The Programme assisted local communes in setting up and implementing communal land development schemes and forests management plans. The program implementation emphasized the development of specific actions on the basis of local priorities, in response to local problems and in keeping with local potential. Investment in training and skills development is believed to have enhanced the capacity of the communities to identify their needs and make their own decisions. In preparing land development schemes and forests management plans, communes and communities were encouraged to think in terms of all possible uses of their land. Communities have also invested in activities that would stop degradation of the soil (water harvesting, erosion control, soil conservation, vegetation rehabilitation). Investments with immediate impact on the community's life, such as wells and boreholes with small scale irrigation systems and seeds for market gardens, bee-keeping and animal fattening have also been supported. Besides meeting immediate needs and increasing income, such investments reduced the local population's need of income from (illegal) forest exploitation and also helped build village confidence in the Programme and test the organizational capacity of the communities.