Researchers Find Encouraging Changes in Mt. Everest's Gama Valley

Yak relax in the setting sun with Mt. Everest in the background.

From late May to early June, Future Generations Graduate School faculty conducted a research expedition into Mt. Everest's Gama Valley. The team, led by Dr. Daniel Taylor, were following up on conservation efforts that began with the establishment of the Qomolangma National Nature Preserve (QNNP) nearly thirty years ago. The team found that those efforts have continued to expand in the intervening years. As of today, eighteen nature preserves have been established throughout Tibet, which collectively protect over 54% of the autonomous region. Within the QNNP, the team discovered that many wildlife species appear to be rebounding in strong numbers with sightings of Tibetan gazelle, musk deer, tahr (wild goat), and numerous bird species. They also found many signs of snow leopard.

Located at the base of Mt. Everest's Hidden (eastern) face, the Gama Valley is one of seven core zones of the QNNP. Established in 1989 by the People's Republic of China within the Tibet Autonomous Region, the QNNP represents one of the first nature preserves in the world to be placed under the direct stewardship of local people in partnership with government. Since 1993, Future Generations has worked in partnership with the Chinese government to provide technical guidance, financial support, and capacity building to the Tibetan people to sustain the QNNP.

The Researchers in front of a map displaying Gama Valley trekking routes.

In accordance with the QNNP's master plan, official trekking packages are now being offered in partnership between park authorities and local guides ensuring that good and equitable pricing practices are being adhered to. Designated trekking routes have been created with fixed camping sites, lowering the environmental damage, while maximizing the economic opportunities for local communities. Chinese tourists are now visiting the QNNP by the thousands each year. The park's simultaneous mandates to preserve natural beauty and create economic opportunity are introducing new challenges for local communities such as trash collection and logistics management. Despite these challenges, the team was excited to find that both flora and fauna are increasing. Now back on North Mountain, the researchers are developing responses to the problems caused by overuse.

Future Generations Prepares to Launch Applied Research Webinar Series in September

In response to requests from Future Generations alumni for a forum to interact and gain additional skills and perspectives in applied research design, methods, analysis, and publication options, the Graduate School is excited to host a monthly series of webinars on research-related topics driven by alumni and student interests! This series will be a platform and discussion space for alumni, faculty, and current students. There are also plans to include guest speakers as well to bring relevant experience and expertise to the discussions.

At Future Generations, many of our students, alumni, and faculty are actively engaged in applied community-based research and contributing to the exploration and advancement of the methods and rigor of the field. The School's  research foci include home-centered health, people-based conservation, peacebuilding using positive deviants, effectiveness of SEED-SCALE as a theory of social change, and the pedagogy of learning through engagement with life and the world around us.

The first session, to be held on Tuesday, September 13, 2016 at 8:00am EST, will serve as an orientation and listening session. Faculty will review the purpose of this webinar series, have brief introductions from participants about their current work and interests, and review several different structures and content options for the rest of the webinars in order to decide what will be the most valuable use of this forum. Subsequent webinars will be held on the second Tuesday of each month until May 2017. A full schedule of webinar dates and topics will be finalized after the first session.

Each month’s session will be recorded and will be available to Graduate School affiliates—including our alumni—via YouTube links.

If you are interested in joining any of the seminars in this series, please contact Meike Schleiff, Director of Research, at mschleiff@future.edu for more information.

Dusty Dreams in the Desolate Wilderness

Chao  Erh-Feng
State Library of NSW, Australia

In 1909, Manchu General Chao Erh-Feng and his army swept through Tibet vowing not to leave a person or a dog alive. He came disturbingly close to reaching his goal. According to Wade Davis' Into the Silence, Erh-Feng ravaged monasteries, devastated villages, looted cities and temples, burned sacred texts, raped women and children, and killed tens of thousands of Tibetans - including over a thousand monks. His occupation of Tibet was so brutal that he gained the nickname "Butcher Chao."

Nearly one hundred years later, a staff member at Future Generations passed away before she could complete the translation of a journal kept by a captain in Butcher Chao's army. "While an aggressive, get-ahead army captain, (the captain and author) was also sympathetic to the Tibetans, and while in Tibet married a Tibetan girl, so he puts a sympathetic human face to the Chinese invasion of Tibet," according to Dan Jantzen, another former Future Generations staff member who is now working to complete the translation of the journal, titled Dusty Dreams in the Desolate Wilderness. Dusty Dreams was originally published in Chinese, for a Chinese audience familiar with background information and place names that most westerners are not. In addition to translating the work into English, Jantzen is working to compile detailed footnotes and a map in order to give context to the document.

Butcher Chao came to Tibet only after both the British and the Russians formally acknowledged Chinese sovereignty over the region in the early 1900s. Fortunately for the Tibetans, Manchu power was broken in 1911 when a revolution overthrew the Ch'ing Dynasty and established the government that became a forerunner to today's People's Republic of China. Tibetan monks led an uprising that resulted in the capture and execution of Butcher Chao. With Chao and the Ch'ing Dynasty gone, the Dalai Lama returned to Tibet and Britain once again considered Tibet a free and independent state.

