Mokokchung, July 11 (MTNews): For the first time in India, a Financial Participatory Approach (FPA) under KFW (German Development Project) is being implemented in Nagaland state under Mokokchung Forest Division. The FPA is being implemented under the Project titled ‘Forest and Biodiversity Management in the Himalayas, Nagaland’, co-financed by the Federal Republic of Germany through KFW.
Describing it as a great opportunity for the state to successfully implement and get recognition worldwide, Divisional Forest Officer of Mokokchung in an update said that the main objectives of the project were not only to conserve biodiversity but also to promote Livelihood Opportunities of Forest Dependent Communities. India is one of the few countries in the world where this project is being tried.
As part of the FPA, three contests were conducted in 5 villages (Waromong, Alongkima, Dibuia, Mongchen, Khar) from May 14 to July 4 under Mangkolemba Range, Mokokchung. “This project aims to put in place incentive mechanisms rewarding communities for effectively protecting and maintaining their CCAs,” the update also said.
The first contest included storytelling and drawing competition under the theme ‘Living with Nature’ which was conducted for 18 years & above and drawing contests for children below 18 years.
The second contest was organised under the theme ‘Sustainable infrastructure Creation relating to nature conservation’ where the participants were asked to prepare a project from which five participants were chosen and the winning project will be implemented and its finance will be done by the KFW.
The third contest was organised under the theme ‘Bio diversity based sustainable livelihood’ for self-help groups in all five villages where the self-help groups were asked to prepare a project basing on the theme and similar to the second contest, the winning activities will be implemented in the five villages.
The winning projects included Mixed Crop farming, Straw paddy mushroom, Piggery Farming, Nongnang Enterprise (Honey Bee Rearing) & Mini Silkworm which will be proceeded after the fund requisition.
Village Level Working Group (VLWG) and Juries were formed in all the villages. The VLWG organized the various contests while the juries were responsible for adjudging the competition and selecting the winners. All sections of the village participated and all the three contests were attended by the facilitator and Support Team, the update said.