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Success and Best Practices Assessment of the Tibet 
Plateau Development Program (TPDP) 
 
(1. Bridge building in Baima Snow Mountain Nature Reserve; 2. Black pottery project in Nixi; 3. Culture conservation 
project: learning traditional Tibetan dance in Yunnan; 4. Community communication meeting for grassland 
management project in Hongyuan, Sichuan) 
 
 
Prepared by 
Jerry Chen 
Consultant for Biodiversity Conservation 
Kunming, November 2009 
Note: Translated from Chinese to English by non-native English speakers; allowances for awkward phrasing and 
vocabulary should be made.
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Table of Contents 
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 
1. INTRODUCTION 
2. OBJECTIVES AND METHODOLOGIES 
2.1 Objective 
2.2 Working Procedures and Methods 
3. SUCCESSES AND BEST PRACTICE OF TPDP 
 3.1 Challenges to Start-up of TPDP 
 3.2 Staff and Partners’ view on Success 
 3.3 Captured Success and Best Practice 
4. CONCLUSION 
 
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Executive summary 
This report is a summary of the success and best practice of The Mountain Institute’s 
Tibet Plateau Development Program (TPDP) conducted from August 1, 2009 through 
November 2009 by Jerry Chen, an independent consultant working in the field of 
conservation, organization management and tourism. The purpose of this analysis is to 
capture successes/best practices relating to TMI’s strategy development, management 
techniques, collaboration mechanisms, community participation, knowledge sharing and 
learning, and knowledge capture and storage. The methods for conducting the survey, 
included: knowledge audits, social network analyses, outcome mapping, and stories. 
The findings are summarized in this report. 
1. Introduction 
Since December 2006 the Mountain Institute (TMI) has implemented the Tibetan 
Plateau Development Program (TPDP) in Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of 
Yunnan Province and in Hongyuan County, Aba Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of 
Sichuan Province under a grant from USAID, with supplementary donors. The 
program’s overall goal is to “strengthen the community’s capacity for meeting their 
socio-economic needs while conserving the environment and preserving their cultural 
heritage”. The three main objectives of TPDP were: 
(1) To improve livelihoods by building capacity of targeted communities and 
enterprises to plan, implement and monitor development activities; 
(2) To improve environmental conservation and natural resource management of 
the rangeland; 
(3) To increase the capacity of Tibetans to preserve their unique cultural heritage; 
Jerry Chen was commissioned by TMI as a consultant to analyze the program, capture 
success and determine the extent of knowledge sharing and learning. The field surveys 
and interviews were conducted from August 1 through November, 2009. This report 
will summarize the findings, observations and recommendations for TPDP for TMI’s 
future work in China. 
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2. The Objectives and Methodologies 
2.1 Objective 
After consultation with TMI, the following objectives were agreed upon: 

 Interview staff, review relevant TPDP project documents, project activities, and 
impacts; 

 Capture successes/best practices developed under the project relating to TMI’s 
strategy development, management techniques, collaboration mechanisms, 
community participation, knowledge sharing and learning, knowledge capture and 
storage; and 

 In cooperation with field staff and senior management, generate a final report 
which integrates the above mentioned success/best practices elements in order to 
maximize learning for TMI and its stakeholders from the program’s experience. 
2.2 Working procedures and methods 
(1) Evaluation Procedures 
According to the agreement with TMI, the evaluation was conducted using the 
following procedures: 

 Design the work plan for this report working with TMI staff; 

 Review relevant documents of administration: projects reports, work plans, and 
other administrative documents; 

 Interview TMI staff and partners to obtain their evaluation; 

 Carry out field surveys at project sites, interview staff and local partners on their 
perceptions and assessment of TMI’s knowledge and learning; 

 Analyze the collected information and findings collected from staff and partners 
(2) Methods applied 
The following methods were applied for information collection and evaluation: 

 Face to face interviews, email and telephone interviews and group meeting 
interviews to collect information. 

