Ethnic Minority Development Action Plan World Bank Loan Project Public Disclosure Authorized World Bank Loan’s Poverty Relief Route Project of Huaishuguan River of Linxia County Public Disclosure Authorized The Ethnic Minority Development Action Plan Public Disclosure Authorized Executive Office of Infrastructure Project of Overall Urban-Rural Development of Linxia Public Disclosure Authorized Gansu Haoxiang Environmental Technology Development Co. April, 2018 Ethnic Minority Development Action Plan Catalogue ChapterⅠ Preface ................................................................................................. 3 1.1 The Background of Project ...................................................................... 3 1.2 The Project Overview .............................................................................. 4 1.3 The Purpose of Minority Development Action Plan ................................ 5 1.4 The Project Goals for Minority Development ......................................... 6 1.5 Research Methods .................................................................................... 6 Chapter II The Overview of Ethnic Minorities in the Project Area .................... 7 2.1 The Situation of Ethnic Minorities in the Project Area ............................ 7 Han nationality ............................................................................................... 9 Ethnic minority .............................................................................................. 9 2.2 The Religious Beliefs and Cultural Characteristics of Ethnic Minorities 9 2.3 The Socioeconomic Profiles of Ethnic Minorities in the Project Area .. 12 2.4 The Current Ethnic Minority Policy Framework ................................... 16 Chapter Ⅲ The Summary of Social Assessment ............................................. 20 3.1 The Goals, Methods and Process of Social Evaluation ......................... 20 3.2 The Influence Analysis of the Project on Ethnic Minorities .................. 24 3.3 Social Gender and Development ........................................................... 27 3.4 Main Suggestions for Social Evaluation ................................................ 30 Chapter IV The Public Consultation on the Participation of Ethnic Minorities .. 32 4.1 The Early Participation Process of Minority Communities ................... 32 4.2 The Minority Community Participation ................................................. 34 4.3 The Participation Plan during the Project Implementation .................... 34 4.4 The Complaint Mechanism .................................................................... 35 Chapter V The Action Plan for the Development of Ethnic Minorities ............... 37 1 Ethnic Minority Development Action Plan 5.1 The Measures to Safeguard the Rights and Interests of Ethnic Minorities37 5.2 The Implementation Organization and Time Schedule .......................... 39 Chapter VI The Monitoring and Evaluation ........................................................ 48 Appendix 1: Detailed table of the direct acceptance of the project area to the affected ethnic minority population .................................................................... 50 Appendix 2 : The current policy framework for ethnic minorities ...................... 51 Appendix 3 : The List of Participation Plans During Project Implementation .... 55 Appendix 4 : Some photos of the field survey ..................................................... 58 2 Ethnic Minority Development Action Plan ChapterⅠ Preface 1.1 The Background of Project Linxia County is one of the regions inhabited by ethnic groups as well as the areas in Gansu province that has been underdeveloped for a long time. It is well-known for its unique characteristics as ethnic border areas, ecologically vulnerable areas and poverty-stricken area, which results in its underdevelopment of entirety and comprehensiveness. It is the reason that the party and the government have put a new premium on Linxia County. The Gansu Provincial and the provincial government also have issued the Several Opinions on Supporting Economic and Social Development in Linxia Region to Realize a Leap-Forward Development, giving Linxia the key support for poverty alleviation and priority for development. Linxia County has been restricted by geographical location and natural characteristics for a long time, leading to its poor construction of transportation infrastructure facilities which is badly lagged behind. In particular, the quality of traffic roads leading to remote mountainous areas in the county is terrible, and its availability is not enough either. In recent years, with the gradual implementation of the “The New Silk Road Economic Belt” promoted by the Chinese government and the implementation of the traffic breakthrough action in the Gansu section of the New Silk Road Economic Belt in Linxia, the economic and social development of the county and its districts is at a new a higher starting point due to its unique geographical advantages and the implementation of multi-layered policies. On August 26, 2016, the Sixth Session of the Sixteenth People’s Congress of Linxia County was convened and officially passed the “13th Five-Year Plan” Outline for the National Economic and Social Development of Linxia County (2016-2020). The "Outline" clearly points out that it is necessary to strengthen the infrastructure construction and earnestly improve the development momentum. Based on this, in order to improve the infrastructure conditions in Linxia County, Gansu Province, Linxia County applied for a loan from the World Bank for the construction of the Huaishuguan River poverty alleviation project at Yushu, Linxia 3 Ethnic Minority Development Action Plan County. The project aims to connect the functions of urban area with its of rural areas organically, to improve the regional traffic conditions in the townships around the county, to promote the development and utilization of land around the road, to increase the radiation effect of the economic central city, to exploit the advantages of Linxia County to the full, and eventually leads to a comprehensive development of regional socioeconomics. According to the feasibility study report (FSR) of the project, the total investment of the World Bank to finance infrastructure project for urban and rural development in Linxia County is 158.621 million yuan, including 10 million U.S. dollars for the World Bank loan, equivalent to 68 million yuan, accounting for 42% of the total investment, and 92.621708 million yuan for local matching, which accounts for 58% of the total investment. 1.2 The Project Overview The project is located in the place which is about 406 meters from north of Yintan Hydropower Station. AK0~AK0+700 sections are routed from north to south along the east bank of the Huaishuguan River. AK0+780~AK4+360 are routed along the west bank of the Huaishuguan River. AK4+560~AK13+180 segment was routed along the eastern bank of the Huaishuguan River, and the end point was located along the south bank of the Daxia River in Yinji Town, Linxia County, followed by the Maoniu Road. The technical standards of the secondary road, is 60km/h, and the total length of the route is 13.6km. After the project is completed, it will rely on the road network structure composed of high-grade highways such as Linhe Expressway (S2 line), G213 line, Hezhou Avenue, and Maoniu Road, attracting large volumes of traffic to this road with higher traffic capacity and service levels. The construction of the highway will not only improve the traffic conditions which are leading to Yinji Town and Linxia City in the southern mountainous area of Linxia County, but also upgrade the grades of highways in the south of Linxia County. It has played an irreplaceable role in changing the traffic conditions in the mountainous areas and accelerating the economic development of towns and villages. At the same time, it plays an important role in promoting the integration of urban and rural development in Linxia County by breaking the boundaries between urban and rural areas, paying 4 Ethnic Minority Development Action Plan more attention to rural areas, caring for farmers, supporting agriculture, achieving common urban and rural prosperity. The project construction diagram is shown in Figure 1-1. Figure 1-1 Geographical Position Map of Construction Project 1.3 The Purpose of Minority Development Action Plan The purpose of compiling the Linxia County Ethnic Minority Development Action Plan is to promote the participation of ethnic minorities in the preparation and implementation of the project, to ensure that ethnic minorities can benefit enough from the project, and to improve the poverty situation of the minority population at the same time as much as possible. In addition, it can reduce the negative influence of 5 Ethnic Minority Development Action Plan the project. The Ethnic Minority Development Action Plan will clarify the demographic, social and cultural characteristics of ethnic minority groups in the project area, project needs of ethnic minorities groups, influence of the project on ethnic minority groups, and measures to ensure the fair benefit of minority groups and mitigate any adverse influences, etc. There many measures including improvement of living standards, poverty alleviation, protection of the culture and traditions of ethnic minorities, support of the vulnerable groups, and proposals for mitigating the negative influences. 1.4 The Project