PROJECTS SUPPORTED BY NSP
NSP supports development projects aimed at the fulfillment of minimum basic human needs for drinking water, sanitation, basic education, primary health care, skill training for gainful employment, infrastructures such as simple wire bridges and foot trails, which are essential for communication and transportation in a roadless region. More recently, we have also assisted with the construction of micro-hydel projects in communities that cannot be connected to the river powered hydel grids constructed by the local government.
All NSP supported development projects originate within the recipient communities. The villagers do all project planning and actively participate in project implementation. The benefiting villagers also make a substantial in-kind contribution toward their project, both in voluntary labor and in locally available materials. The villagers' contribution, plus the adoption of cost saving technologies result in highly cost effective projects. None of the projects that were aided by NSP in the past would have been possible without our assistance.
Furthermore, all projects made possible with NSP assistance must be self-sustainable following their completion. For instance, although NSP provides technical and material assistance with primary school and health post construction, we do not operate or staff such facilities. On their completion, they will become part of the Nepalese educational or health care system with government appointed and paid personnel. The buildings are also constructed in such a way that they are virtually maintenance free. Similarly with drinking water systems, we are asking the Village Project Committees to levy a small monthly user fee from every household, so that the accumulated funds could be applied toward the purchase of replacement parts or system repairs should such be needed in the future.
Safe Drinking Water Projects
At the time we initiated development activities within the
southern Mahabharat, our initial objective was to provide assistance with primary school
construction. However, already during the first year of our presence within the region,
the applications for assistance with drinking water systems far outnumbered those for
school construction. While schools can be constructed only in those communities that have
been authorized as education centres by the district government in order to qualify for
government appointed and paid teachers, every village needs water. Thus, gravity-fed
drinking water systems to the Mahabharat hill villages currently represent our main
development activity. The lack of water within the community also puts an extra burden on
the village women who, by local tradition, are the main water carriers. Furthermore, water
taken out of a ground well, where available, is usually polluted.
Although the customary water system parameters in Nepal allocate one tapstand to be shared by five households, we have been quite liberal in tapstand allocation. Since the average rural household has about ten inhabitants, we have found that the one to five ratio does not adequately meet the needs of the local people. We are currently providing an average of one tapstand for every two households. Our tapstand design is also quite cost effective and the provision of additional tapstands makes little difference in the overall project expenditure. However, even with our liberal household to tapstand ratio, an average of ten to twenty people must share one water tap.
In addition to the labor saving benefits by not having to carry water from distant sources, there are also health related benefits derived from the availability of safe water within the village. Nepal is among the countries where less than twenty percent of rural population has an easy access to safe drinking water. About 80% of world's disease is related to a lack of clean drinking water. In Asia, about 20 million people become infected by guinea worm disease every year, as a result of drinking polluted water. The health of the people is a basic need, whose satisfaction must be the foremost goal of any development activity. Furthermore, it is a prerequisite for economic and social development, only healthy people can fully utilize their capabilities.
Sanitation
In 1995, we have introduced sanitation as an integral part of our drinking water program in 1995. Initially, we were unable to sell the villagers on the idea of having a simple pit latrines close to their homes. UNICEF promoted such latrines and even published a manual on how to construct one. However, the concluding paragraph stating that the pit latrine should be replaced every four years made the villagers reject sanitation. We have consulted other NGOs on their experience with sanitation to find alternatives to pit latrines. Since we have made sanitation mandatory part of all school projects, we have decided to offer a simplified version to the villagers. The latrines are of identical size, have the same high quality fixtures except for the running water tap inside. The latrines are being constructed by the benefiting villagers under our technical supervision. Since the latrines are permanent, the sanitation program became an unqualified success. The two illustrations above are samples of recently constructed latrines. The one on the left even has a running water tap inside. Since we have been mandated by CIDA to provide assistance with sanitation to all households that received our assistance with drinking water systems, we have received more than 3,000 requests for assistance with their construction. Following the establishment of biogas industry in Nepal, we have made the necessary design modifications so that they can be retrofitted with biogas plants and biogas cooking stoves.
Primary School Construction
As recently as the 1950s, Nepal had virtually no schools. With the exception of the higher caste people, the majority of the population was illiterate. Although the literacy, especially in urban centres, has greatly improved over the years, in the remote regions of the country the majority of teen and adult population still can neither read or write. This is mainly due to the absence of schools in remote rural regions of the country.
Virtually all rural schools constructed through total
self-help are usually very poorly designed, often windowless, and the classrooms are too
small. The Charkilla primary school illustrated above is a typical such example. In our
project area, many total self-help schools were usually nothing more than an open shelter
with a thatched roof. Due to the economic realities in Nepal, the local government's
sources of revenue are quite limited. As a result very few major public works projects can
be undertaken without external assistance. Although education for all ranks very high
among the country's priorities, the government just does not have the financial resources
to provide all the basic needs in education.
For instance, in Nepal the government does not construct
primary schools. Any community desiring education for their children must construct and
maintain suitable premises with their own resources. In return, the government will
provide teachers and pay their salaries. This system, although it is not as strictly
enforced today, has resulted in an uneven distribution of educational facilities with the
very poor communities being the disadvantaged.
It was in this area where our organization has played an
important role by providing technical expertise and material aid with primary school
construction to the poorest villages in the hill regions of Kabhre Palanchok district,
thus enabling very poor children to have an access to basic education up to grade five.
All NSP assisted school projects, like the Thulo Pokhara school illustrated above, are
being constructed by graduates from our own vocational training program.
