Project at a Glance

Badi Foundation has been working in Macau, China since 1990 to bring about balanced development through the design and implementation of education and training programs like; the Institutional Capacity Building Program that facilitates the establishment of community-based organizations to contribution to local sustainable development projects in rural China, and their Environmental Action Program to strengthen the scientific and agricultural knowledge of rural women.

IMPACT
In 2011
• The Institutional Capacity Building Program (ICB)
o Collaborated with 21community-based organizations (CBOs)
o Worked with over 9,000 people in rural China since 2005

• Environmental Action Program (EAP)
o Over 1500 program participants
o 2 EAPs officially registered as NGOs with local authorities
 

About the Project

The Badi Foundation is a non-governmental, not-for-profit organization established in 1990, operating primarily in Macau SAR and the People’s Republic of China.  For the past two decades they have been working in China to contribute, through design and implementation of education and training programs, to the goal of bringing about balanced development.  Their programs place a special emphasis on building the capacity of women and youth living in China's rural areas.

They have had the privilege of working with a wide variety of government agencies and academic institutions in China in pursuit of this goal, including national, provincial and local Poverty Alleviation Bureaus, and provincial and local Women's Federations.  They have also collaborated with international organizations such as the United Nations Develpment Programme, United Nations World Food Programme, and UNICEF in their efforts in China.  The support and encouragement of these collaborators has contributed greatly to the development of the Foundation's programs and to their understanding of the process of bringing about balanced development in China.

For more detailed information you  can visit their website at www.badi-foundation.org

Background and History

The Badi Foundation was established in 1990 through an initial endowment.  From the beginning, the foundation has concentrated on creating educational materials and programs to develop the capabilities of people and organizations to contribute to balanced development in China.  Since its founding over two decades ago, the foundation has collabord with government agencies at a number of levels to pursue this objective in both formal and non-formal education settings, focusing primarily in rural and semi-rural areas.  

The foundation's early projects in China included an exploration of issues related to character development in conjunction with the Central Institute for Educational Research and providing teachers and teacher training to schools and education departments throughout China.  In the arena of non-formal education, an early project was carried out in Hainan Island, where the foundation worked with farmers and youth in collaboration with the Science and Technology Commission.

Based on the lessons learned through these initial efforts, the opportunities that were available and recognition of the unique capacities inherent in China’s rural populations, the Badi Foundation in 1994 initiated its Social Enterprise Program. This non-formal educational program sought to cultivate in its participants, most of whom lived in China’s rural regions, the knowledge, skills, habits and attitudes necessary to contribute to the advancement of their communities. As this program developed, it was implemented in collaboration with the State Council Office of Poverty Alleviation, China Women’s Federation and other government agencies. Initially, participants in the Social Enterprise Program explored a multitude of paths of service to their communities based on the foundational training the program provided. Reflection on experience led to the realization that the projects that were sustained over time and had the greatest impact were those in which participants had some level of specific expertise in the field that was the focus of their efforts to serve their communities. As a result the Social Enterprise Program came to focus on developing in participants project implementation-related expertise in several fields, offering training in the promotion of sustainable agricultural practices, cooperative parenting and cooperative discipline. Ultimately, based on the experience gained and the foundation’s assessment of the most pressing needs in China, it was decided to focus the Social Enterprise Program on education in scientific principles and concepts related to sustainable development for women living in rural and semi-rural areas. This program came to be known as the Environmental Action Program, which the foundation and collaborating community-based organizations have been implementing since 2000.

A further advance in the Badi Foundation’s approach to development in China occurred in 2005 with the decision to initiate the Institutional Capacity Building Program, which facilitates the establishment of community-based organizations in China’s rural regions and provides training and support to build the capacity of these organizations as they implement the Environmental Action Programs. This approach stemmed from the Foundation’s recognition of the desire of a growing number of individuals in China to start local organizations to contribute to the advancement of their communities, and of the indispensability of locally-based organizations to the process of balanced development. The Institutional Capacity Building Program facilitates the establishment of community-based organizations and enhances their capacity to effectively implement the Environmental Action Program, collaborate with government, and manage financial and human resources in order to serve the needs of their communities. In this manner the program seeks to build capacity in local populations, enhance the ability of the foundation and its collaborators to be responsive to the varying conditions and needs of local communities and to promote the sustainability of efforts beyond that which might be possible for a single individual or organization. As of 2010, the Foundation is working with 26 community-based organizations throughout China through the Institutional Capacity Building Program, 11 of which are implementing the Environmental Action Program.

Programs

At the core of the Foundation's approach to development are the following programs:

The Environmental Action Program focuses on the sustainable development of impoverished rural areas in China. Building knowledge and skills for collaboration, it stimulates individual and community initiatives and raises community awareness of various aspects of sustainability. The Environment Action Program focuses particularly on rural women as designers and planners in the process of sustainable development, empowering them, through cultivating a culture of science, to address their real needs and contribute to the advancement of their communities. Since 2000 the EAP has worked directly with over 3000 rural women.  The Badi Foundation is currently collaborating with over 10 community-based organizations implementing the EAP across China, together, these small agencies have completed EAP trainings with a total of 787 program participants.