 Tools for knowledge and learning were applied in the process of interviewing and 
evaluation which included knowledge audit, social network analysis, outcome 
mapping, force field analysis, stories etc. 
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3. Success and Best Practices of TPDP 
TMI started work in China in 1988 and initiated TPDP projects in Sichuan, Yunnan and 
Qinghai in 2007. After several years of work, TPDP has made significant progress and 
met with success: it established wide and good partnerships with local governments, 
communities, other NGOs and local enterprises; it conducted several projects on 
grassland conservation, community based enterprises development, natural resources 
protection, ecotourism, cultural heritage preservation, and benefited thousands of 
Tibetan people with impacts on the social, economic and ecological aspects of their 
lives. The success of the program is due to right and realistic strategies, efficient 
management, good collaboration among the team and with partners, knowledge sharing 
and stakeholders participation. On the bases of working with TMI as a long term partner, 
interviewing TMI staff and partners, surveying stakeholders in the TPDP project sites, 
and collecting documents, this report analyzes the reason for TPDPs success. 
3.1 Challenges to initiate TPDP 
The challenges were significant when TMI initiated TPDP in Sichuan and Yunnan: 

 Rich biodiversity and natural resources in these areas are unique and play an 
important role in the conservation in the world. The fast economic 
development has had crucial impacts on the biodiversity conservation. How to 
balance the economic development with natural resources preservation is a 
grave concern to government, NGOs and all people; 

 Tibetan people have traditional culture which respects nature. How to preserve 
this traditional culture and integrate it with biodiversity conservation is one of 
the keys for success; 

 Poverty is one of biggest challenges to local governments and communities; 

 There have been many international and domestic NGOs working in China for a 
long time at TPDP project sites. Many of them are famous international NGOs 
with strong financial, technical and human resources support from their 
headquarters, such as CI, WWF and TNC. These organizations have set up 
local partnerships, developed strategies and conducted activities. They also 
obtained experiences and lessons from their practices. As a relatively small 
NGO and latecomer to project sites implemented under this project, TMI 
needed to find a unique and helpful role. Further, the complicated political 
situation in these areas has had direct impact on project implementation and 
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success. 
3.2 Staff and Partners’ View on Success 
During the interviews and survey, all staff and partners were proud of the work TPDP 
has done in the project sites. They listed the major success and best practices of TPDP 
as: 
a. All projects were recognized by local government and partners as successful 
ones 
b. In a few years, as a small international NGO working in relatively unfamiliar 
places in Sichuan and Yunnan, TPDP designed new programs on natural 
resources protection, community sustainable development and cultural 
heritage preservation. These new programs not only benefitted local 
communities, conservation, social and economic development of Tibetan area, 
but also established long term collaborations and knowledge sharing 
mechanisms that improved the sustainability of program. 
c. Strategies and methodologies, such as value chain and cultural heritage 
preservation, were applied in the project successfully, and developed so that 
they could be adapted to other places and projects in the future. 
d. A team was built and the capacity of staff and partners was improved through 
project implementation activities and knowledge sharing. 
Staff and partners also evaluated the reasons for success as represented in Figure 1 
 Figure 1. Success Reasons Ordering by Staff and Partners 
IMPORTANCE 
ORDER 
 SUCCESS REASONS 
 1 Good collaboration 
 2 Correct strategies 
 3 Full participation from partners 
 4 Trust to partners 
 5 Efficient communication and promotion 
 6 Good knowledge sharing flow 
Nearly all staff and partners felt that TMI has very good collaboration mechanisms and 
created an atmosphere that gave them enough space to contribute their knowledge and 
skills for the work. This mechanism and atmosphere is the basis for obtaining success. 
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Appropriate strategy, efficient management, full partner’s participation and knowledge 
sharing also are important for the successful project implementation. 
3.3 Captured Success and Best Practice 
Based on the long term collaboration with TMI, interviews and surveys with TPDP staff 
and partners, review of documents and analysis of all information, the success and best 
practice of TPDP captured by the writer are listed below: 
3.3.1 Determine right niche and role in project sites and developed correct and 
realistic strategies 
TMI is not a new international NGO in China but a newcomer to new region compared 
with other NGOs. The following comparison with other organizations in the table below 
shows that at the inception of the project, TMI was not in such a competitive position to 
play a significant role in Diqing Prefecture. How to promote TMI’s strengths and to 
develop correct and realistic strategies became a big challenge to TPDP team. 
Figure 3.1 Comparison of TMI with WWF and TNC in Diqing Prefecture in 2007 
TMI WWF TNC 
Work years in 
this region 
 New comer More than 10 
years 
More than 9 
years 
Staff/Office none One in 
Shangri-La 
One in 
Shangri-La, 
one in Deqin 
Finance TPDP project Strong and 
diverse 
Strong and 
diverse 
Projects none Ecotourism, 
grassland 
conservation, 
environmental 
education 
National park, 
alternative 
energy, green 
building, micro 
credit, 
environmental 
education, 
ecotourism, 
poverty 
alleviation, 
Golden money 
conservation 
Relations with 
government 
and partners 
 none Prefecture and 
country 
government, 
communities, 
Prefecture, 
county 
government, 
natural 
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nature reserves reserves, 
national parks 
Project sites none Hamagu, Napa 
lake, Deqin 
Shangri-La 
Gorge, Potatso, 
Meili Snow 
Mountain, 
Baima Snow 
Mountain 
3.2 Project Progress 
The following table shows the progress of TMI’s projects by the end of 2009. 
Project Location Progress Project status 
in the end 
of 2009 
Nixi Black Pottery Yunnan 1. Improved community artisans 
skills and capacity through 
training 
2. New products produced and 
market were established 
3. Promoted new black pottery 
through publication of brochures 
and exhibition 
4. Set up cooperation network with 
partners 
5. Black pottery became one of 
famous tourism products in local 
market and people’s income has 
been improved 
 
