Rationale Of The Project Design
The project will be of 10 years duration, starting from 2010-11 to 2019-20 in consideration of capacities of stakeholders and time required to conduct activities in sustainable manners. The project activities will be conducted all over the State of Sikkim. The project will be divided into 3 phases; preparatory phase, implementation phase, and closing phase.
Preparatory Phase
Preparatory phase is fundamental for implementation phase to maximize impacts of the project intervention and commences from the first year and shall continue up to 2nd year. Under this phase, Institutional Arrangement of PMU/DFU/RSU will be completed first. Recruitment of additional staff of the project, selection of sites and target villages for JFMC/EDC, capacity development for DFEWM staff in each rank, preparation of necessary guidelines, manuals and handbooks including Eco-Tourism Policy supported by experts and improvement of infrastructure and procurement of office equipment will follow the establishment of PMU. Capacity development of JFMC/EDC/SHG/NGO, formulation of micro plans, and institutionalization will be commenced and consultant(s) will be hired by PMU during this phase.
Implementation phase
All components in implementation phase will be put into action based on the Preparatory phase.
Community Development and Livelihood Improvement which includes organizational and technical support for JFMC/EDC and SHG, support for Income Generation Activities will be undertaken from 3rd year to 8th year. Along with the activities, Biodiversity Conservation, Forest Development and Management will be implemented till 10th year.
Closing phase
In the last 2 years of the project period, Phase-out Works will be undertaken. The project will provide a significant investment during its implementation period to the JFMC/EDC /SHG so that they become self-sustaining financially and organizationally by the end of the project period.