I. First progress report (October 13, 2009):
Activities undertaken:
1. Building capacity of target population through meeting, open forum and training sessions
2. Organizing technical training for biogas pit builders with hands-on practice
3. Building biogas pits

Results of activities:
1. Increased institutional capacity of energy working groups in 16 villages with clear individual responsibilities and collective project publicity
2. Increased awareness of target population on environmental impacts of energy consumption upon human livelihood
3. Increased technical capacity of working groups witnessed through ability to retrain others on biogas technology
4. Completed construction of four biogas facilities with five others under construction
5. Local academic institutes paying special attention to project activities and paving ways to strengthen local curriculum on local energy within the Tambol Ta Onk

Project communication:
1. The project was made better known through the Triraong Community Radio (94 Mhz) , every Saturday from 09:00 to 10:00 , resulting in more information requests as well as project visits from other communities. Community groups from Kalasin, Nakhornratchasima, and Burirum Province had requested project personnel to give relevant training in their localities.
2. There was a visit from members of Mekong Riparian Country Network during the reporting period.

Experience, lessons learnt, problem and issue:
By participating in seminars with other stakeholders at district and provincial level on environment and energy ,the project energy working groups? experience was increased with self-confidence. The groups discussed various options to ensure more cost-effectiveness of biogas facilities to ensure that other population with less income would be ready to access sustainable clean energy.

Project expense:
THB: 179,561 out of the first disbursment of THB:290,784.78 .

II. Second progress report (February 23, 2010):
Activities undertaken:
1. Keeping on building biogas pits
2. Building capacity of target population through meetings, open forums and training sessions on alternative energy and global warming
3. Organizing technical training for maintaining biogas pits
4. Conducting participatory evaluation

Results of activities:
1. Witnessed reduction of canned gas from completed nine pits by 60.75 kg/month ( 6.75 kg/month/pit) , equivalent to a saving of THB:1,296/month (based on the canned gas price of THB:21.33/kg)
2. Additional 14 biogas pits being completed and being put into use in three villages, with 10 pits under construction
3. Evinced increased awareness and technical capacity of the project working group and volunteers witnessed through ability to articulate what were learnt in sub-group learning and sharing
4. 170 participants from multi-sectors learning more about steps of biogas pits maintenance then jointly revisiting project plans in detail to ensure smooth implementation

Project communication:
1. The project was kept being more visible through the Triraong Community Radio (94 Mhz) ,and Khon Prue Kian Community Radio (92.25 Mhz) every Saturday and Sunday resulting in more requests for information and resources person.
2. During the reporting period, there were visits from Srakaew Provincial Public Health Volunteer Group, Phrae Provincial Community Energy Volunteer Group, Nakhornratchasima Provincial Community Development Office and staff members of Thai Television to record activities. The visits prompted development alert among community members.

Experience, lessons learnt, problem and issue:
Securing cooperation and coordination with project stakeholders was very important. For example, the project was currently working with Surin Provincial Municipality?s Garbage Project to separate a portion of organic waste for use in refilling 10 biogas pits on a trial basis. There was an approach for further cooperation with Surin Provincial Administrative Organization to make a wise use of municipality waste.

During this reporting period , there were following problems and issues:

1.There was a delay in delivery of equipment for building biogas pits because of time needed in quality control before transportation. During this delay, some members of trained build crew revisited the completed pits to make sure that filling manure into the pits were being carried out properly, other members proceeded with site preparation.
2.Some members of the building crew were sometimes too busy with other livelihood activities. This issue was solved by more financial support to the crew from community contribution.

Project expense:
The project report the accumulated expense of THB: 342,781 out of the sum of first & second disbursement of THB:570,494.42.

III. Monitoring Visit by NC and NSC (August 14, 2010):
Findings & Observations:
The first interaction happened at the meeting room of the grantee where the visiting team met with five representatives of target communities and staff of the grantee. Overall progress including problems and issues were shared, fairly in details, making the visiting team prepare themselves in advance for more specific questions in the fields.

Target location is a paddy farming communities with orchards or gardens in individual premises. Target population comprise communities of cultural group of Khmer dialect who has been dwelling in the location for generations. Conventional energy, all of it fossil fuel based, is readily accessible.

Going out into three of 12 target villages as the second interaction, the visiting team witnessed 5 biogas facilities operational supplying cooking gas to reduce or ,in some cases, totally replace canned gas at household level, with one to support community school cooking. Consumption of fire-woods and grid electricity for daily cooking were regulated. One by-product from the facilities was organic fertilizer which were used in the orchard or garden of member.

According to the grantee, 55 out of proposed 80 facilities were completed and functioning but with different pressures of gas. This was attributed to poor quality of building materials causing slight gas leakage. With confidence, the communities were launching repair those and confirmed that all would function properly after repair where the visiting team witnessed one.

Results of capacity building activity deserve mentioning. At beginning of the project, 30 project members took a study tour to learn how to build the facility. After training only 15 members were rated as successful and able to retrain others. Method of repair gas leak was of their own idea and proven successful. In addition, these members were trying to improve, by trial and error, the efficiency of the system.

Concerning gender role, it generally appeared that men were taking care of the facilities while women were playing leading roles in community activities , such as occupation group leader, women?s group leader and even village chief.

IV. Completion report (March 28 ,2011):
Date of Participatory Evaluation( February 28, 2011):

Number of Beneficiaries/ Participating personnel:
Women: 136
Men: 136
Children: 700

Number of persons trained/ attending seminars, joining study tours:
Women: 620
Men: 600
Children: -

Expense:
Amount received from SGP (3 disbursements): THB: 846,290.29
Total amount spent out of SGP budget: THB: 941,996
Balance: THB : (-95,705.71)
Amount authorized for the final payment: US$: 2,775.73
Amount Received from others: THB: 249,500 (in cash)
THB: 206,500 (in kind)

Activities undertaken:
1. Building capacity of target population through meeting, open forum and training sessions
2. Building 80 biogas pits for 80 families , each of two cu.m
3. Training target population on using and maintaining biogas pits and organic fertilizer application
4. Conducting participatory evaluation
5. Disseminating project results

Results and indicators:
1. Increased insight & capacity of 80 families witnessed through ability to build biogas facilities and put into use as follows:
? 72 facilities each of 2 cu.M capacity
? 1 facility of 3 cu.M capacity
? 1 facility of 4 cu.M capacity
? 1 facility of 9 cu.M capacity
2. Reduction in use of LPG by 6,487.kg. , equivalent to Baht: 138,355 / year, with avoided 20,286 kg /year of CO2
3. Emergence of a community fund which was a result of LPG saving participatory managed by committee member and representatives from government offices
4. Two teams, one with 30 members, the other 19 , with substantial experience in biogas construction and maintenance being able to transfer relevant skills to others

Project Communication:
After current achievement, other community groups continuously paid visits to the project. Some invited project members to be resources persons in building biogas facilities. Subsequently, community in project location was able to earn more money from selling other products such as silk and organic vegetable/fruits using a by-product from the biogas process.

Plans and Activities for Sustainability:
The project planned to
1. mobilize more resources to support alternative energy activities , since there had been more community member being interested in building their own facilities
2. extend and support organic farming using the used manure as fertilizer
3. cooperate with other stakeholders regarding up-scaling alternative energy at community, provincial and national level

Experience , Lessons Learnt , Problems and Issues:
During project duration, there were several development project implemented in the location which resulted in more synergy and integrated approach in community development, such as
1. the Empowerment of Community Leaders and Building Learning Network for Community Development at District Level Project
2. Surin Provincial Smiling Garbage Project

As such, capacity of project leaders were also increased. Technically, the leaders were experimenting on collecting biogas in various vessels and systems. In addition, the project together with Surin Provincial Municipality , was working on reuse/recycle of garbage so that some components could be used to mix with animal manure then producing biogas for energy.