intervention	Site Name	GPS Co-ordinates		Amount Sanctioned	Work Status
3.	SC & TCA	Umshiong	25.65549	91.61666667	78,200.00/-	Completed

4.	Type Of Intervention	Site Name	GPS Co-ordinates		Amount Sanctioned	Work Status
4.	SC & TCA	Ramkhrip	25.65208139	91.61147972	64,000.00/-	Completed

5.	Type Of Intervention	Site Name	GPS Co-ordinates		Amount Sanctioned	Work Status
5.	SC & TCA( Afforestation)	Nonglyngdoh	25.66001167	91.61073	77,864.00/-	Completed

7.	Type Of Intervention	Site Name	GPS Co-ordinates		Amount Sanctioned	Work Status
7.	SC & TCA( Afforestation)	TwahMawblei	25.65722806	91.61107806	88,380.00/-	Completed

6.	Type Of Intervention	Site Name	GPS Co-ordinates		Amount Sanctioned	Work Status
6.	SC & TCA	Tihjynmu	25.65387833	91.61169611	77,870.00/-	Completed

8.	Type Of Intervention	Site Name	GPS Co-ordinates		Amount Sanctioned	Work Status
8.	Retaining Wall	Ummyndierew	25.64778667	91.61761972	120,700.00/-	Completed

9.	Type Of Intervention	Site Name	GPS Co-ordinates		Amount Sanctioned	Work Status
9.	Afforestation with Staggered Trenches	Sawriang	25.670592	91.618463	100,000.00/-	Completed

Fund Status:

Fund Released to VNRMC (Project Implementation)	Total No. of Work Order Issued	Total amount Issued under CLLMP (Per Activity)	Total Amount Spent	Start Date	End Date
₹21,55,000/-	9	Afforestation At Mawkhap(59,750.00)	48,000.00	06/07/2020	26/08/2020
		SC & TCA At Shalangshan(78,200.00)	74,700.00	06/07/2020	06/10/2020
		SC & TCA At Umshiong(78,200.00)	74,700.00	06/07/2020	06/10/2020
		SC & TCA At Ramkhrip(64,000.00)	60,500.00	06/07/2020	06/10/2020
		SC & TCA At Nonglyngdoh: Afforestation/Spring Chamber (77,864.00)	77,864.00	26/11/2020	18/01/2021
		SC & TCA At Tihjynmu: Afforestation/Springchamber (77,870.00)	77,870.00	26/11/2020	18/01/2021
		SC & TCA At Twahmawblei: Afforestation/Springchamber (88,380.00)	88,380.00	02/12/2020	18/01/2021
		Retaining Wall at Um Myndierew (120,700.00)	120,700.00	04/05/2021	26/07/2021
		Affotestation at Sawriang (100,000.00)	73,170.00	27/07/2021	16/08/2021
TOTAL AMOUNT SPENT			695,884.00/-