VZCZCXYZ0002
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBJ #2187/01 0930938
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 030938Z APR 07
FM AMEMBASSY BEIJING
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 6443

UNCLAS BEIJING 002187 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM SOCI PGOV CH
SUBJECT: QINGHAI NGOS DISCUSS PROBLEMS, PROSPECTS FOR 
WORK IN TIBETAN AREAS 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  Representatives of non-governmental 
organizations (NGOs) in Qinghai Province told Chengdu- 
based Poloff that local NGOs have grown rapidly in the 
last several years.  NGOs in the Yushu Tibetan 
Autonomous Prefecture of Qinghai have invested 40 
million RMB (USD 5.2 million) in social development 
work, representatives stated.   The political 
environment for NGOs in Qinghai is less restrictive 
than in the neighboring Tibetan Autonomous Region 
(TAR).  Local government partners in Qinghai appear 
satisfied with NGO projects and appear willing to 
offer assistance when problems arise.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (U) Preceeding a March 13-17 trip to the Tibetan 
Autonomous Region (TAR) via the Qinghai-TAR Railroad, 
Chengdu-based Poloff spoke in Qinghai's provincial 
capital of Xining with several non-governmental 
organizations (NGOs) and an academic.  The NGOs 
Plateau Perspectives (Canada), Shem Women's Group 
(domestic), Appropriate Technology Asia (U.K) and 
Snowland Service Group (domestic) and a scholar from 
the Humanities School at Qinghai Normal University 
described the generally more relaxed environment for 
NGOs in Qinghai, noting that the local governments are 
generally eager for help in addressing social service 
and other needs. 
 
¶3.  (U) In a demonstration of this more open attitude 
toward NGO assistance, the Qinghai Civil Affairs 
Bureau released an official press statement in January 
notig that in 2006, Qinghai received 9.8 million RMB 
(USD 1.3 million) from both domestic and foreign 
organizations, including the Bridge Fund from America 
which provided 3.3 million RMB (USD 425,000) to 
develop rural education and health in the province. 
The Bureau also noted that during the last several 
years, NGOs have rapidly grown in the Yushul Tibetan 
Autonomous Prefecture, and that there are currently 
about 45 different kinds NGOs (many of which are 
"government-organizes NGOs) in the Prefecture.  "By 
the end of 2006, NGOs had invested 40 million RMB (USD 
5.2 million) in social development work in Yushul 
Prefecture," according to the Bureau's statement. 
 
Health Projects 
--------------- 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Working in the health area is much less 
sensitive than implementing educational projects, 
according to a representative of Plateau Perspectives, 
a Canadian NGO that works on both health and education 
in Yushu (Tibetan Yushul) Tibetan Autonomous 
Prefecture.  Plateau Perspectives has built four 
health clinics in four counties.  These clinics give 
nomadic and pastoral families basic access to health 
care that was previously unavailable to them unless 
they traveled for several days to township or county 
clinics.  In response to a question, the 
representative said his NGO did not work on HIV/AIDS, 
which would be seen as more sensitive. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) A scholar from the Humanities School of 
Qinghai Normal University separately said that 
HIV/AIDS is a growing problem in Tibetan areas of 
Qinghai.  Noting that AIDS remains a sensitive 
subject, the scholar said that that there is very 
little information available locally on STDs and 
HIV/AIDS.  While there are some public health 
educational materials in Tibetan and Chinese posted in 
public places, he said the Tibetan language versions 
are full of mistakes and that Tibetan people would 
likely not understand the material.  If the lack of 
public health information on these diseases persists, 
he speculated that HIV/AIDS could spread quickly in 
Qinghai. 
 
Education Projects 
------------------ 
 
¶6.  (SBU) In the education field, Plateau Perspectives 
has built two permanent school buildings in two 
counties to replace traditional tent schools for 
nomadic students.  The biggest challenge in schooling 
in Zhiduo is that families are unwilling to send 
children to school because it is too far from home. 
In addition to building facilities, Plateau 
Perspectives also conducts teacher training.  The 
contact explained that the NGO was required to pass 
all of the reports on their educational activities to 
the local Foreign Affairs Office (FAO) prior to 
passing it to provincial education bureau partners. 
In the past, the FAO had revised these reports because 
 
the FAO feared the foreign NGO might be perceived as 
directly teaching students, when only teacher training 
is allowed. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) British NGO Appropriate Technology Asia 
(ATA), working in the education field in Qinghai since 
1999, also reported government sensitivity concerning 
education projects, including revisions to reports. 
ATA works in poor communities of Tibetan, Hui and Han 
people in Hualong, Minghe and counties of Capu 
Township in Yushu Prefecture. In addition to teacher 
training, ATA promotes development projects such as 
passive solar systems, rainwater collection systems 
and greenhouses.  The goal of these projects is to 
increase the amount of time children have to go to 
school and women have to do other economic activities 
(by freeing them from collecting fuel for home heating 
and water), increase food security, and improve health 
conditions. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Both NGOs cooperate with local health and 
education bureaus.  Plateau Perspectives was formerly 
registered with the local commercial bureau, but since 
that agreement expired, has remained without a 
registration.  Representatives separately agreed the 
local Civil Affairs Bureau is very supportive of their 
work and willing to assist them in working through 
problems, but not willing to register them or provide 
any written agreement or memorandum of understanding. 
The representative of ATA added that the success of 
NGOs in Qinghai has to do as much with the project 
officer's personality and ability to work with local 
partners and FAO as it does with the political 
climate. 
 
Development of Local NGOs 
------------------------- 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Director of a local NGO, the Snowland 
Service Group (SSG), maintained that local government 
development priorities has created space for NGOs to 
engage in social development work in rural Qinghai. 
The director of SSG, a 2006 State Department 
International Visitor, was formerly Director of the 
Yushu County Poverty Alleviation Office, but resigned 
to start his own NGO because of disillusionment with 
corruption and government ineffectiveness.  After 
founding SSG in 1999, the director was able to 
officially register with the Civil Affairs Bureau in 
2001, the first grassroots NGO in Qinghai Province to 
do so. 
 
¶10.  (SBU) SSG's current mission is to carry out 
capacity building for people in Yushu prefecture, 
specifically in the area of business management 
training.  SSG conducted a survey of the service 
industry in the prefecture and discovered that 80 
percent of service businesses are run by "outsiders" 
and only 20 percent are run by Tibetans.  SSG hopes 
that with training, Tibetans will be better able to 
take advantage of employment opportunities in the 
"third sector" and improve their economic livelihoods. 
 
¶11.  (SBU) A major obstacle to development work 
continues to be restrictions on organizing among NGOs 
in China.  Qinghai NGOs cannot cooperate with Sichuan 
NGOs, for example, and it is difficult for groups of 
NGOs to form networks.  Despite these difficulties, 
SSG has organized an annual conference for NGOs to 
which it invites local officials in order to improve 
transparency and government support for NGO work. 
 
Gender Issues 
------------- 
 
¶12.  (U) Another important area of work for one 
Qinghai grassroots NGO, the Shem Women's Group, is 
rural development with a gender focus.  Shem, which 
means "charity" in Tibetan, was established in 2005 by 
four recent female graduates of Qinghai Normal 
University Minority Teachers Training College.  The 
women were inspired after having taken gender studies, 
rural development and "Buddhism and Gender" classes 
with an American teacher.  The young women now carry 
out projects that focus on women's empowerment, 
health, education, and economic development in Tibetan 
communities in Qinghai.  They are also continuing to 
teach gender studies and development courses to other 
Tibetan students of English at the University and to 
organize the student's efforts to solicit funding for 
development projects in their home communities.