2002 Progress Report
In March, we have completed the first annual phase of our current three-year drinking water and sanitation program. This phase included assistance with the construction of twenty six drinking water system to benefit 564 households with a population of 4,160 within seven southern Mahabharat VDCs. We have constructed 227 tapstands, a generous household to tapstand ratio to further facilitate an easier access to water. All water systems were gravity fed pipelines, and to bring the water into the benefiting villages 56,175 meters of polyethylene pipes of various dimensions were needed.
The above illustration shows villagers transporting coils of pipes for their village water system. Our organization only donates such materials, which are not available within the community and technical expertise during system implementation. The villagers have to donate all locally available materials such stone and sand, undertake all excavation work, transport by manpower all project related materials to the construction sites, and provide any unskilled manual labor needed during system implementation. At the time we started the current three-year drinking water and sanitation program in April 2001, we had a backlog of 1,163 requests for assistance with permanent latrines and during the past twelve-months period we have assisted 231 households with their construction.
At the end of March, we have also completed the second phase of the Field and Trail Rehabilitation Project. During the two-year period we have assisted with the rehabilitation of 102 acres of landslide damaged agricultural land and 56 kilometers of foot trails.
The illustration above show the Dharne Primary School in the Phalametar VDC that was constructed with funds raised by the students attending the Ellington Montessori School in Scarborough, Ontario. Although we have assisted with the construction of only one primary school and one health post facility during the past year, we have been quite busy with the construction of additional facilities and school furniture for previously constructed schools. Our hands-on skill training program for gainful employment also continues with 41 apprentices currently enrolled in the program.
SPECIAL REPORT ON NSP’S TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF
DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES IN NEPAL
The
year 2002 signified twenty-five years of NSP’s support of basic human needs projects
to benefit some of the world’s poorest and most disadvantaged people. In response to
the expressed need of the beneficiaries, NSP’s initial objective was to provide
assistance with the construction of primary schools in Tamang communities within the
Kabhre Palanchok district to make access to basic education for Tamang children possible.
In Nepal, the government does not construct primary schools; it would only provide
teachers to existing facilities. At the time NSP was founded, the local government’s
educational policy was that in order for any community to qualify for government appointed
and paid teachers, it must first construct and maintain suitable premises with their own
resources. This policy, which is still in effect today but not as rigidly enforced,
resulted in an uneven distribution of educational facilities, with the poorest communities
being the disadvantaged.
During
the initial decade (1976-1985), NSP functioned under the umbrella of a Vancouver based NGO
TRAS, whose main focus was support of Tibetan refugees settled in India, but as needs of
the Tibetans were met, it was looking for new endeavors to support. However, their support
was only in the form of making NSP projects eligible for CIDA funding and subject to
NSP’s ability to raise the mandatory share in donation revenue. All of the funds
received by NSP were allocated to projects in Nepal with zero to administration. Each
community seeking our assistance had to make a substantial in-kind contribution of its
own, which has resulted in highly cost effective projects. CIDA was also pleased with the
results, which was documented in a unsolicited letter we received from CIDA’s Program
Manager in 1978, quote: “I have been aware of your school building program for the
past two years and I wanted to let you know that we are impressed with the results, the
extremely low cost per unit and the apparent simplicity of the whole process. I would
judge it to be one of the lowest cost construction programs we help to fund and we
sincerely hope you can continue to give it your leadership.” In 1984, the National
Education Committee awarded NSP a commendation certificate for it’s “outstanding
contribution toward the development of education in Nepal”.
During the decade long association with TRAS, NSP assisted 57 communities with primary school construction, one health post facility and a vocational training workshop. Since our projects provided an opportunity for hands-on skill training, we have also established a vocational training program for gainful employment that would become our main source of qualified skilled labor needed in project implementation. By 1984, we have satisfied the needs for assistance with school construction in the central and northern hill regions of Kabhre district and in the fall of that year, I made an exploratory visit to the southern Mahabharat region, the southernmost part of the district isolated by the high Mahabharat mountain ridge. No one could provide any information about the region or how to get there, only that it was a very poor and primitive remote area. It was indeed, as we had to return after six days, because the local villagers could not sell us any provisions we needed for our two porters. However, our brief observation was that the region was indeed in urgent need of development assistance and we have decided to shift our assistance into the Mahabharat.
In 1984,
the newly elected government in Canada reduced the level of ODA (Official Development
Assistance), and the reduction resulted in a reduction in the amount of annual CIDA
funding allocations to partner NGOs. TRAS's funding allocation was reduced by twenty
percent and I was informed by their Board that in view of the new realities, they would no
longer be able to provide CIDA funds for projects in Nepal, since the shortfall in revenue
would have a negative impact on their own projects in India. This presented a dilemma to
NSP. Since the largest
At the time we shifted our
assistance to the southern Mahabharat, our initial objective was to continue assistance
with primary school construction, as was the case in the regions north of the Mahabharat.
