SOCIAL CHANGE AGENTS & COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS ON THE TIBETAN PLATEAU

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SOCIAL CHANGE AGENTS COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
PROJECTS ON THE TIBETAN PLATEAU
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Fulbright-Hays Summer Seminar in China 2006

• Prepared by
• Karen Krause

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OUTLINE OF CONTENT

• INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL CHANGE AND COMMUNITY
  DEVELOPMENT
• SOCIAL ENTRPRENUERS
• QINGHAI NORMAL UNIVERSITY STUDENT COMMUNITY
  DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS
• SHEM TIBETAN WOMENS GROUP COMMUNITY
  DEVELOPMENT

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OUTLINE(CONTINUED)

• EXERCISE TO LEARN ABOUT
• SOCIAL CHANGE
• Community Development Projects
• Change Agents/Social Entrepreneurs
• Identifying and Examining Community Social Needs
• WEB LINKS

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SOCIAL CHANGE

• IN TRADITIONAL SOCIETIES, CHANGE OCCURS SLOWLY.
• FAMILY AND COMMUNITY TRADITIONS USUALLY SPAN MANY
  GENERATIONS.
• AS SOCIETIES MODERNIZE, SOCIAL CHANGE ACCELERATES.

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CAUSES OF SOCIAL CHANGE

• POPULATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL PRESSURES
• CULTURAL INNOVATION
• INTRODUCTION OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES AND CULTURAL
  PRACTICES
• PLANNED CHANGES
• SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS

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FOCUSPLANNED SOCAL CHANGE

• The Sociological Tradition
• Applied Sociology
• Social Entrepreneurs
• Qinghai Province PRC
• Shem Womens Group

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SOCIAL CHANGE

• THE FIRST SOCIOLOGISTS ENVISIONED USING SOCIOLOGY
  TO BUILD A BETTER WORLD.
• FROM THE BEGINNINGS IN THE EARLY 19TH CENTURY,
  SOCIOLOGISTS SUCH AS COMTE WANTED TO APPLY
  SOCIOLOGICAL UNDERSTANDING TO SOLVING SOCIAL
  PROBLEMS.

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APPLYING SOCIOLOGYEARLY SOCIOLOGISTS

• KARL MARX FOCUSED ON TRANSFORMING THE SYSTEM OF
  STRUCTURED INEQUALITY IN INDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES.
• DURKHEIM ADVOCATED FOR EDUCATIONAL REFORMS

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SOCIOLOGISTS IN THE UNITED STATES

• CHICAGO SCHOOL FOCUSED THEIR RESEARCH ON THE
  NEIGHBORHOODS OF CHICAGO AND ESTABLISHING A
  PROGRAM OF PLANNED SOCIAL CHANGE.
• JANE ADDAMS ESTABLISHED HULL HOUSE, A SETTLEMENT
  HOUSE TO SERVE THE POOR IN CHICAGO NEIGHBORHOOD

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SOCIOLOGISTS IN THEUNITED STATES

• W.E.B. DU BOIS CREATED THE FIRST SOCIOLOGICAL
  LABORATORY AT ATLANTA UNIVERSITY IN 1897 TO SERVE
  THE POOR AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY IN THAT AREA.

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SOCIOLOGISTS IN THEUNITED STATES

• C.W. MILLS, IN HIS BOOK,
• THE SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION, HE CHALLENGED
  SOCIOLOGISTS TO EXAMINE THE LINK BETWEEN PERSONAL
  PROBLEMS AND SOCIAL ISSUES AND TO DEVELOP NEW
  SOCIAL FORMS TO ALLEVIATE INDIVIDUAL PROBLEMS.

