Give opportunities: infrastructures

The main area where we are working is Timal (KAvre District) where there is no electricity. It means people has not opportunities to develop, to create cottage industries, to have a future. Many people is forced to migrate because in the hills there is not chances for a better life, to have children well educated, to receive health assistance, to find job opportunities.We believe  to improve education, health and  to create opportunities might be a way to avoid social and cultural disintegration.

During 2005 we has several meetings with people of Timal and all together we decide to utilize the chance given by NEA (Nepal Energy Authority) Rural Electrification program to create a local grid in seven VDCs. (Basic Grid Plan is avaible in research page above)

Cooperation & Development Nepal with engineers did a detailed survey of the area and we published a technical project which was presented to the community; lawyers prepared plan by-the- laws and rules to manage the cooperative (called TCRECA)

In this way the Shakty Project started and in 2008 the local grid is under construction.

We mobilized community and we formed a local users cooperative which board members were elected by local groups and trained by Tribhuvan University lawyers.

Local users groups were informed and they were able to collect around Nrs. 3000 each householder (56.000) to deposit the 20% of the cost of the grid building as NEA required.

From middle of 2007 the cooperative is self-managed with support of Karuna INGO and Centro Cooperazione Sviluppo (ONLUS).

But we are proud to be able to mobilize community  throughout trusteeship and transparency to initiate this work and we hope it will be well managed.

In January 2007 a big fire destroyed several houses in Thulo Parel VDCs we provided to all families new roofs (picture down)

Community Development: buffalo project

  Development means to enhance the building capacity and human capital of the community in which projects are implemented. It means to involve people in all stages of the project to discuss needs and problems, to find together the means to face them, to analyse the outputs of activities, to modify them in sharing experiences, to assure future sustainibility to the achievements.

This we are doing in our projects on education and health where the community, SMCs and people have been fully involved, by financial point of view too.

The Buffalo Project has been implemented to help the poorest families in the villages. Cooperation & Development Nepal give the amount to buy a buffalo to the SMCs, they choose the family and provide the animal. The beneficiary receive a micro-finance help which has to be reimbursed to the SMC (School Management Commitee) within 16 months, so the cycle go on. Still now more than 21 families has a buffalo.

SMC members received trainings in micro-finance. We decided the project after a community survey in 210 householders (2004) in which emerged:

• 64% of householders had loan from non formal credit institution (money lenders)
• 15% from banks or relatives
• average of loan Nrs. 30.000-
• needs of loan: 39% food integration; 36% children education; 15% seeds and agricultural tools, 12% house building; 12% marriage expenditures; 18% business (People indicate more than an option)
• 26% householders without buffalo-

Micro-finance provided people a capital (buffalo), a source of income (buffalo products) and proteins for children.

This project has been indicated as a sample to European Union by UCODEP in 2006.

 

Health

In January 2006 we signed a cooperation agreement with Dhulikel Hospital, one of the best managed and community oriented health structure in Nepal. This cooperation is directed to integrate children support activities we are doing in the area.

In Timal some Health Posts should operate and Dhulikel Hospital is managing a Health Center in Bolde Pediche. No activities have been never made to assure basic and structured health controls to children.

With the Hospital we create medical teams and we visited more than 6000 children and around 2000 people. We set laboratory in the villages and we distributed de-worming and vitamins.

We collected many informations (see research page above) and we study actions for water sanitation in some schools where worms are more diffused.

Paediatric camps have been scheduled twice at year to monitor the area and to treat patients. Seven Health Workers (selected in the villages) constatly work with the schools. 

During teacher and facilitator trainings we have introduced health and sanitation and, during 2006, we distributed materials and documentations to all schools and ECDs .

The programs are still operating but in a lesser scale; during 2007 dental visits were introduced.

Our idea is to create a sort of insurance system based on community health fund managed by the SMCs which could be utilize for children hospitalization in Dhulikel Hospital. This fund has been implemented in 4 schools.

The stakeholders

We believe that our first reference has to be the people where projects are implemented. With them we must share our ideas, together we have to study and implement projects and activities. We must permitted to them to be involved in monitoring and control how the activities have been implemented.

