FXB Switzerland was registered in China as a local organization, under the name of « Bu Tuo Eyas »and worked closely with the local branches of the Federation of Chinese Women.
Context
Bu Tuo Mountain County is located in the Liangshan region – the autonomous prefecture of the Yi community in Sichuan Province, one of the poorest in China.
With one in five people living in poverty and a literacy rate of almost 75%, the population suffers from malnutrition, deplorable hygiene conditions and a wide disparity between men and women. The Yi have their own language and have a lot of difficulty communicating in Mandarin – both oral and written. The poverty and economic inequalities of minority groups are widely recognized problems.
They have led to the marginalization of development among the Yi and to more social problems in the local community, such as drug use, alcoholism, illiteracy and domestic violence.
In addition, families have little respect for education, resulting in low school attendance, especially for girls. Early marriage and maternity, as well as traditions, mean that the main burden of work within the family lies with women.
Unliterated, they have not received training and very often have no specific skills that could help them increase their income and decision-making power and, consequently, their quality of life.
Our action in China
Addressing the multidimensional causes of poverty: 11 community and economic development projects VillageFXB
Malnutrition, illiteracy, lack of economic opportunities, unfavourable climatic conditions, disease, unsafe housing... Bu Tuo's poorest people face a variety of complex challenges. The question of income is a mistake! Partial aid, which only targets a cause of poverty, is not enough to overcome it.
Thus, our VillageFXB Economic and Community Development model enables a comprehensive response to the root causes of poverty in three years.
This holistic approach to poverty reduction aims at simultaneously addressing its predominant factors: economic poverty, malnutrition, lack of access to health care, lack of access to education in the broadest sense of the term and to information and unsafe housing and the environment.
The aim is also to combat gender discrimination and to balance relations between men and women so that women, who are more exposed to poverty, can access the same economic and social opportunities.
FXB China therefore carries out theoretical and practical education programmes, complementary to VillageFXB programmes, in order to strengthen the capacities of vulnerable women in Yi communities. These courses range from basic Mandarin learning to professional knowledge in various fields, including prevention, domestic violence and prevention of family health in general.
FXB also developed a manual « I am Who » which has been recognized as a best practice by UNICEF China in strengthening the capacities of children. The general idea of this activity is to combat stigma by rebuilding the imagination of children through the writing of their history. Its impact on the psychological state of children was assessed very positively also by the BeiJing Information and Control Institute in 2009.
Our impact in China
in Sichuan and Yunnan provinces.
have thus moved from extreme poverty to economic and social autonomy since 2006.
In 2013, Bu Tuo's VillageFXB programmes were rewarded by the Yi Culture Research Centre of the Central University of Nationalities and the Social Welfare Foundation in China with the prize for the « Special contribution » for their implications for the development of the Yi community in China.