Problem overview:

     Awareness and visions: Human development is a process of enlarging peoples choices through the expansion of human capabilities and functionings. Three essential capabilities for human development are for people to lead long and healthy lives, to be knowledgeable and to have access to the resources needed for a decent standard of living. (UNDP) However, the process of enlarging peoples choices should be done in a sustainable manner, meaning, enhancing the capabilities of the present generation without compromising the abilities and opportunities of future generations.

     Integrating stakeholders: FAO, UNDP and a number of partner institutions have been putting their efforts together to increase income and food security in Myanmar under the Environmentally Sustainable Food Security and Micro-income Opportunities programme.

Background in summary:

     The goal of the Human Development Programme: UNDP and its implementing partners have been implementing a set of clearly targeted grassroots projects in the areas of Human Development. The overall goal of Human Development Initiative (HDI) is to impact, in a sustainable manner, on the human development and humanitarian needs of all the peoples of Myanmar.

     To widen the range of options for sustainable income opportunities and employment: The economy in the project area is predominantly agricultural and thus the income and employment options for the poor are almost exclusively to be found in agriculture, forestry, livestock, and fisheries/aquaculture. Thus, the specific scope of the project is to widen the range of options for sustainable income opportunities and employment for the poor in the natural resource sector (agriculture, forestry, fisheries, aquaculture and livestock).

     The project also aims at reducing the pressures on natural resources by:

1. Improving the productivity of existing land resources in environmentally, financially, technically and institutionally sustainable manner
   
   
2. Incorporating important environmental awarenes ?raising and environmental protection technology package in all interventions and
   
   
3. Supporting new, non-natural resource based income earning opportunities.
   
   

Peer Review Committee Good practice rating: (1 for the best, 5 for the lowest score)
Sustainability		Efficiency
2	Improvement in either the environment of economic condition with no harm to the other.	2	Cost efficient.
2	Sustainable over time (not one-off)	Process
Adaptability		2	Participation of the community
2	Location adaptability (can the project be done in other places?)	2	Participation of resource owners/users
2	Socio-cultural adaptability.	2	Partnerships between various actors (Governments, NGO, Academia, Private)
2	Level of development adaptability.	2	Degree of coordination and cooperation between government departments.
2	Style of government adaptability.	2	Ability to attract political interest/support
2	Degree of decentralization adaptability.	2	Procedures for feedback and review.
Comments on this example:   Sustainability of the project:      Awareness and visions: It is evident that the pressure on natural resources is severe due to the magnitude of dependency on them. The poor and the less privileged have nothing to depend on to except the freely available natural resources, which they used and managed in a sustainable manner in ancient times. With population pressure and evolvement of a money based economy, people were very quick exploit and convert natural resources into quick money. In this respect the real danger emerges not from the poor, but from the well organized affluent groups. The poor would exploit the resource mainly for subsistence purposes.      In order to promote environmentally sustainable human development without straining the natural resources, other income alternatives must be offered, trained and later practiced by the poor society. Adaptability of the project to other situations:       Process of decision making and implementation:      Integrating stakeholders: Moving the people away from the natural resource base may not be practical in most cases. One way of protecting the resource is to entrust it to the communities on a joint management basis, where some benefits can be shared by the communities themselves. The communities will have to be adequately trained in sustainable harvesting techniques (in the case on non-wood resources), regeneration, processing, and also marketing. This development may take a long time, but will be worth while in terms of the benefits in the long run. Cost efficiency: