TIST
CHEZHUMAI ©
We have a mighty task before us. The earth needs our assistance – Plant Trees
Cluster
Mel Kodungalur is developing more with new Small Groups coming in. Mel Kodungalur is one prime Node Center of TIST India. Very soon Mel Kodungalur will become the first Cluster of TIST India. A cluster is where a minimum of 40 groups are located and they are all within walking (or bicycling) distance of each other. This way the groups can hold cluster meetings where they can walk to or bicycle to. TIST looks forward to have Cluster formation to train Small Groups more efficiently.
Arulagam Small Group of Mel Kodungalur
Arulagam Small Group is one of the new groups in Mel Kodungalur Center of Manganallur Village. This group is formed with three family members. They have 1641 Red Sandal Wood trees planted in two different groves of Angamma and Subrayan. Ground net was planted as intercropping and recently they have harvested the grounds, had good yield in just three months from ground net. The spacing between each tree is sufficient enough for the trees to grow well. There are 906 teak seedlings ready for transplanting, which would be done during the coming monsoon. This group was quantified on 29th July 2006. This is also one of best new group who have good interest in growing trees other than casuarinas and eucalyptus. From next three months they would be getting TIST vouchers for their trees and seedlings.
Good News - Visit of Rohit Jindal, Doctoral Student from Michigan State University, USA
As you all know that Rohit visited the project areas in Tamil Nadu from 7th to 13th June 2006 to make a case study on TIST India project work. He spent two complete full days on thorough discussions with several members of TIST India Small Groups. The main objective of the research is to evaluate whether existing community forestry projects in India can sell carbon credits through the US based Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX). Rohit had submitted his report on the case study, which can be downloaded from TIST website – www.tist.org. This is an affirmative report, which would help TIST India to get buyers very soon.
Rohit Jindal having chat with members of Chittoor.
Vouchers of Vandhavasi Small Groups
Lotus and Vasudev Small Group of Vandhavasi are getting their first voucher. Though they are with TISTfor more than one year, but still their voucher payment is released only now. This is because of their deficient activity. They were not good in several best practices and moreover, they were having single kind of species, casuarinas. Now they all are coming regularly to the Node meetings and submitting their SGMR and moreover they have promised to show multiple species immediately after receiving one voucher, TIST is releasing their onequarter voucher. This is directive of having multiple species if for all the existing and upcoming small groups. The main goal of TIST is to reverse the devastating effects of deforestation, by bring back forest. Forest means several kinds of trees, not just Casuarina or Eucalyptus.
SNo. Small Group Name Voucher Amount
1 Lotus 25,866.70
2 Chamundeshwari
2,268.10 3 Nelli 12,621.81
4 Vasudev 22,709.86
Three good techniques from the Small Groups of Tanzania
a. What is the best way to arrange people during a small group meeting?
Answer: small circle is the best - avoid using tables because they create barriers between people.
b. What do you do if more than twelve people want to join your group?
Answer: If there are more than twelve people interested in joining your group it is best to form a new group. The group can split in two; or three or four members of the original group can form the core of the new group. This is better than one member trying to start a group alone. Remember to start using rotating leadership straight away.
c. What techniques can you use if the group members are tired?
Answer: Split up the group into pairs and get each pair to talk about the task. Dramas also help. Sometimes stopping and each person saying something good that their group is doing can also motivate people again.
List of good trees to Plant
Mango, Sapota, Custard Apple, Lime, Sweet Lime, Guava, Teak, Neem (the farmers pharmacy), Tamarind, Silk Cotton, Jackfruit, Nelli, Drum Stick Any Small Group who plants fruit bearing trees will be happy as long as the tree is live, because they would get good yield from the fruits every year and continuous revenue (voucher payment) from the sale of greenhouse gas credits (GhG).
Welcome on board
Welcome Christopher from Vedal who has joined TIST India as a Coordinator from 1st August 2006. Previous to joining us, he was in Tamil Nadu Agricultural Department. He has 37 years of experience in agriculture and good community development skills as well. He loves to develop nursery with various species of trees. He has great interest to train people to grow trees. His main job would be getting new small groups and forming clusters, conducting Node, training the members on various aspects related to TIST Project. TIST requests all the Small Group Members to make use his expertise.
Job Opportunity
There are few vacancies in TIST India like, Quantifier & Coordinator. Interested members may meet your TIST Officials. You can also introduce your relatives and friends for these jobs, but they should join with TIST as Small Groups before taking up the responsibilities of a Quantifier or Coordinator.
