GOAL
Planning of community-based forest conservation to improve community?s welfare and awareness in the upstream and downstream area of rivers around Limboto Lake, Gorontalo regency

OBJECTIVES
Objective : Planning to improve the welfare of the community through community facilitation and model development of community economic
Indicators : 1. The existence of village profile containing data and information on social, economic, political, environmental/ natural resource management in two villages in the upstream area of Limboto Lake.
2. Stakeholders in the village as well as external stakeholders who have influence to the development in two villages in the upstream area around Limboto Lake are identified.
3. Conservation groups and business groups to increase economic welfare are identified.
4. Proposal on activities focusing on improving community welfare through community facilitation and model development of community economic
Activities : 1. Preparation and preliminary survey
Preparation is aimed to identify assisted villages and to form implementation team for Japesda program. It is also aimed to disseminate program and to collect initial data in the government of Gorontalo regency, district and in the villages where the program is going to be implemented. Moreover, data on the parties who will be involved in the implementation process will also be identified, such as the media, related government agencies, conservation groups, economic enterprises, and others. The methods being used are field surveys, discussions, semi-structured interviews and research studies. The expected outcome of this activity is the collection of data and initial information about the social, economic, cultural, political and environmental condition in the upstream area around Limboto Lake. Another result is the identification of two villages that are going to be chosen as the location of the village planning activities.
2. Training on Participatory Village Planning
Training on participatory village planning is aimed to build communities? capacity in the making of Village Plan. These activities will be facilitated by a trainer who masters village planning and participatory mapping. Training materials consist of Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA), participatory mapping and compilation of Village Medium Term Development Plan (RPJMDes). The training will be held for 1 day, followed by 20 people coming from two villages that have been identified in the preparation activities. Participants of the training are expected to represent all elements in rural communities including local/hamlets leaders, women, youth, religious leaders, farmers, and others.
3. Participatory Village Planning
Village planning is carried out to formulate program plans in the village by involving all elements of the community in the village. Elements of the community are expected to be involved directly in these activities, especially the stakeholders in the village, such as the village government, village council (BPD), village community leaders, group of entrepreneurs in the village, especially those that make use of local natural resources and the existing community based organizations. Thus, the program can directly address the interests of the people in the village. Village planning will implement training results, which are Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA), participatory mapping, as well as a series of village discussions facilitated by village organizers from Japesda. The formulation process of Participatory Village Planning is done through village workshops that will be facilitated by an expert on village planning and assisted by village organizers from Japesda. The expected result is the existence of village planning in 2 assisted villages, mutually agreed on the management of natural resources and environmental conservation.
4. Monitoring, Evaluation and Proposal Drafting
Monitoring and evaluation are carried out during the implementation of activities and conducted on Japesda meetings on the evaluation of the program implementation. MonEv is carried out by 3 people from Japesda Supervisory Board who are appointed to carry out the activities. Monev is aimed to provide input and direction of the implementation of the activities as well as providing advice for proposal drafting.
Proposal drafting was made by referring to the result of Village Planning report. Drafting of proposals is aimed to prepare detailed plan of project implementation in 2 villages that have been selected. The proposal will be made by a team formed by JAPESDA Association and will be submitted to the Global Environment Fund (GEF) for funding at a later stage.
EXPECTED OUTPUT
1.Planning of conservation efforts on forest and land in 2 villages in the upstream area around Limboto lake
2.Planning of increasing economic activities on communities? group in two assisted villages
3.Proposals on community-based forest conservation to increase community welfare and awareness in the upstream and downstream area around Limboto Lake