completed 
Village-based tourism 
development
 Yunnan 1. Local communities capacity have 
been approved through training
2. Network and cooperate 
relationship has been established 
3. Community-based ecotourism 
activities initiated 
4. Enhanced biodiversity 
knowledge for local guide 
completed 
Community-based 
grassland co￾management
 Yunnan 1. Reduced degradation of 
grassland and threats to 
grasslands 
2. Improved cattle’s productivity 
3. Set up direct partnership between 
communities and partners 
4. Replicated the model in other 
project neighboring 
communities; 
completed 
Participatory 
community watershed 
management
 Yunnan 1. Constructed water supply system 
for communities 
2. Reduced threats to water 
ecosystem through installation of 
solar heater system, tree 
planting, 
3. Developed watershed project 
completed 
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plan with communities and 
partners to provide basis for long 
term watershed protection and 
management 
4. Strengthened community 
management skill by developing 
watershed management 
regulation and set up community 
committee 
Culture 
conservation 
 Yunnan 1. Treasure of Buddhism scriptures, 
traditional books are conserved 
2. Traditional dances were 
recorded, distributed to students 
by training and dance festival 
3. Prayer stones and historical 
stones were copied, stored and 
protected 
4. Exhibition room was built to 
protect traditional masks 
5. Visual materials were made and 
stored to protect culture heritage 
completed 
Integrated Yak products 
development
 Sichuan 1. New market is developed 
through market investigation and 
analysis, new yak products 
development 
2. Established partners network 
with government, communities, 
research institutions and other 
stakeholders 
completed 
Rangeland Resource 
Management
 Sichuan 1. Sustainable and environmental 
friendly rangeland management 
pattern was established which 
helped to increase productivity 
of high quality grass without 
damage to rangeland 
2. Increased local people’s income 
and improved their livelihood 
through better rangeland 
management 
3. Partnership, community and 
stakeholders participatory 
mechanism has been established 
completed 
Alternative Energy 
Development
 Sichuan 1. Ecological alternative energy 
strategies and policies have been 
accepted and adopted through 
success of the project 
2. Communities life quality has 
been improved and women load 
has been reduced after 
installation of solar heater and 
alternative energy system 
completed 
Woman Health 
Awareness
 Sichuan 1. Capacity and skills of health 
workers from both county and 
local health institutions have 
been improved and capable to 
provide better services to women 
through training 
2. Awareness for woman health has 
completed 
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been improved for hundreds of 
women in the project site after 
training 
Environmental 
Conservation Education
 Sichuan 1. Improved local community’s 
environmental conservation 
awareness through hardware 
construction, rangeland 
preservation and environmental 
education. 
completed 
Ancient Tibetan text 
preservation
 Sichuan 1. Increased Tibetan’s capacity to 
preserve significant culture 
heritage through preservation, 
restoration of culture sites, text, 
oral traditions and artifacts 
2. Improved income and livelihood 
through training of cultural 
products skills and techniques 
training 
completed 
Tibetan language 
preservation
 Sichuan Improved preservation situation 
through publishing of Tibetan words 
book and CD-ROM 
completed 
TPDP applied different methods, including knowledge audits, social network analyses 
and other methodologies to gather information and data from stakeholders, partners and 
other organizations, and then looked for to gaps and opportunities for TPDP program 
development. The strategies developed by TMI to initiate TPDP in Diqing Prefecture 
were: 

