An honorary project information person from each target village and tea garden will be identified. Each village and tea garden will be visited twice in a month in order to understand the conflict situation. Training for local people in target villages and tea gardens on how to tackle and reduce conflict situations and on methodologies for conflict data collection will be conducted.

Alternative crop experiments will also take place during this time. One village (28th Mile Basti) will be selected for floriculture and one village will be selected for the chilly plot (Bhutri village). Throughout the experiment both villages will be monitored. A cost-benefit analysis will be done after harvesting. Elephant dung paper manufacturing and marketing will be established in one village (Nutanpara).

At the conclusion of the pilot study and with the support of the West Bengal Forest Department, successful programs will be used as a model and applied in other problem areas of the northern West Bengal landscape.

IEF funding supports staff salaries, the chilly and floriculture pilot program, village meetings and dung paper manufacturing and marketing.

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