Mokokchung, January 20 (MTNews): A KfW team consisting of Dr Florian Wienkie, Senior Portfolio Manager, Natural Resources and Climate Change Asia, Mathias Bechtolsheim, Senior Technical Advisor, Natural Resource and Climate Change Asia from Germany, and Sangeeta Agarwal, Senior Specialist along with PMC Gopa Team, Forest Department officials led by Zuthonglo Patton IFS, Conservator of Forests (STC) and Deputy Director, KfW Project and NEPED team visited project villages in Mokokchung district on 19th and 20th of January 2022. The implementing agency for the KfW in Mokokchung district is the Forest Department.
An update from the Forest Department informed that, on day one, the team after interaction with the Mokokchung Forest Department officials and staff visited Khar village for interaction with the Village Council, CCA Committees and representatives from different organizations. On day two, the team visited Dibuia Village and there was interaction with the Village Council and representatives from CCA committees of Dibuia, Mongchen, Alongkima, and Waromung.
To promote sustainable and effective management of forest and biodiversity and improvement of connectivity, the landscape of Khar-Mongchen-Dibuia-Alongkima-Warumung will be included in the first phase of the project.
The financial participatory approach for community mobilization, which was first of its kind in India, was successfully carried out in these villages. The update said that winners from the contests for different activities under the category of Sustainable Infrastructure Creation relating to Nature Conservation and Capacity Building for Livelihood Activities have started in all these villages.
The update added that the visiting KfW Mission team and the officials were impressed by the participatory approach of the community and the Forest Department towards conservation efforts. “The visiting team has also expressed the remarkable and commendable observations of the active participation of the community and involvement of all stakeholders in all the activities and the community’s selfless contribution for the success of the project,” it added.
It was also mentioned that the participating villages/communities expressed their benefits from the FPA contest held in their villages. “The first contest of storytelling competition based on the theme “Me and My nature” has benefitted the younger generation of the community where they could learn about the traditional sanctity of conservation efforts, the second contest has provided them with lot of innovative insights for creation of sustainable infrastructures and the third contest has given them opportunity to enhance their livelihood activities through creation of assets,” it said.