Through the Bridging Bonds, CARE aims at enabling ethnic minority communities to proactively and effectively participate in monitoring the impacts of hydropower plant operation on their lives and the implementation of relevant policies and legal regulations.
Background
Unwanted consequences have emerged when people’s participation in monitoring public policy interventions and investments is missing or of low quality. In the eyes of policymakers, people have limited capacity to participate. According to those targeted by such policies, it is difficult to access policies, policy language is often too complex and there is yet an effective feedback mechanism.
In the hydropower sector, the lack of an effective feedback mechanism between affected communities and policymakers or investors on diverse types of impacts by hydropower operation persists while such impacts continue to put a heavy burden on people in all aspects, from livelihood, culture-society, and environment to the implementation of policies related to compensation, land clearance, and resettlement.
On the one hand, this means decision-makers have fewer opportunities to timely respond to the multifaceted impacts of hydropower. On the other hand, it delays the resolution of unwanted consequences and potential prolonged conflicts between parties involved, which might lead to socio-economic instability.
Objective of The Bridging Bonds
Through building research and technology application capacity, ethnic minority communities in Son La, Bac Kan, and Dak Lak are able to proactively and effectively participate in monitoring the impacts of hydropower plant operation on their livelihood, environment, cultural-social life, and the implementation of relevant policies and legal regulations.
Key outcomes
- 01 monitoring framework with 15 comprehensive impact indicators with 50 sub-indicators, covering 4 areas: livelihood, environment, socio-economy; and the implementation of relevant policies.
- 01 mobile phone Android application that allows individuals to collect and enter data indicating various impacts of the hydropower plant at grassroots level.
- 01 data processing and analysing software that allows user to extract significant findings for advocacy purposes in the form of descriptive analytical reports.
- 01 practical training manual for the learning companion of adult learners on participatory action research.
- 01 handbook on practical tools for data collection and researching using by community researchers in the field of hydropower.
- 25 community researchers (13 female) improved their participatory action research capacity via self-experiencing and learning companion method.
- 412 households representing nearly 20,900 others in the areas directly affected by the hydropower plant operation voluntarily shared information on impacts that they have experienced.
- 05 cycles of monitoring with community researchers using a smartphone application to collect data on impacts at grassroots level by a mega size (Son La 2,400 MW), a medium size (Serepok 4, 64MW), and a small size (Ta Loong 4.5 MW) hydropower plants.
The Bridging Bonds’ approach
Participatory action research: A self–experiencing and learning companion method was used to build community representatives’ capacity to explore, understand, identify possible solutions and to jointly work to improve their situation together.
Nurturing the process of decentralized democracy governance at the grassroots level in governing multifaceted impacts of the hydropower plants via enabling affected communities to monitor and give feedback about the impacts of hydropower on all aspects of their lives.
Participants of the Bridging Bonds
>400 households of E De, Thai, Nung, Tay, H’Mong, and M’Nong
Location
23 villages in 9 communes in:
- Sơn La: Mai Sơn, Yên Châu, Quỳnh Nhai districts
- Đắk Lắk: Buôn Đôn district
- Bắc Kạn: Ba Bể district
Time
10/2018 -12/2019
Donor