 Conducting s comprehensive survey and interview with stakeholders of 
governmental agencies, enterprises, organizations and communities to 
collect as much information as possible before making the decision 

 Applying TMI’s strengthen in enterprises development, cultural heritage 
preservation and natural resources management -- especially grassland 
conservation -- to develop the suitable implementation plan to avoid 
overlap with other organizations; 

 Selecting appropriate sites and partners and establish a partnership net to 
obtain the biggest support; 

 Developing realistic strategies and work plans for the project 
implementation. 
For example, when TMI first came to Shangri-La of Yunnan to start the program, they 
did not start activities immediately, instead, they organized many discussions with local 
government, communities, tourism operators and enterprises and field surveys to audit 
knowledge and information about Shangri-La, analyzed social network to find 
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Case 1: Nixi Black Pottery Project. When TMI came to Shangri-La in Yunnan to look 
for project site for community based enterprises development, the team held several 
meetings with local government and organizations to discuss the selection of the 
project site and content. Several field surveys for Tibetan wood bowel, agriculture, 
black pottery and other potential projects were organized. Finally, Nixi Black Pottery 
project was selected. The reasons to select this site includes communities 
participation, government and enterprises support, the potential benefit to 
communities, the combination of culture and environment protection, good 
demonstration etc. The team also developed right strategy to raise fund, organize 
implementation and initiated project. This project obtained satisfying outputs.
stakeholders and partners, look for the most efficient approach for program 
implementation. During this process, more than ten organizations including government 
agencies, local and foreign NGOs, enterprises and communities were involved in. Based 
on the survey and information gathered, TPDP developed practical strategies for the 
implementation of programs in Shangri-La. During the strategy development, TMI 
avoided biodiversity conservation but played to it’s strengthen in community 
development, enterprises development, and traditional culture protection; where there 
was not much work being done by other groups, to guarantee the success of programs in 
Shangri-La. Another success issue for the TPDP was that the administrative and 
developed strategies were based on TMI’s long term work experience in mountain areas 
and in Tibetan areas, and the program tried hard to link the strategy with goals, to 
encourage outside support from experts and partners, to encourage full participation 
from local partners and communities to develop realistic and implementable strategies. 
During the process of strategy development, not only TPDP staff participated, but also 
stakeholders and potential partners were invited into the whole process. In this way, 
different opinions on project selection, partner’s selection and strategy development 
were collected and analyzed. Government, partners and communities’ needs were 
presented; challenges and outcomes were recognized; knowledge and technology, 
experts and coordinators were identified. All of these provided complete information to 
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decision makers and benefitted the development of appropriate strategies and work 
plans. 
3.3.2 Efficient management to ensure project implementation 
After designing strategies and programs, TPDP implemented projects in Diqing 
Prefecture in Yunnan Province and Hongyuan in Sichuan Province. The major success 
and best practice in management techniques are below: 
 Different perspectives of project management were established which clearly 
clarified roles and duties for each group to make sure the efficient management 
of program. 
Beijing Office • Programmed management 
• Administration 
• Evaluator 
• Leveraging funds 
Field Office • Project management 
• Communication with local partners and 
communities 
• Project implementation 
Beneficiaries • Women 
• Children 
• Men 
• Government agencies 
• Community-based enterprises 
Partners • Donors 
• Implementing partners 
• Strategic partners 
 Set up a relevant simple structure to reduce un-efficient management layers and 
costs. 
The management mechanism encouraged staff to maximize their capacity and 
take more responsibility. In this way, each staff had enough space to apply their 
ability and improved efficiency of project implementation. New staff was also 
given opportunities to take on more tasks and responsibilities to improve their 
capacity. The administrative team offered strong support to the projects on 
human resources, finance and operations. 