In all activities in the field as well in central office we sought to include people from projects area instead to recruit from other NGO or INGO. This is our rule and methods.

At the same time we developed partnership with other organizations to enlarge our capacities and operational area instead to increase our staff and expenditures. Dhulikel Hospital, Tribhuvan University, Little Flower Society and many other ONGs and technical providers worked with us.

We signed in 2004 an agreement with DEO (District Education Office) in order to coordinate with them our activities and avoiding duplications.

In the beginning of 2008 we were promoter of a national Medical Institutes workshop to coordinate and share community health and schools activities.

The project agreements signed with Centro Cooperazione Sviluppo ONLUS (2005 and 2006) has been not fully implemented by them since 2007 but agreements have been registered in SWC (Social Welfare Council) as Nepali rule.

With national institutions we coordinate our activities and we held Projects Advisor Committees at the end of 2006 in order to evaluate with all stakeholders (partners, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Social Welfare, Department of Education, and others) the implementation of the projects.

Our organization has been audited since the foundation.

 

Secondary education and 10+2

 Progressively, in 2005 and 2006 we extended our support to secondary schools. We answered to a request coming from people which desired to give better education to their children. Furthermore foreign sponsors give help to children form ECDs to primary and they requested to go on with educational support to them. At the end of 2006 we had 11 teachers sponsored by us (with community contribution) in lower and secondary schools.

We provided text books and other school materials to 321 students to avoid drop out for expenditures which could not be sustained by family.

We organized coaching classes twice at year for more than 127 students to help them in overpass examinations.

During our community meetings, most of the people and teachers requested help to establish the first high secondary school (10+2) in the area to permit local and poorest students to follow studies. Before only few family can afford to support courses in Kathmandu for their children. The new school was inaugurated in december 2006.

We agreed with local stakeholders to assure a quota from underprivileged students and girls throughout sponsorship.

People collected several hundred thousand of rupies to register the school in Ministry of Education and to contribute to the new building. Members of the local committee ask former residents in the villages, now living in Kathmandu or abroad, to contribute to the project.

The day of inauguration a long banner with thousand names of contributors showed the committment of the people. Some of them gave only few rupies other thousands. The implementation of this project (10+2) showed how is possible mobilize people for a common goal and how NGO could help to manage and support community needs. From the middle of 2007, these projects have been cancelled by Centro Cooperazione Sviluppo ONLUS due to the diminishing of funds, they declared to the stakeholders.

Quality in education and human capital

   During our work we have also discovered than buildings and materials, are not the answer to everything. What is most important for development is commitment at the community level. In most activities in our projects community are deeply involved partecipating in expenditures and works.

 It means to work with people and people need to see they have the power to change their lives.

In education we operate to improve the quality of education from ECDs to Secondary Schools.

 During the years more than 500 teachers have been trained twice at year in cooperation with Dhulikel Hospital (health) and Tribhuvan University, Faculty of Law (Rule of Law).

 But we believe this work is not enough if we will be not able to find out new ways and methods for trainings which must be directed to improve the relation between teachers and pupils in order to make teaching more effective.

During the conflict we were able to improve the capacity of SMCs members organizing educational law trainings for around 350 people.

Periodical Community meetings and auditings are another way to involve people and to contribute in enforcing human capital. At the end of 2006 we published and distributed to all community our magazine Namuna (Example) in nepali.

 

Didactic materials to 6000 children

When we started our work in Timal we want give practical aid to community and children. We decided to distribute twice at year to all children in ECDs and primary schools didactic materials as copy-books, pen and pencils, school-bags, etc.
We believed to support in this way the family to educate children and to sent them to school.
Twice at year we had the opportunities to organize a  joyful happening in all community, where people gather and discuss the achievements of the projects.
During the distribution of April (baishak), we held community auditing where the SMC members of each school explained how the use our grants.

                            UNICEF and ICRC contributed in 2005 giving us tin boxes (vocabulary, dictionaries, teachers books, etc.) and first aid kits.