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APPLIED SOCIOLOGY SOCIOLOGICAL PRACTICE

• APPLICATION OF SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY AND RESEARCH
  TO CREATE SOCIAL CHANGE AT THE
• MICRO LEVEL PROGRAMS DEVELOPED TO AFFECT
  INDIVIDUALS IN COMMUNITIES.
• MACRO LEVEL PROGRAMS DESIGNED TO AFFECT SOCIAL
  POLICY

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SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS

• IDENTIFIES AND SOLVES SOCIAL PROBLEMS.
• ACT AS CHANGE AGENTS FOR SOCIETY.
• DEVELOPS SOLUTIONS THAT CREATE SOCIAL VALUE.
• EXAMPLE MUHAMMAD YUNUS
• GRAMEEN BANK IN BANGLADESH

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GRAMEEN BANKMICRO-FINANCE PROGRAM

• BANK THAT MAKES LOANS ONLY TO POOR PEOPLE, MOSTLY
  WOMEN.
• STARTED BY ONE MAN GIVING SMALL LOANS TO
  VILLAGERS.
• TODAY THE PROGRAM REACHES 12 MILLION HOUSEHOLDS
  AND HAS 5.5 MILLION BORROWERS AND HAS LENT OVER
  5 BILLION.

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SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS

• THEIR WORK GROWS OUT OF DIRECT CONTACT WITH
  PEOPLE WHO NEED ASSISTANCE.
• HISTORICAL TREND GREAT INCREASE IN SOCIAL
  ENTREPRENEURS SINCE THE 1990s.

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SOCIAL CHANGE AGENT

• KEVIN STUART
• QINGHAI NORMAL UNIVERSITY

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CHANGE AGENT KEVIN STUART

• INNOVATIVE EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM IN THE
  NATIONALITIES DEPARTMENT IN QINGHAI NORMAL
  UNIVERSITY
• ADDRESS THE PROBLEMS OF
• LEVEL OF EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT AMONG ETHNIC
  MINORITIES BELOW THE NATIONAL AVERAGE.
• NEED FOR TRAINING IN ENGLISH AS A THIRD LANGUAGE.

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DAZHUAN LEVEL ENGLISH PROGRAM

• RECRUITMENT OF OUTSTANDING STUDENTS FROM MIDDLE
  SCHOOLS AND TEACHER TRAINING COLLEGES IN GANSU,
  QINGHAI, SICHUAN, THE TIBETAN REGION OF YUNNAN
  PROVINCE AND THE TIBET AUTONOMOUS REGION.
• STUDENTS HAVE 30 HOURS OF INSTRUCTION PER WEEK,
  12 14 HOURS IN ENGLISH.
• IN LESS THAN TWO YEARS ARE READING ENGLISH
  CLASSICS (OLD MAN THE SEA)

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GRASSROOTS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS

• IN ADDITION TO LEARNING ENGLISH, STUDENTS HAVE
  THE OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN HOW TO DESIGN AND
  IMPLEMENT SMALL-SCALE GRASSROOTS SUSTAINABLE
  DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS FOR THEIR LOCAL COMMUNITIES.

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PROJECT DEVELOPMENT TRAINING

• WRITING PROJECT PROPOSALS
• APPLYING FOR FUNDING FOR PROJECTS
• MONITORING AND MANAGING PROJECT FINANCES
• WRITE REPORTS EVALUATING PROJECTS

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PROJECTS

• BUILD VILLAGE SCHOOLS
• IMPLEMENT WATER PROJECTS
• PROVIDE SOLAR COOKERS TO RURAL HOUSEHOLDS
• IN THE PROCESS OF LEANING ENGLISH,STUDENTS ARE
  IMPLEMENTING PROJECTS TO BENEFIT THEIR
  COMMUNITIES.

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DEVELOPMENTAL PROJECTS ON THE TIBETAN PLATEAU

• SOME OF THE PROJECTS CONDUCTED BY STUDENTS IN
  KEVIN STUARTS CLASS
• GREGORY
• LUKE
• ZACHARERY
• KIMBERLY

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• XIRE ( GREGORY)
• XIREJIANCUO
• Comes from a small Tibetan village called Sa
  dkyil
• in Tongren County,
• Huangnan
• Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture,
• Qinghai Province PRC

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Gregory

• In 1999, he was one of five students chosen to
  study English at
• Qinghai Normal University.
• While learning English, he also learned about
  development work and the possibilities for
  development programs in his home village and
  nearby communities.

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Gregorys First Project

• Mountain God Temple in Sa dkyil village.
• Gregory secured a 11,000 grant from the Bridge
  Fund for restoring the temple.

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RESTORATION OF MOUNTAIN GOD TEMPLE IN REBGONG
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Sa dkyl Village Temple Project Supported
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PROJECT PROVIDE BEDDING FOR BOARDING SCHOOL
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Gregory Giving Bedding to Student
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Gregorys Current ProjectKaji Rima Primary
School Project

• Kajia Rima Village, Madpa Townshi
• Tongren County,
• Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture,
• Qinghai Province, PRC

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Kaji Rima Primary School Project

• Poor and remote village that wants an education
  for their children.
• 95 of villagers are illiterate.
• Village of twenty-two households.
• 30 kilometers from Tongren town.
• Must travel by foot for 4 hours on winding
  treacherous path to reach the village.
• Situated on top of a mountain.

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Kaji Rima School Project Potential Benefits

• The school will have a room for grades 1-2 and a
  second room for grade 3.
• Students will be taught Tibetan, Chinese, and
  math in Tibetan.
• Twenty students (males and females) will have an
  opportunity to receive an education.
• With education, poverty will be reduced.

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Nomadic kids reciting books on the grasslands
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Luke(Mr.Caihera Dorji) Rural Village
Develop-ment Projects
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GERMAN EMBASSY (BEIJING) TIBETAN VILLAGE
IRRIGATION PROJECT

• ZHURMER NANG VILLAGE, QINGHAI PROVINCE, PRC.
• CONCRETE-STONE IRRIGATION DITCH.
• PROBLEMS SOLVED
• NO MORE TIME LOST FIXING BROKEN SYSTEM.
• LARGER CROP YIELDS MORE INCOME
• LESS EROSION OF LAND FROM WATER

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LUKE

• LUKE IS CURRENTLY SEEKING FUNDING FOR SEVEN
  PROJECTS (SIX RUNNING WATER PROJECTS AND ONE
  SCHOOL PROJECT).

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Social Change Agent Zachary(Mr. Dawa
Tenzin)The Namyi Language Cultural
Preservation
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CULTURAL PRESERVATION PROJECTS

• STUDENTS ARE ENCOURAGED TO GET INVOLVED IN
  CULTURAL PRESERVATION PROJECTS
• FOLKLORE COLLECTION IN AUDIO AND VIDEO FORMATS.
• TRANSCRIPTION OF MATERIAL IN TIBETAN WITH
  IPA(INTERNATIONAL PHONETIC ALPHABET) AND
  TRANSLATION INTO ENGLISH.

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Social Change Agent-Britney(Ms. Dawa
Zhoma)Endangered Tibetan Music Project
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FOR MORE INFORMATION

• DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS
• http//iris.lib.virginia.edu/tibet/community/comm
  dev.html
• ENGLISH PROGRAM
• http//iris.lib.virginia.edu/tibet/education/engl
  ish/EnglishTrainingForTibetans.pdf
• TIBETAN-FRIENDLY ENGLISH TEACHING MATERIAL
• http//iris.lib.virginia.edu/tibet/xml/showEssay.
  php?xml/education/english/index.xmlmprint

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Social Change Agents

• SHEM WOMENS GROUP

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SHEMWomens Group

• Focus on the empowerment of Tibetan women and
  their communities through grassroots development.
• Trains young, educated women to design,
  implement, and manage sustainable grassroots
  development projects that will address needs for
  water, fuel, and education in their home
  communities.

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Most Projects are Designed to Directly Benefit
Women

• Reason for this focus
• Knowledge As women, Shem members have first hand
  knowledge of the needs for women in impoverished
  villages.
• Womens Roles Womens lives are greatly impacted
  by limited access to clean water, electricity,
  health care and education. Projects are designed
  to provide women with more free time, better
  health and safer access to water and fuel.
• Challenging Traditional Attitudes Shem members
  serve as positive role models demonstrating the
  importance of education for women.

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HOW SHEM GOT STARTED

• After hours course in Gender Studies taught by
  Michelle Kleisath raised students awareness
  about womens roles.
• Discussion of gender specific concerns lead to
  motivation to move forward to help women through
  small scale development projects.
• At students request. Michelle designed a
  development skills training class.

