THE DHARMA GAIA TRUST

MON WOMEN'S ORGANISATION

In August, 2006, the DGT is pleased to be able to provide funding assistance to MWO.

MON WOMEN'S ORGANISATION is working for the empowerment of women through the information and skills that are needed by women. MWO especially works for the education and skills needed by women around Mon villages inside and on the Thai-Burma border. These trainings are based on Buddhist teachings, and there are plans ahead for engaged Buddhist workshops for ordained and lay people to further integrate Buddhist teachings in daily life, environmental awareness and to make ancient Mon history accessible.

MAIN ACTIVITIES OF MWO are: dressmaking training; nursery school; literacy training; women's peace-building & community development training (such as women’s rights, environment, peace, gender, leadership etc.); pig bank ; weaving project; skills training for  handcraft; English upgrading training;  News letter and Journal; and a co-op shop.

MWO also works together with Metta Foundation, Shalom Foundation, SEM- Myanmar, Lawkadha Sariya Foundation for the workshops and trainings. MWO also sent some of the participants to study for the development and the knowledge that we can apply in our community. We also joined the training on Engaged Buddhism and we have a plan to discuss about Engaged Buddhism with the monks and nuns groups and also with lay men and women in Mon area. We also plan to conduct the training on Environment issue.

MWO  closely works together with monks and nuns groups in Mon area and also plan to publish Mon-English-Pali dictionaries and some of the ancient Mon story books. This book will join with the young Mon monks in our area. We will start with two books and distribute and after this we will continue to publish Mon history books. The surplus will go for the young monks group and to help and support for their activities.

MWO plan to conduct 2 Engaged Buddhism work-shops. And plan to discuss about core teaching of Buddhist and Dhama discussion. We plan to invite 10 monks and nuns and 30 lay women and men for the work-shops. Monks and nuns will lead the trainings after the first work-shop. We also plan to discuss how to apply Buddha teachings in daily life.

For the environment issues, MWO plan to discuss awareness raising for the environment and how to manage for the reforestation in our area. After the workshop we would like to follow up with need of the participants. MWO plan to have 2 workshop for the environment issues.

Objectives of the project

Before I describe the objectives of the project, I would like to explain a little bit about the environmental problem in the area that we try to implement this project. There is lots of deforestation in the area called Bee Ree. The villagers were cutting down the tree because they plan to grow different plants but they fail to replant due to economic problems or climate, so the places that used to be full with trees are now drying without any trees. If this action is continuous, the new generation will face a huge problem. The people, who are living over there have very limited knowledge about environmental issues. Our objectives for this project are not only for nursery plantation but also we would like to provide knowledge about the effect of the deforestation on the life.

Objectives are:

1. To start planting long-term trees in order to maintain the soil and water in the area
2. To provide a good environment to the people nearby
3. To provide information to the people about the effect of deforestation and what should we do about it
4. To encourage villagers nearby to start nursery planting and reforestation if they cut down the trees
5. To publish poster in order to get attention from the people and to nurture care about the environment

Activities

First of all, we had a meeting with the head of the villages, people who understand about environment and people from Mon Agriculture Department. In the meeting, we discussed what kind of plants we are going to plant, who is going to take responsibility or look after it and when we are going to start our plan. Beside those things, we also discussed how we can educate the people nearby about the environment.  In the meeting, the head of a village advised to set-up a group for this project, so that these people can manage the project all the time. We planned that after we get the budget, we will start to find the seed to grow (it is easy to find the seed we need). Then we will build a place to grow the plant. The elderly in the meeting said that we have to wait for six months or a year to be able to plant the seed we grow. After six months when we are sure about our nursery plant, we will start to clear a place to grow. Before we plant, we have a plan to organize a trip to the villages nearby in order to explain to them about our plan and to encourage them to participate with us. We will publish a poster and spread it among the villagers.

When we implement the project, we will cooperate with Mon Agriculture Department because they have more experience than us on this issue and they know well about area and climate there.

 

Budget

No.	Description	Amount	Remark
1.	Cost for seed	2000	Some seed have to buy from the gardener or from shop or pick up
2.	Cost for bags for plant (60x50)	3000	60baht per Kilo
3.	Cost for roof ( 20x500)	10000	20 baht per yard
4.	Cost for building material	7500	Knife, mattock, nail, wood etc;
5.	Cost for traveling cost	5000
6.	Cost for poster	5000
7.	Essential expenses	3000
	Total	35500 baht

Currency exchange: 1 US dollar = 37 Thailand baht