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Case 4: Driver in Shangri-La Office. Mr. He is a young Tibetan driver in 
Shangri-La Office. He worked hard and provided a safe and good service 
for colleagues. According to his willingness, he was encouraged to use 
his language and cultural advantages to participate projects. After 
several years, he is capable of project coordination, training, 
interpretation and communicating with communities. He also learned 
techniques for solar system installation and can provide technical 
support for the project as well. 
Case 3: Renzeng’s story. Renzeng is a staff member currently 
responsible for cultural heritage preservation in the Shangri-La Office. 
She had only recently graduated from a university when she joined 
TPDP. She was assigned to support implementation of the cultural 
heritage preservation in Shangri-La. Management gave her space for 
her development and provided strong support from different aspects. 
Senior staff in Yunnan and Sichuan was assigned to be her supervisors 
and local experts were hired as her partners. In less than two years of 
work, Renzeng gained the ability and confidence to manage this project 
independently and she achieved significant progress in both project and 
herself. 
 Dialogue and “learning by doing” was applied by the management. 
In order to face the challenge of new tasks and change of staff in the field, the 
staff and partners were frequently communicating with each other. In this way, 
new staff could learn from old staff and others and become familiar with the 
situation soon. TPDP also fostered a “learning by doing” atmosphere to help 
staff get involved in the implementation. Many local Tibetan staff was young 
and new, but they became the experts in new field and contribute more to 
projects. 
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 Complete document management system was established. 
TPDP set up a good document system to collect and manage all project 
documents in the purpose of knowledge sharing, project measuring and 
management. TPDP established standards for reports, working papers, 
proposals and websites. A set of performance datasheets were designed and 
used for measuring the progress. Indicators for measuring the project outputs 
and partly the outcomes were formulated in the matrix. The existing indicators 
are mainly linked with and related to the outputs, few of them are for measuring 
the outcomes and impacts. Data and information for measuring the indicators 
were systematically documented and used for producing the annual progress 
reports. Progress reports were produced quarterly and annually to report 
progress, outputs and outcomes which not only help donors to understand the 
progress, but also helped staff in sharing knowledge, skills, experience and 
lessons. 
3.3.3 Collaboration: The successes that staff and partners are most proud of 
a. Collaboration among staff 
During the survey and interview, the most significant feature for TPDP team, which was 
emphasized by all staff and partner, was the good collaboration among staff, partners 
and communities. The program divided into different projects: Enterprise Development 
Program, Natural Resources Management, Culture Heritage prevention, and Grassland 
co-management. Each project had its own staff, objectives and tasks. Regardless of the 
different backgrounds, knowledge levels and skills of team member, she/he received 
help from others when it was needed. Each member was supportive to others and the 
program. This collaboration helped staff and partners to communicate with others and 
provide strong support for whole program. For example, through this system of 
collaboration and communication, the culture preservation officer would gain 
knowledge about natural resources project and offered some good suggestions. Nearly 
all staff interviewed said that TPDP group is a family which fully was supportive. TPDP 
provided opportunities to every staff to encourage their contribution. For example, 
drivers are not involving project activities in many organizations. TMI encouraged the 
driver to participate project coordination, training, interpretation and communication 
with communities. The driver in Shangri-La office took responsibility for coordination, 
project implementation and training for solar heating systems. 
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Case 5: Sanna Reservoir Project: This project was a complex project 
that involved different government agencies and several communities, 
different technologies and enterprises. The TPDP team established good 
relations with Shangri-La County t and Jiantan Township governments 
which had authority to coordinate different stakeholders. Then the team 
worked with partners and communities to identify the appropriate and 
acceptable projects: a drinking water system, solar heating system and 
alternative energy. Stakeholders worked together to raise funds from 
