From June to August 2011, The Pendeba Society will be conducting a full survey of 323 pendebas who received trainings between 1994 and 2011. The purpose of this survey is to build a detailed database for pendebas, identify and evaluate the impacts those pendebas have had on their communities, and to determine key focuses for The Pendeba Society’s future projects in QNNP. 

Teamed up by Tsering Norbu, LIU Rongkun and Norbu Dundup, a Tingri native who just joined The Pendeba Society for this project, the survey officially started on June 6, 2011 by first looking for pendebas residing in neighboring townships and villages in Tingri County. The first day’s results were very positive and we have got full profiles of 6 pendebas who attended the pendeba trainings in 2010 and 2007. These pendebas include the village leader of Enba Village of Zhaguo Township and women’s leaders of Banglai and Zhaga Villages. And from June 7 to 8, we have got another 19 pendebas’ information from Shegar Town’s Linsa, Qulai, Maxia Villages, and others. These pendebas all expressed their appreciation of being a pendeba and keen interest in participating in The Pendeba Society’s future trainings.

On May 19th, 2011, The Pendeba Society received a group of entrepreneurs including Mr. LEI Yongsheng, Secretary of LAO NIU Foundation, Ms. ZHANG Min, Supervisor of ONE Foundation and others at our Training Center. 

In the morning, The Pendeba Society’s Executive Director, Tsering Norbu first gave a presentation to our honored guests about The Pendeba Society’s workarea, the Qomolangma National Nature Preserve, and then the background of The Pendeba Society and what The Pendeba Society has achieved since its foundation. During the presentation, all the guests expressed their encouragement and support to our work, as well as contributed a number of constructive comments and suggestions, which were of great help to The Pendeba Society’s work in the future.

Eco-tourism potentials in Qudang, Tibet 

By LIU Rongkun, Program Manager

From April 19 to 22, I went on a short trip to Qudang Township in southern Tingri County, where houses the world famous Karma Valley for its richness in outdoors activities. During this trip in addition to meeting with The Pendeba Society’s previous trainees who live in Qudang, I also tried to explore some tourism activities that could involve our past trainees from local communities. The participants of the eco-tourism English training program are very interested in guiding trips in their surrounding areas and I with them experienced some good trails which turned out very adventurous.  There are many good outdoor activities that could be explored in Qudang such as rafting and mountaineering in addition to hiking and trekking. These trips are very good for experienced hikers and those who look for adventures in hidden Himalayas. However, to make it happen would require some facility support which The Pendeba Society may be of help in its future development. For example, as discussed in the 2nd council meeting, The Pendeba Society is thinking of setting up a “Karma Valley Pendeba Eco-tourism Collaborative,” where our participants could apply their learned knowledge in reality. In the future, The Pendeba Society could even provide local family guesthouses with small loans or grants, helping them improve their facilities to attract more tourists and increase their income.  

How to communicate effectively has not been easy for everyone, especially development professionals.  With an aim to help project staff in the field, ICIMOD held a 4-day workshop titled “Knowledge Sharing in Asia,” with support by IFAD and FAO from April 3-6, 2011 in Kathmandu, Nepal.  

The Pendeba Society’s Tsering Norbu and LIU Rongkun were glad to be invited to attend this workshop where other 30 participants across 10 counties in Hindu Kush-Himalayan region also partook to hone their English writing skills and facilitate knowledge sharing between and among various intended audiences and stakeholders. 

Bathed under spring breezes in Kathmandu valley, our participants got together and shared the challenges that they faced from their past writing experiences. This workshop provided participants with basic skills and tools required to ensure that knowledge, development experience, and lessons learned from them were adequately captured and shared through proper writing. Divided into small groups, participants took a closer look at and investigated various writing types such as newsletters, web contents, case studies, reports, and policy briefs.