The Rimba Raya Biodiversity Reserve REDD Project

interventions can improve the poor health and educationoutcomes of disadvantaged children. In Indonesia, an evaluationof the World Bank-­‐supported ECED project shows that childrenwho participated in the project have higher levels of schoolreadiness at age 6 than their peers. A cost-­‐benefit analysisindicates that ECED has high economic returns in Indonesia: ifthese services are targeted at the poor, for every $1 invested inECED, a return of $7 can be expected. Therefore, increasedsupport for ECED initiatives can be expected to improve humandevelopment outcomes, boost productivity in general, and levelthe playing field for poor children in particular.Materials such as music and art supplies and learning aids forbuilding fine motor skills are taken for granted in developedcountries, but they are a luxuries few children enjoy in the poorcommunities in this remote part of the world. WhileInfiniteEARTH is prohibited by law from engaging in the fundingor development of formal education, we will address ECED needsthrough our community centers, where we will provide thenecessary materials and train of local staff in the basics of ECED.Community Centers. Following the successful example of OFIwith communities in the park’s western region, projectproponents will build community centers in strategically selectedvillages inside the Project Zone to act as a soft interface betweenthe project and the communities. The community centers willoffer facilities for park and project staff as well as for communityorganizations, and they will supply news and radiocommunication facilities, libraries, and social and agriculturaltraining programs.Example of a community center built by OFI in Sungai CabangAgriculture & Aquaculture Productivity. The RimbaRaya project will also extend World Education’songoing programs for food security, access togovernment services, and capacity building withinthe project zone. By helping local households meet their foodneeds utilizing land already under cultivation and by educatingthem about their political rights, the Rimba Raya project willeliminate many of the incentives driving illegal logging and theunnecessary conversion of forest to agricultural land. The projectwill also work to train project-­‐zone community members andoffer them priority employment in all major project activities.Since most of the communities are fishermen, rather thanhorticulturalists, far more damage to the forest originates fromslashing and burning to create seasonal lakes. Once the lakes134