I. Progress report (June 27, 2013):
Activities undertaken:
1.Launching capacity building through training and study tour
2.Launching demonstration of activities: power plant, biomass stoves, enhance carbon stock
3. Launching dissemination of project results

Results of activities:
1. Increased technical and institutional capacity and awareness of targeted population on the essences of the projects ,RE: climate change and renewable energy and energy efficiency and enhancing carbon stock witnessed by active participation and readiness to put into practice
2. Completed construction of semi-permanent weirs to be the forebay of the power plant with a portion of accessories being procured and put in place
3. Project signboards and dissemination materials of the project being distributed making private sector recognize the project

Project Visibility and Communication by other organizations/individuals:
On March 16, 2013, staff members from Energy Supervision Office, Area 1 Chiangmai visited the project to assess capacity of off-grid communities regarding promotion of renewable energy.

Emerging problems and issues:
Due to the remoteness of project location ,in conjunction with limited infrastructure and facilities, the construction of the power plant progressed rather slowly, especially during rainy season.

Approaches to address/Recommendation:
The project prepared equipment and communication modes as necessary and in a more systematical way.

Project experience and lessons learnt :
The project referred to the essential of persistent participatory process and clear records of expense and activities from the very beginning of the project as the main point of recommendation.

Project expense:
The project reported the expense of THB: 721,000 out of the first disbursement of THB: 721,087.89.

II. Monitoring Visit (March 13-14, 2014):
Findings & Observation:
Due to difficult road condition in the project site, the visiting team directly proceeded to the installation site of the micro-hydro. It was found that all facilities to run a turbo-generator were complete in construction. This include a weir to be a forebay, penstock and a small power house to accommodate three sets of 3 generators, each of 5 kw. However, only one set was found installed and functioning supplying electricity to Baan (village) Tha Ta Fang situated within one kilometer downstream. The power source was derived from the flowing water in Mae Kong Kha Creek, which later converged into the Salawin River.

Later of the day, the team interacted with six village committee members who would manage the use of the generated electricity. It seemed that the members demonstrated understanding several technical issues of the system and contentment with the first electricity generated by running water.

In term of implementation timeline, the project was a little bit delay. According to project leaders, the first problem was the irrelevant study tour. The project had selected a micro-hydro plant of the government which was technically complicated to operate and maintain for the community to visit and learn from, making the next step taking more time. This problem was addressed by an additional study tour to a back SGP project THA/SGP/OP4/Y3/RAF/09/09: Alternative Energy for Communities in Kham-Kok-Lao-Ing Basin, in Chiangrai Province, whose one activity was to generate electricity by micro-hydro. After the visit, project leaders from the two projects shared relevant experience and provide technical assistances that resulted in the first functioning micro-hydro plant in Baan Tha Ta Fang. The second problem was more institutional due to a change/transfer of leadership in the village, but was eventually addressed. As to the activity on fabrication of biomass stoves, the project had not yet made substantially progress, but promised to undertake this during the remaining months.

Situated in the area of Salawin National Park, community members in Baan Tha Ta Fang were allowed to live under condition. About 10 years ago, the government had provided solar lighting for the communities. However, due to the duration, limited capacity on technicality and finance to maintain, several units of solar lighting became unpopular. With the new type of electricity, and tight management systems, it was interesting to see how this would fare in the future.

III. Completion report (August 19, 2014 ):
Date of Participatory Evaluation( June 30, 2014 ):

Number of Beneficiaries/ Participating personnel:
Women: 22
Men: 40
Children: 8

Number of persons trained/ attending seminars, joining study tours:
Women: 2
Men: 10
Children: 0

Expense:
Amount received from SGP (2 disbursements): THB: 1,309,819.44
Total amount spent out of SGP budget: THB: 1,444,912.00
Balance: THB: (-135,092.56)
Amount authorized for the final payment: US$: 4,706.84
Amount Received from others: THB: 200,000 (in cash)
THB: 1,070,000 (in kind)
Activities undertaken:
1.Launching capacity building through training and study tour
2. Launching demonstration of activities: power plant, biomass stoves, enhance carbon stock
3. Launching dissemination of project results
4. Launching participatory evaluation

Results and indicators:
1. Increased capacity & awareness of 90% of participating families witnessed by ability to articulate and put what being learnt into practice ? 5 core leaders being able to retrain others to build / fabricate biomass stoves
2. Emergence of one micro-hydro plant of 9-kW capacity generating electricity avoiding emission of CO2 by 7.5 tons/year
3. Fabricated 70 biomass stoves being used resulting in reduction of fire-woods used by 38.50 tons/year- equivalent to avoided CO2 by 56 tons/year
4. About 80 % of surrounding communities understanding and participating in activities
5. Degraded forest of about 5 ha being reforested and protected as a carbon sink
6. Disseminated 1,200 leaflets and 50 knowledge pieces of the project


Project Communication:
In addition to the previous communication, there had been 3 visitations from relevant organizations.

Problems and Issues:
In addition to the issue of remoteness of project location, the issue on technical absorption capacity was mentioned. In spite of capacity-building activities carried out, majority of targeted community was not convinced that they would be able to build and manage the hydro plants. On-site training conducted by other communities of the same context and with relevant experience was proven to be able to address the issue.

Experience , Lessons Learnt :
During project duration, it was observed that targeted communities had well realized about degradation of ecosystem and its effects and appeared to prepare, to a certain extent, to cope with the consequences. The project seemed to be a main driver to pull communities together to formulate regulation/agreement to substantially rehabilitate and protect the forest, manage water use and the just generated electricity.

Plans and Activities for Sustainability:
In addition to rehabilitate and project the watershed to sustain water flow rate for the micro hydro, community leaders were thinking about building more unit(s) to generate electricity to be used for their home-stay project.