The Government of the People’s Republic of China through its Ministry of Finance (MoF) and the Government of Germany through the German Development Bank / KfW agreed to fund the “Sustainable Development of Disadvantaged Rural Areas Project Yunnan Province”. The project aims at alleviating poverty by the improvement of basic infrastructure in remote areas of Xuanwei and Huize Counties near Kunming and in Tibetan minority areas of Shangri-La County in Diqing Tibetan Prefecture. All three counties are classed as poverty counties.

In Xuanwei and Huize County the project will finance village-based micro-projects to improve and expand reservoir irrigation systems, field watering facilities, household-based and centralised village water supply) and gully control; in Shangri La the project will approx. 105 village water supply systems. The project will apply a participatory and open project implementation approach with poverty and minority group targeting. Project Executing Agencies are the Yunnan Agricultural Department (AgrD) jointly with the Yunnan Department of Finance (DOF). Implementing bodies at prefecture and county level are Prefecture and County Management Offices (PrPMOs, CMOs).

The project components are:

1. Improved Sustainable Access to Water (rehabilitation of 3 reservoir irrigation schemes, development of 1,500 underground rainfall collection tanks for in-field irrigation, 105 water supply system installation [centralized systems], 900 household rainfall collection tanks for domestic use, establishment and support O&M groups).

2. Agricultural Development (440 check-dams and 44 ha biological stabilisation of 55 gullies in Xuanwei, establishment & support of gully repair and maintenance groups).

3. Programme implementation and management (staffing and equipping the programme management office, provision of technical assistance services, establishment and operation of management structure and system, training of management staff and in-country study tours, capacity building of line agencies).

Services Provided

Provision of intermittent national and international advisory services and training in Yunnan Province to strengthen the management capacity of the AgriD and DOF in:

• Technical, financial, organisational and administrative management of micro-projects in infrastructure;
• Preparatory studies and design [pre-design, feasibility studies and final design of measures], tendering and implementation of imeasures;
• Execution of works [preparation of tender design and tender documents, investment cost estimates, evaluation of bids, and other standard procedures];
• Operation, maintenance and management of irrigation systems, household-based and centralised water supply and of rehabilitated gullies through WUAs and other user operation and maintenance groups;
• Training and extension (workshops and trainings, field visits, study tours);
• Progress, Compliance and Impact Monitoring and Evaluation of the project;
• Procurement of goods and services.

(joint venture – lead firm)