A Library in a Cave
Established: 2006
EEMP first met Gao Rong, a young girl filing her way to primary school, when filming on location in Shaanxi province in 1995 to document The World Bank Loess Plateau Rehabilitation Project. (For more information on this initiative, see EEMP's project, Earth's Hope.)
Yet now, both Gao Rong and her father are determined to improve her standard of education and to move Gao Rong away from a life dependent on agriculture. Simultaneously, Gao Rong hopes to guide her community to a sustainable path of development by learning and practicing environmentally sound agricultural techniques and living styles.
Therefore, with the support of EEMP, Gao Rong embarked on a Participatory Village Library Project in Houjiagou which is used as a replicable model for an initiative aimed at empowering young women in rural communities across China to improve their life prospects while promoting rural inclusion in the development discussion and raising awareness of sustainability issues.
EEMP previously established the China Environment and Sustainable Development Reference and Research Centre (CESDRRC) in Beijing. The CESDRRC holds the largest collection of resources on environment and sustainable development in China. Yet, geographic, financial and language constraints all prevent access to rural inhabitants. Each Village Library holds readings and audio-visual materials on environment, agriculture and sustainable development to overcome these barriers to rural communities' access to accurate and up-to-date information on these issues.