Dahan village is 250 years old. It is located Southwest of Nikshahr Town and placed in the plains of three mountains.

• Awareness-raising
  
  Raising the awareness of community organizations in Dahan Village (formed through UNDP?s Poverty Elimination through Social Mobilization Project), on the biodiversity value of local herbal species including the highly endangered Oil Tamarisk (Moringa Peregina). Due to excessive exploitation this economically valuable plant was in the verge of extinction even though historically it played an important role in preventing desertification. This project successfully attempted to increase awareness on negative human factors such as uprooting and excessive grazing.
  
  A 75-hectar field to plant saplings and seeds was established 10 kms from the village with the support of local Department of Natural Resources.
  
  
  
• Empowerment
  
  10 out of 250 families learned to plant, harvest and protect the seeds, planted saplings in their backyards and in a 75-hectar field, and sold the improved sapling to government agencies.
  
  
  
• Social Effects
  
  Community people from lower classes, as is classified in the region, active in this project, obtained votes in the first rural council election. This was unprecedented in Balouchestan were a tradition of social sects influenced from India and neighboring Pakistan was in place.
  
  
  
• Gender and income generation
  
  Women income generating activities on making scarves has given them a new status in the family structure. These products are being marketed in Tehran. To this end the Women's CO has been awarded another SGP project (IRA/G52/2004/044) to for training of the women in marketing and consumer survey in coordination and assistance of another SGP project (IRA/05/02 (50th)) with the goal of empowering the communities in sustaining and marketing the alternative livelihood products of SGP interventions.
  
  
  
• Training
  
  Many NGO?s (mostly SGP grantees) were introduced to and learned from this grantee the process of establishing a micro credit fund through workshops.
  
  
  
• Lessons Learned
  
  A local project coordinator residing in the village and fully trusted by locals can ensure reduction in threats to project success as well as reduce project cost by reducing many expenses involved in long distance project coordination.
  Presence of specialists with technical and participatory expertise in the project?s implementing team is very important.
  
  
  
• SGP?s Learning
  

When local participant?s own funds are involved in developing a livelihood, in addition to effective trainings, local knowledge and previous experience of project participants become an important risk reduction factor to production success. Since the participants came from community organization members formed from a previous UNDP project, they were not necessarily farmers and did not have local cultivating knowledge or experience.

When there is a recent history of drought in an arid region, defining cultivating activities in a project involves very high success risk.

Besides from benefits gained from linking SGP projects to capabilities developed by other international projects in an area, it can affect SGP?s project success if the fund flow is delayed such as was the case with the Revolving Funds in this case. This can undermine local peoples trust in a participatory development project to different degrees.

Enough recourse should be allocated to technical monitoring and evaluating including involvement of technical experts (M&E) as well as project M&E during project planning to make sure income generating activities will be a success.

Project funds should be given especial consideration for far distanced project sites located in remote areas. Recourses for health precautions and even health insurance policies is very important for project implementing NGO in areas with diseases such as Malaria or serious lack of hygienic considerations.