However, it has always been our policy that it was up to the beneficiaries themselves to
determine their own development priorities. There was certainly need for schools, however,
already during the first year, we were receiving many more requests for assistance with
drinking water systems. Furthermore, schools could only be constructed in locations
designated and approved by the District Education Office in order to qualify for
government appointed and paid teachers. But an access to safe drinking water within the
village is the most basic need of every household. Thus already during the second year of
our presence within the region, assistance with the construction of drinking water
systems became our main development activity.
Initially, our main obstacle was a total absence of any skilled labor that was needed in project implementation and we had to bring into the southern Mahabharat all skilled tradesmen from our previous target region. However, this was not meant as a permanent solution and we immediately placed a very strong emphasis on vocational training of young local adults in all project related skills. Within the next five years, we have trained a sufficient number of tradesmen to meet our needs and by 1992 only local people were engaged in our project activities. Local people have also assumed the management, coordination and monitoring of all projects we support, because we feel that only people from within our target region as fellow villagers are best qualified to fully understand the needs of the region’s population.
Our presence within the region has been a very gratifying experience. Because the southern Mahabharat never received any development assistance from any source prior to our engagement there, the villagers really work very hard to make their projects a reality. With their substantial in-kind contribution in both voluntary labor and locally available materials, our projects are very cost effective and thus allow us to provide high quality components to assure the best possible longevity of completed projects.
NSP’s sound approach in its development assistance has also been documented in CIDA conducted field evaluation. We quote a few brief excerpts: 1) Though NSP is a relatively small NGO, by restricting its area of operation to the southern Mahabharat, the relatively small organization has had a significant impact on the life of people in the region; 2) NSP’s policy of targeting one of the poorest regions of Nepal and the emphasis it places on addressing the villagers’ basic need for water and education are consistent with the principles and priorities of Canadian ODA; 3) Both schools and water systems are solidly constructed using high quality materials. Numerous improvements have been made in school design over the years and the quality of construction is better than that of most rural schools in Nepal; 4) The water systems have had a significant impact on villagers’ lives, particularly by decreasing the time spent by women in carrying water for household needs; 5) Villagers reported an increase in school attendance of children on completion of new schools; 6) NSP’s vocational training program is well known in the region and there is a high demand for entry into it.
Being the only NGO present within the region, it was to be expected that the villagers would seek support for a broad range of development projects that would enhance the quality of their lives. Thus over the years, in addition to assistance with drinking water and schools, we have been approached to assist with the construction of health posts newly established by the District Health Office, as well as essential infrastructures, such as foot trails. In a roadless region, the foot trails are the only means of communication and transportation by manpower. We have also provided assistance with the construction of eight low cost wire bridges, because the majority of rivers in the valleys cannot be forded during the rainy monsoon season. The region also experienced natural calamities, such the earthquake in 1988 and the floods and landslides in 1993 and again in 2002 causing loss of or damage to villagers’ fields resulting in a negative impact on their food self-sufficiency. In these calamities, we have provided emergency field rehabilitation assistance to the worst affected families.
There are other basic needs that would greatly enhance the villagers’ primitive lifestyle. Some form of electric power sufficient for one bulb to light the dark interior of their homes instead of a kerosene wick. The villagers cook on an open fire inside their homes that have no chimneys and inhaling the smoke presents a health hazard. The permanent latrines we are now constructing as an integral component of the drinking water program can be retrofitted with biogas plants for cooking, which are commercially available in Nepal at a cost of about three hundred dollars each. They would provide a manifold benefits – cleaner and healthier living environment and conservation of the natural environment by eliminating the need for firewood as well as the associated drudgery of having to haul it from a distant jungle.
During our seventeen-year presence within the southern Mahabharat region, we have assisted 228 villages with construction of safe drinking water systems to benefit 3,676 households with a population of 33,494; we have also assisted 1,028 households with the construction of permanent latrines; in the educational and health related fields, we have assisted with the construction of 35 primary schools and six health posts all staffed by government appointed and paid teachers and health workers; our vocational training program trained almost three hundred young adults in a variety of income generating skills.
We have also remained true to our commitment to allocate all of our donation revenue and government contributions received annually to projects in Nepal. We do incur a small amount in administrative expenses, which are shared equally by CIDA, thus our share spent on administration annually averaged to 1.87% of the total amount disbursed on project activities.
Michael R. Rojik, Executive Director
Go to next page How you can help