Zayandeh Rud is one of the most important watersheds in Iran and the most important one in the Central Zagros region, however it has been experiencing multiple problems such as Climate Change and drought, as well as water harvesting for urban, agriculture and industrial usages. Building resilience among local communities to cope with emerging and difficult circumstances, requires building their capacities from environmental and socio-economic aspects. For this purpose, the project aims to raise local community awareness about the environment and help some pilot villages in establishing micro-credit funds and generate alternative incomes. The project will be using a participatory approach and will be working with various stakeholder groups, namely rural women, helping them form self-organized groups (CBOs), training them in participatory conservation and establishment of micro-credit funds, and raising their knowledge and awareness about the new environmental situation.