different sources, applied new types of alternative energy systems and 
achieved planned objectives. 
b. Collaboration with partners 
TPDP staff understood that good collaboration would guarantee the project’s success, 
and that a good local team would make the project sustainable. Therefore, to establish 
good collaboration with local government, communities and other partners, capacity 
building for partners became the common objective of each staff member. Some major 
principles were followed during project implementation: 
• Get trust from partners by doing a professional job 
• Fully respect partners 
• Encourage different support including funding, policy and 
technical support from partners 
• Encourage participation from different sides 
For example, in Shangri-La, TMI staff interviewed local governmental agencies, 
enterprises, communities and local experts during the project implementation process to 
help them understand project goals, objectives and benefits to local communities, and to 
set up the foundation for a good relationship with partners. TPDP established good 
partnerships with Shangri-La County Government, Jiantang Town Government, GEI, 
TNC, local communities and was also supported by Swiss and German Embassies. All 
this support benefitted implementation of all projects in Shangri-La. TPDP also 
provided trainings to local partners to improve their ability and maintain the 
sustainability of outcomes. 
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Figure 3.3.3 presents the interview results with staff and partners regarding 
collaboration and shows the positive result: 
Figure 3.3.3 Interview result on collaboration 
 Characteristics Reaction from staff and 
partners 
Atmosphere and relationships Supportive, open, expressive 
Understanding and acceptance of goals Commitment 
Listening and information sharing Rapid, direct 
Attention to the way the group is working Discussed if needed, to aid 
work accomplishment 
Decision making 
 Highly supportive 
3.3.4 Efficient knowledge sharing and learning 
Effective knowledge and learning sharing is about two-way communication, which 
takes place in a simple and effective manner, and applies simple techniques to build on 
past experiences so as to improve activities in the future. TPDP knowledge sharing and 
learning is efficient, and improved the efficiency of project implementation and 
communication. 
a. Sharing and learning mechanism 
TPDP set up mechanisms for knowledge sharing and learning. The tools and approaches 
included regular after-action reviews and reports, quarterly reports, annually reports, 
review reports, irregular reports, setting up and updating websites, seminars, books, 
datasheets, brochures, project evaluations, discussions, and peer assistance for those 
wishing to benefit from their knowledge through a systematic process, to strengthened 
mutual learning. This sharing and learning is not limited to TPDP staff, but also 
distributed to partners, governmental agencies, communities and other organizations. 
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[Case 6: Evaluation on Winter Forage Technique Promotion 
Demonstration in Hongyuan County was conducted in May of 2008. This 
evaluation summarized techniques used in the project, evaluated the 
outputs which may help local communities to improve their grazing model 
and provided detailed information. In this way, the knowledge and 
techniques of forage techniques were shared with local agencies, 
organizations and communities.] 
 [Case 7: Guide on Grassland Co-management in Xiao Zhongdian of 
Diqing Prefecture at Yunnan Province (2007)。The guide was edited in 
2007 to share the knowledge of grassland co-management: why we need a 
co-management mechanism, how to set up co-management mechanism, 
how to develop a co-management work plan, and how to monitor the 
implementation of co-management. The guide is not only used by 
demonstration communities, but has also been accepted by county 
government agencies as a useful handbook.]
4. Conclusion 
During the survey and interview with TMI staff and partners, I was told lots of stories 
about TPDP that gave a picture about the success and best practice of this project. After 
reviewing all of this information and thinking it over, my opinion about the success and 
best practice of TPDP can be summarized below: 
4.1 TPDP clearly defined its role and developed right and realistic strategy 
TPDP had good mechanisms for strategy development, which considered goals, 
partner’s needs, the local situation, the community’s practical conditions, and gaps. The 
process for program development included: discussion with partners and communities, 
field surveys, program design and consultation, and implementation and monitoring 
plans. The strategy was appropriate and produced good results. 
4.2 TPDP set up an efficient management mechanism and used appropriate 
management techniques to establish a supportive, high efficient, happy and 
creative team