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Michelle and Chugpilhamo
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GRASSROOTS DEVELOPMENT SKILLS TRAINING COURSE

• STUDENTS LEARNED HOW TO
• PLAN PROJECTS
• FIND FUNDING FROM LOCAL, NATIONAL AND
  INTERNATIONAL AGENCIES
• ORGANIZE THE TASKS TO BE COMLETED
• MANAGE THE PEOPLE AND PROJECT
• IMPLEMENT AND MONITOR THE PROJECT
• PROVIDE A FINAL REPORT FOR THE FUNDING AGENCIES

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GROWTH OF SHEM

• SHEM WAS FORMED IN 2005
• FIRST GROUP TO PROVIDE TIBETAN WOMEN WITH THE
  OPPORTUNITY TO DESIGN AND IMPLEMENT COMMUNITY
  PROJECTS.
• PROJECT DIRECTORS CHUGPILHAMO LHAMOTSO.
• IN THEIR FIRST YEAR OF OPERATION, SHEM RAISED
  NEARLY 40,000 AND COMPLETED SIX DEVELOPMENT
  PROJECTS IN TIBETAN COMMUNITIES.

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TYPES OF PROJECTS CONDUCTED BY SHEM

• BRINGING POTABLE WATER TO VILLAGES
• IMPROVING SCHOOLS
• IMPROVING VILLAGE INFRASTRUCTURE BY BUILDING
  BRIDGES
• SUPPORTING MICRO-FINANCING IN THE FORM OF YAK
  LOANS
• BRINGING SOLAR ELECTICITY TO NOMADIC COMMUNITIES

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SHEMTibetan Womens Group

• http//www.shemgroup.org/

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TIBETAN CULTURE
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Tibetan Culture
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Ethnic Nationalities

• There are 57 National ethnic groups within China.
• The Han Chinese are the dominant group and
  comprise the largest group in China.
• The Tibetans are one of the largest ethnic groups.

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What is Culture?

• Culture
• the language, beliefs,
• values, norms, behaviors, and material objects
  that are passed from one generation to the next.

• Material Culture
• the material objects that distinguish a culture.
• Non-material Culture a groups
• way of thinking and doing things.

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How Culture Affects Our Lives

• The effects of our own culture generally remain
  imperceptible to us.
• These learned and shared ways penetrate our
  being.
• Culture becomes the lens through which we
  perceive and evaluate what is going on around us.

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Folkways and Mores

• Folkways norms that are not strictly enforced.
• If someone does not follow a folkway, we may
  stare or shrug our shoulders.

• Mores norms that are considered essential to
  our core values.

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Norms in Tibet

• Clothing Cover your arms and legs
• Especially women of a certain age.
• Do not stretch your legs out.
• Dont kiss in public.
• Do not point to images of deities with index
  finger. Use the entire hand.
• Take off your shoes when sitting on the kang

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Norms In Tibet

• Go outside to blow your nose.
• Gesture of respect hands together in prayer
  form and bow (to elders).
• Gestures
• Thumb up good
• Little finger up bad
• Middle finger up so, so

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Traditional TibetanWomensFestiveAttire
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TRADITIONAL DANCE AND CULTURE
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Cultural Diffusion

• The spread of cultural characteristics from one
  group to another.
• Travel and communication unite us,

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Chinese Nationalities Museum Beijing, China

• TIBETAN VILLAGE

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Tibetan Village Chinese Nationalities Museum
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Chinese Nationalities Tibetan Village
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Replica of Temple
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Replica of Tibetan Village
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Prayer Wheel
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Prayer Wheel
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Thangka Painting
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GREGORYS VILLAGEHome Stay in Tongren Village
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On the road to the village
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On the road to the village
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On the road to the village
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Home and Courtyard

• Womens Work

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Storage for Firewood
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Firewood for Kang - Under Window
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Cook Stove
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Preparing breakfast
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Tsampa
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Making Tsampa
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Outdoor Bathroom
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WELL
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Washing Facilities
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Cultural Orientations

• Culture Shock the
• Disorientation that people experience when they
  come into contact with a different culture.

• Ethnocentrism the tendency to use ones own
  culture as a yardstick for judging the ways of
  other societies.
• It can create in-group loyalties or lead to
  harmful discrimination.

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Practicing Cultural Relativism

• Try to see any item or practice in terms of the
  culture it occurs in.
• Analyze another culture on its own terms.
• Analyze how the elements of culture fit together.
• To counter our tendency to use our own culture as
  a tool for judgement.

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The End