The Institutional Capacity Building Program is premised on the concept that the harmonious development of society depends on the capacity of its individuals and the strength of its social institutions. The ICB Program was launched in 2005 to address the need to nurture institutions of civil society, and imparts to its participants the skills and attitudes needed to form local institutions and deliver programs based on local needs and conditions. Currently, the Foundation is collaborating with 26 community-based organizations in diverse locations throughout China.  Since 2005, these organizations have worked with over 9,000 program participants in China's rural regions.

Stories

The Badi Foundation’s evaluation efforts have shown that the Environmental Action Program has had a considerable impact on participants and their environments, including the following important ways:

1. Participants have expanded their traditional concepts, realized more of their own potential, and developed greater individual and collective self-confidence.
2. Instead of confining themselves to isolated family activities, participants have learned to collaborate with neighbors, friends, and other villagers to improve their communities.
3. Rural participants have begun to apply the scientific knowledge and methods they learn from the program to improve farming production activities, and to share these concepts with friends, neighbors and other villagers in order to improve the local environment.

Stories from Participants:

The Hai Yuan Ai Xin Environment Service Centre is one of the community-based organizations the Badi Foundation supports. The Centre conducted a five-day Environment Action Program training in Jin Gou village, Ningxia Province. Many women from the village attended the training which focused on developing participants’ abilities to consult together and build a prosperous and harmonious community. They also studied concepts of ecologically sustainable farming. After the training, the women began to participate more actively and apply what they had learned to the development of their community and an atmosphere of unity, consultation and co-operation developed.

As an initial activity, the participants analyzed their agricultural production practices to assess whether they were environmentally sustainable. They discussed how the common fertilizers and composting practices they were using led to more crop pests and diseases as well as environmental pollution. As a result, they decided to apply more scientific methods to their composting practices. The new process they used was a result of their enhanced understanding of the science of composting. 

This modified composting practice led to fewer pests and better crop production. The villagers of Jin Gou village used this modified fertilizer to grow a large crop of potatoes, much more than they achieved with their previous composting method, and demonstrated the power of application of scientific knowledge through unified action. 


Shang Yuling, a farmer in Shaanxi province, feels that participating in the Environmental Action Program of the Yujun Service Center, a community-based organization supported by the Badi Foundation in Dingbian County, Shaanxi Province, made a great impact on her.

“First, I learned the principle of collaboration and consultation from the course, as well as some scientific knowledge about ecological balance. I gained more confidence in myself. Coming back from the training, I can feel that my mindset has changed. I think I shall not simply stay as a housewife. I must do something of my own. My family has raised cattle at times, but we never thought about running this business on a large scale. After the training, I thought: why don’t we develop a cattle raising industry? However, at that time, all cattle farmers in the village had sold their cows due to a plague. My father and mother-in-law also advised me to do so, but I decided to carry on. I never had such confidence before the training. In my conversations with family members, I have been able to use the knowledge I learned from the course, including concepts such as consultation and mature human relationships. Finally I persuaded them, and we agreed to develop a cattle-raising business. At the beginning, the milk production of my cows was very low. I had to take out a loan to buy fodder for them, consult the vet by myself, read a lot about cattle breeding, and figured out a dosage by myself. Now everything has changed. The monthly production of milk has reached 15,000 kilograms. The course has brought great transformation to my thought and ideas.”

Upon completion of the Environmental Action Program courses, facilitators encourage participants to create their own local action group and to begin a service project based on the identification of community need. For example, a group of four women who graduated from the Environmental Action Program course in Saibiao Village in Yingjiang County, Yunnan Province carried out a successful service project: to build a community bridge. The project was chosen because there is a river in their village, and villagers have had to walk a long way to cross the river every day to labor on their farmland.

The four women realized that building a bridge could bring great relief and convenience to their neighbors, so they immediately took action upon completion of the course. Building a bridge was too great a project for the four of them to accomplish alone. However, they searched for wood and stones to initiate the project and show everyone how it could be done. All the villagers saw how hard they worked and eventually other villagers joined in the building project. Finally, a stable and practical bridge was built.

The Environmental Action Program encourages participants to apply scientific knowledge to develop a balanced, mature, and ecologically sustainable method of agriculture to benefit their family and community.

One case study contained in the Environmental Action Program materials describes how Huang Hua successfully used the “Four-in-One” biogas production system, after evaluating it to see if it would benefit her village. Inspired and encouraged by her story, a few women of Saibiao village Nongzhang town, Yingjiang county of Yunnan province who attended the course joined together to discuss how to apply their new knowledge to continue the construction of a biogas pool that the government had encouraged local people to build, but had been idle because of lack of confidence and knowledge among the villagers as to how to proceed.

After studying the scientific principles involved in the process, gaining knowledge of ecological agricultural methods and insights and understanding from Huang Hua’s story, they decided that a “four-in-one” biogas production system would be appropriate for their community. They began to work together, and a biogas pool was soon built. When other villagers found that biogas pools not only provided energy for illumination and cooking, but also fertilizer for growing vegetables, and were both environmentally friendly and convenient, they all took an active role and built more biogas pools. During this process, they also learned to help and actively consult with each other, greatly enhancing the cohesion of the community.