"Davis takes a particularly negative view of Chao, and some commentators are a bit kinder to him, but he was pretty ruthless," notes Jantzen. In another account, historian Alastair Lamb refers to Chao as "one of the last great soldier-bureaucrats of the Manchu era."

Future Generations is proud to be part of this project to bring forth a new primary document about this controversial figure and an important period in Chinese/Tibetan history. In addition to Jantzen, a number of Future Generations faculty, staff, and alumni are working to complete the manuscript and get it published.

Voices of Future Generations: Fishing with Dad

The third track from Voices of Future Generations is perfectly appropriate for Independence Day. A boy talks about fishing with his dad for Native Brook Trout in Pocahontas County, West Virginia, USA. Brook Trout live in the cool mountain streams of West Virginia, where they are also the state fish. It's hard to imagine a more American imagine than a little kid trotting down a dirt road with his rod in hand and dad by his side. We hope you too have been able to get out and do the things you enjoy this holiday weekend. Happy 4th!

Research Methods Training in Kabul, Afghanistan

Future Generations Empowerment (FGE) conducted its first certificate program earlier this month in Kabul, Afghanistan. The training, organized by Future Generations Afghanistan’s Executive Director, Ajmal Shirzai, was designed for government officials at the Research and Policy Department of Afghanistan’s Deputy Ministry of Youth Affairs (DMoYA). Trainers, all either alumni or current students of Future Generations Graduate School, focused on four types of research: Applied, Description, Evaluation, and Quantitative .

The applied research section was led by Besmillah Sakhizada (Class of 2013). Sakhizada presented his “Family Health Action Group” research that he has been working on since 2006 in Afghanistan’s Bamyan Province. Applied research, he argued, is conducted in response to a specific problem that requires a solution.

Descriptive research, on the other hand, is designed to define the objectives, facts, and characteristics to be investigated. This section was led by Amanullah Hotak (Class of 2013). Hotak discussed how he is using descriptive research to improve local governance in Central Afghanistan through his own NGO, OLSFG (Organization for Local Services and Future Generations).

Evaluation research is the process of determining the value or worth of something. It is oriented toward formal and objective measurement of the extent to which a given action, activity, or program has achieved its original objective. Tahir Khalil (Class of 2014), discussed the Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) program that he has been leading in six provinces of Afghanistan. The program was recently evaluated by an independent evaluator. Khalil spoke about the evaluator’s planning and execution processes, their key findings, and how they could be implemented.

Lastly, the section on quantitative research was facilitated by Ajmal Shirzai. Quantitative research generates and analyzes numerical data and usually seeks to establish causal relationships between two or more variables, using statistical methods to test the strength and significance of the relationships. Shirzai explained his research project, "Identification of Positive Deviance Communities in Eastern Afghanistan." This research was comprised of three phases, each phase having three steps. The first phase was the collection and analysis of quantitative data using composite variables for security and development. This session helped the participants to learn how the quantitative data can be converted into qualitative information.

The training was funded through an Alumni Learning & Action Collaboration grant that FGE received in 2015. Future Generations Empowerment is an Afghanistan-based NGO that was formed in 2015 by Future Generations alumni in order to apply their skills and knowledge to community development, good governance, peacebuilding, and environmental conservation for the empowerment of local communities (mainly youths). The group is already planning a similar training for youth groups throughout Afghanistan.

Voices of Future Generations: Baby Sister

 

In the second episode of Voices of Future Generations, a young girl in Moscow named Alina talks about meeting her baby sister for the first time and teaching her how to speak Russian. Enjoy!

Saving Children’s Lives Through Community-Based Health Interventions: Bringing Together the Evidence for What Works

Beginning in 2007 with support and input from the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and the World Bank, Future Generations has been actively facilitating and supporting a global systematic review of Community-Based Primary healthcare (CBPHC). To date, thousands of articles have been reviewed and over 650 articles have been included in the review of both child, and more recently added, maternal health interventions that have a community-based component.

The effort is being led by Dr. Henry Perry, a former Future Generations faculty member now at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHSPH), with collaboration from Meike Schleiff, Assistant Professor and Director of Research at Future Generations and a doctoral candidate at JHSPH, and many others. The team is currently doing in-depth reviews of neonatal health, maternal health, and health equity with additional analyses to follow.

The study has identified a number of approaches with potential and evidence for high impact community-based work, including the importance of home visiting programs, community case management of child illnesses, participatory women’s groups, and utilization of mobile health teams to provide additional outreach services.

In May 2016, the findings of the systematic review were presented at the CORE Group annual meeting, where a global network of practitioners focusing on improving maternal and child health got to review key findings and also provide feedback and discuss the way forward.

For more information about this exciting and unique systematic review, you can check out previous publications at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17441690903330305. You can also contact Meike Schleiff for more information.

PDFs:
Building on the Current Evidence to Strengthen Community-Based Service Delivery Strategies for Promoting Child Survival 

Groundbreaking Review of Community-Based Approaches