- The exploitation of sea worms has been completely performed by women and children. In the project, the women have the opportunity to take part in: + training activities, exchange visits to learn experience in conserving and exploiting sustainably marine resources; + exploiting and purchasing sea worms; + carrying out the production models to increase the income (raising cows, pigs, babylon snail, and planting grafted canari)

- The project gives priority to community participation. The project creates conditions for the community to exercise their ownership of the project and acquire the project achievements. - During the project design phase, knowledge and traditions of local people were studied and taken into consideration in project design. The local people were in consultations about the project issues and solutions at community meetings and through surveys/interviews. - In order to promote the role and responsibilities and to ensure community ownership, during the project implementation and M&E, the project will: - Provide the community with full information on the project. Representatives from the community will be given the opportunities to attend project opening, mid term and final meetings, and project workshops. - Give community opportunities to participate in all project activities. The local community take part in planning, formulating the regulations of managing a protected area aiming to sustainably harvest sea worms resources. Some representatives from the community will take direct part in the process of management and operation of the protected area. With the collaboration of Minh Chau People?s Committee, the community sets up a patrol team for managing the protected area. The patrol team of the protected area collaborate with the patrol team of Bai Tu Long National Park to control the exploitation and use of resources in the protected area in accordance with the regulations. At the same time, the guards? team also have a major role to play in controlling and inspecting the amount of sea worms exploited by fishing households, as a basis for collecting resources taxes. - The community is the holder of traditional knowledge in the conservation and exploitation of sea worms resources (the community would know the season when sea worms appear, the time when sea worms have eggs, and how sea worms change through the years in amount and quality). - The community participate directly in the activities of setting up the model of creating long-term alternative income: - The community select participating households. - The community receive technical assistance from experts and financial support from the project (through the revolving loan programme of the project) - The project team will develop the revolving loan mechanism to assist the participating community in purchasing the materials for the project model building. The community select among themselves the participating community based on the selection criteria developed by the project team. The community manage the revolving loan programme. - The community is given opportunities in project monitoring and evaluation. - Mobilising the community to invest their labor and resources in model building. - The project take into consideration the community needs and cultivation techniques when developing training materials. - The community ownership, benefit and participation are cornerstone in project implementation and M&E. - The community is the beneficiary of the project results: the more sea worms resources increase, the greater the income is from a day?s digging of sea worms. Besides, the community will earn more from the model of raising pigs and babylon snail.

1. One of the key objectives of the project is to enhance awareness and understanding of the project stakeholders on the following issues. - global environmental issues such as biodiversity conservation, climate change, land degradation and desertification - linkage between poverty and enviornemntal degradation - enviornemntal protection and sustainable development - millenium development goals (MDGs) 2. The project has awareness raising activities on global enviornmental issues, focusing on the project issue of conservation and sustainable use of coastal and marine resources. - Oragnising training workshops, dialogues, community contests on the issue of conservation and sustainable use of coastal and marine resources - Mainstreaming the project issue in the farmers? association activities and programmes - Using public media when possible - Attending in exchange visits, workshops and environmental communication activities organised by GEF SGP where GEF issues are discussed.

Policy impact + The project aims to establish a legal framework serving as a basis for the community and the local authorities to operate the community protected area for reducing the overexploitation of sea worms + The local authorities and community would acknowledge and pledge to carry out the objectives, with alterations and supplements in the commune?s policies of socio-economic development, in a favorable manner to the management of the protected area

The project capacity building activities include the followings. - Training workshops on management of coastal and marine environmental resources, and developing of alternative incomes from agricultural production - Community meetings and workshops for assessment on project model building and experience sharing - Study tours/exchange visits to learn from other localities - Training items include (1) managing sea worms resources; building and operating the protected area of sea worms, (2) general knowledge on marine conservation, formulation, and management of marine protected area, (3) Techniques on models of creating alternative incomes for the community to reduce the overexploitation of sea worms - In addition to the project capacity building activities, the project team members attend exchange visits, training workshops on project design and implementation, M&E as well as themtaic workshops for sharing experience and lessons learned organised by GEF SGP. - In addition to the project capacity building activities, key community members attend exchange visits, themtaic workshops for sharing experience and lessons learned organised by GEF SGP. - Training participants are project participating farmers, and commune key farmers and extension workers of participating commune.