Training Facilities

The LSC provides alternative, peaceful and inspiring settings for bringing together larger groups of people for trainings and meetings. Among other facilities the LSC compound contains a beautiful assembly hall; build to contain 150 people, accommodation, canteen, sanitation, AV facilities and office space.

We offer a diverse range of courses covering various topics related to sustainable management. Moreover it is possible to have designed special courses, developed by our professional team, and tailored to fit your specific needs.

Additionally we offer the opportunity to use the amazing facilities for your own trainings and meetings.

Our vision is to serve as a pivotal point for social, sustainable natural resource management and skill development. We want to be a pioneer on sustainable rural development, a leading demonstration centre for sustainable design and a connecting link between professionals and stakeholders in the Churia region.

Whether you want to participate in the LSC courses or only want to use the LSC facilities, it is impossible to visit the centre without being enlightened and inspired by the environment friendly solutions that pervades the centre down to the smallest detail.

For a better understanding of the idea of building the LSC in the middle of a watershed in the Terai region, let us take a look at how it all started.

Through decades the natural resource bases in the watersheds of the Churia Mountains and Terai regions have been extensively deteriorated. The causes are deforestation and unsustainable agricultural methods, combined with heavy monsoon rain falls. Flooding, low ground water levels and loss of land are common disasters. To the local population, it means that their very base for production of some of the most essential resources for the maintenance of life, such as food, clean water, fodder, timber and firewood is being reduced.

The livelihoods of people living in the region today as well as of future generations are at great risk.

In 2005 a new initiative, the JIWAN Programme, was initiated to make an extensive effort against the deterioration of the watersheds and to improve the lives of thousands of people in the area. JIWAN stands for Jalaidh Integrated Watershed and Natural Resource Co-Management Programme. Essential to the programme was the question of how it can be possible to make people work together to prevent further escalations of the disastrous situation.

The JIWAN programme facilitated the establishment of a great number of ‘Open Village Schools’, ‘Watershed Youth Clubs’ and ‘Rural Workers Programmes’ in the communities living along the Jalaidh river – from its sources in the Churia hills to the flat Terai plain. The Open Village Schools and youth clubs provided an open dialogue forum for the communities to increase awareness about using and protecting nature and the environment in a sustainable way.

Through this and many other programme components the JIWAN Programme managed to reach out to a great number of people in the watersheds. It is evident that the activities are not only well received among the people, but have also mobilised and inspired new ideas and activities where people work together to improve their livelihoods and against further escalations of the watershed deterioration.

Along with the JIWAN Programme being phased out (in 2012), a major challenge is to keep that momentum the programme created. To ensure this, a consortium of JIWAN Programme partners and people’s organization formed the Life School Centre, which is the physical manifestation of the JIWAN ideas.

The LSC will be the organisation transforming the momentum of the JIWAN Programme into continued and sustainable changes in people’s livelihood today, and on a wider scale empower people to become capable of shaping a sustainable future for their communities.

It is presently working with Community Empowerment through Democratic NRM for a period of next three yrs from 2016 to 2019 in association with DFE and Brandbjerg Højskole with support from CISU, Denmark. Life School Centre as training, demonstration and resource centre is providing room as well as to organizing in-house training and providing services for interaction, workshop, action research, training and training materials on different socio ecological and economical subject matters to the prospective organizations/ individuals. It has developed knowledge, skill and expertise on social mobilization, CBRM, Co-operative and forest/ farm based micro entrepreneurship at both organizational and individual staff level.

A pioneer on sustainable rural development
The Life School Centre is a focal point for sustainable rural development – A Training and Demonstration Centre that aims to build the capacity of local communities and various institutions and to generate and disseminate knowledge and practical experiences on:

• Sustainable watersheds
• Natural resource management
• Climate change adaptation
• Appropriate sustainable rural technologies
• Social inclusion
• Justice and equity
• Poverty reduction
• Livelihood improvement

The concept of the LSC compound is not only to provide space for meetings and trainings; it is to be a teaching tool itself – as a demonstration centre for sustainable design in a local context. The buildings and operation of the LSC itself function as a teaching tool guided by ecological and pedagogical considerations providing direct hands-on demonstrations.

The LSC have demonstration plots for low external input gardening, nurseries and aquaculture and appropriate rural technologies. It demonstrates realistic and replicable options for improved building techniques using low cost, low energy and locally produced building materials, renewable energy systems, appropriate climatic design responses and sustainable ways of dealing with water and waste etc.

Given the similarity of the problems in the whole Churia region, and the need of streamlining issues, the LSC is envisioned to be a connecting link between many of the activities and stakeholders in the area. LSC will serve as a training centre for a wide number of organisations and become a meeting place for professionals on sustainable watershed and natural resource management.

Today the Life School Centre has ten member organisations, consisting of JIWAN Program partner organizations, people’s organizations and a local youth club, which are: JWAS, SUYUK, TPFDA, NFIWUAN, FECOFUN, LOPAN, ARCA, WRF, DFA and CH.

And we are always happy to get in contact with new potential partners and professionals!