The education of a child must also be seen in a broader
perspective that is interlinked with social and economic upliftment of the rural
community. Furthermore, about one half of the children that benefit from NSP supported
school projects are non-Nepali speaking Tamangs, and through school attendance they are
being introduced to the basics of the national language.
Training for Gainful Employment
Nepal lacks any broad-scale vocational training facilities for young people. The shortage of skilled labor in our project area has been a major obstacle during the early years of NSP aid with school construction. Since all NSP projects offer skill training opportunity for young people, we have established our own hands-on vocational training program in a variety of skills for young adults. Although the majority of our apprentices during the early years of NSP were illiterate - there were no schools within their home regions when they were of school age - their lack of basic education has not been a barrier in the learning of a manual skill.
The vocational training program has been indispensable to all our projects. It has not only produced many outstanding tradesmen but has also provided us with the right kind of skilled labor we needed in project implementation. All skilled tradesmen and foremen working on NSP supported projects received their training through NSP, and the high standard of workmanship reflected in all our projects is entirely due to their high level of achievement. The Thulo Pokhara school illustrated above is just one example.
Assistance with wire bridge construction
All rivers within the region and along the district
boundary can be forded during the dry season, however, communication or transportation
requiring the crossing of a river becomes impossible during rainy monsoon season.
Suspension bridges are very costly and beyond the scope of NSP aid. A local entrepreneur
designed a low cost alternative to a suspension bridge - a wire suspended carriage moved
across a river by pulling a cable can transport two adult persons or a load equivalent to
300 kilograms at a tiny fraction of suspension bridge cost. With the villagers donating
all the local materials, such as stone and sand as well as transport of all bridge
components to the site, these bridges are very cost effective. During 2000 - 2004, we have
assisted with the construction of eight wire bridges.
Primary Health Care
The high incidence of sickness and above average mortality rate among southern Mahabharat's population, when compared to other parts of the district with easier access to medical care, is due to the primitive way of life and a virtual absence of health care facilities within the region.
NSP is supporting the government's objective to gradually establish one health post in every VDC of country by providing assistance with the construction of health post facilities. As is the case with schools, the government does not have the resources to construct the village health posts, it will only appoint the health workers and pay their salaries. Although the village health posts usually lack adequate variety and quantity of medical supplies, the health workers can at least provide important diagnostic services to the local people to prevent a premature death.
In the past, with the help of a prominent Nepalese
physician, we have trained a number of Mahabharat villagers as primary health care workers
and have been providing them with donations of emergency medical supplies. At present,
there are only five fully functioning health posts within the eleven VDCs of the region.
Thus, these "barefoot doctors" provide an essential service to the people within
their home area using the Nepalese translation of the village health care handbook
"Where There Is No Doctor" by David Werner as their guide.
Emergency Disaster Aid
In addition to development aid, we have also provided emergency humanitarian assistance to the victims of natural disasters that had struck the region in recent past, such as the 1988 earthquake and the 1993 floods and landslides, when one hundred inches of rain fell within forty eight hours causing massive landslides in the hills and major floods in the valleys as well as a loss of life. When a natural calamity strikes, the local government is unable to provide a meaningful assistance to the victims, and the destitute families have no one to turn to for help but to their equally poor neighbors and relatives.
The picture above shows the Kholme Danda in the Milche VDC
following the 1993 heavy rainfall. There were three houses situated on this hillside, they
were all swept in a landslide down into the river. Six people were buried alive in this
accident. Geologically, many of the hills within the region are composed partly of clay
and rock. The heavy saturation by rain water caused sections of many hills to collapse. In
Phyang Khola village in the neighboring Saldhara VDC, twelve people were buried alive in
mudslides.
Projects Implemented
Throughout the initial decade - 1975-1985 - our development
activities focused on assistance with primary school construction and vocational training
in the hill regions to the north of the Mahabharat mountains. During this initial ten year
period, we have assisted 48 villages with school construction, one community with health
post facility and 9 villages with drinking water systems. We have also provided hands-on
skill training for gainful employment to 45 young adults in a variety of construction
trades.
In 1985, we have shifted our emphasis on development aid to the people of southern Mahabharat. Between 1985 and 2007, we have assisted 250 villages with the construction of drinking water systems from which 3,922 households and 35,517 people have benefited. In 1998 sanitation became an integral part of drinking water projects. By offering state-of the art permanent latrines that can be retrofitted with biogas plants for cooking with biogas, the villagers' response to sanitation has been overwhelming. Between 1998 and 2007, we have received 4,422 requests for assistance with sanitation and have assisted 2,647 households with their construction.
During the same period, we have also assisted 38 villages within the southern Mahabharat region and an additional 11 villages on the north side of the Mahabharat with the construction of primary schools. Furthermore have assisted with the construction of 6 health post facilities. All schools and the health post constructed with NSP assistance became part of the country's educational and health care systems, staffed by government appointed and paid teachers and health workers. Furthermore, 245 young Mahabharat adults have benefited from our hands-on vocational training program.
Among other supported projects were 8 wire bridges, the
rehabilitation of 79,083 meters of foot trails and 1,099 ropanis of agricultural land.
In order to assure continued sustainability of NSP
supported projects, every community seeking our assistance must form a village project
committee that becomes responsible for project all planning and coordination of villagers'
participation prior to and during project implementation. Following the completion of the
project, the committee then becomes responsible for its routine maintenance. The fact that
all skilled tradesmen and foremen engaged in NSP project implementation are also local
people from within our target region should further enhance the sustainability of NSP
supported projects.