From the beginning of 2007 this activity has been suspended due to the lack of fund by Centro Cooperazione Sviluppo ONLUS, which through children sponsorship (that we are managing) supported this program.

Bal Bikas Kendra (Early Childhood Development Center)

During 2004, many people and teachers proposed us to establish Bal Bikas Kendra. They expressed many reasons to implement this project: to give basic education to children before entering in primary school as a way to reduce repetition and drop out, to help mother in running families and agricultural works, to assure health, nutrition and social protection to children. From 2004 we established around 50 Bal Bikas Kendra and we built three

All are managed by the community and we provide them daily food integration, facilitators (all women), training (educational and primary health), didactic materials. The children enrolled are around 840 scattered in 4 VDCs.

 In 2006, the prisoners in the Kathmandu Female Jail through our sewing project produced more than 800 bhoto we distributed to the children.

  In 2007 due shortage of funds of our partner Centro Cooperazione Sviluppo ONLUS we were obliged to reduce food integrations and support to some ECDs.

  At the end of 2006 was inaugurated the ECD building in Dalit community of Thulo Parsel VDC, before was built one in Narayansthan VDC, one is under construction in Sarsyurkharka. Built by contribution in funds and work by the community,

In 2007 due shortage of funds of our partner Centro Cooperazione Sviluppo ONLUS we were obliged to reduce food integrations and support to some ECDs.

Data are in Activities Progress Report 2007-2008

 

with Chepang

In 2003 we start supporting one school\hostel  for Chepang children in Chitwan (Narayangarh) and one years later we opened a new one in cooperation with Little Flower Society.  Fr.Michael Chirayath was the promoter of this activity which now give opportunities to more than 300 children. He wrote in 2003 proposing the Project:

  The Chepangs are one of the most deprived, disadvantaged and backward indigenous ethnic communities of Nepal. A publication of the Ministry of Local Development of His Majesty’s Government of Nepal reads : “One of the most backward ethnic groups of Nepal, the Chepangs inhabit in the remote and sparse contours, outback and rolling precipices of the districts of Makwanpur, Chitwan, Gorkha and Dahading.” (The Nationalities of Nepal, p.16). Their habitats are very remote areas which are not linked by roads. To reach a Chepang village one has to walk five to eight hours from the High Ways. The settlements of the Chepangs are spread around the elevations ranging from 2500 to 4000 feet above the sea level on the steeper slopes of the Mahabharat range. They have their own distinct dialect, which belongs to one of the Tibeto-Burman strains. In the past they used to have a nomadic life but in recent years they have shown interest in cultivation also.

 There are different assumptions on the etymology of the term Chepang. In their dialect ‘che’ means ‘dog’ and ‘pang’ means ‘arrows’. They used to hunt with the help of dogs and arrows. Some say it is the derivation of the word Chebang which means ‘living on the top of hills along with dogs’. However, at present they prefer to be called “Praja”. They are among the most backward communities of Nepal.

 Most of the settlements of the Chepangs are found in the Mahabharat Ranges which comes under the four civil Districts of Chitwan, Makawanpur, Dhading and Gorkha. As per the censes of 2001 there are only 52237 Chepangs in the entire Nepal out of which 21233 live in Chitwan District alone. The Chepangs make 0.23% of the total population of Nepal. Around 45 % are below 15 years old, 48 % are of the age group of 16-59 and only 7% are 60 and above. 26% of the Chepang families have up to 4 members , 42% have between 5-7 members and 32 % have above 7 members in the family. 92% of the Chepangs are engaged in agriculture and its related works or as agricultural labourers. Only 8% are having non-agricultural occupation.

 The main source of the livelihood of the Chepangs is the forest and its produces. Many of them are landless. Most of them are very small land-holders. The environment and climatical conditions of the forest are not conducive to various types of crops. Those who have land have it in the slops of steep ranges and hence the yields are only minimum and is sufficient only for six to seven months. The rest of the months they rely on hunting, animal husbandry and forest –produces like roots, fruits, honey etc.

Our story

  In 2003 some italian volunteers, Barbara, Enrico, Fabio, reached after a long walk Thulo Parsel. They met Salam, Dhane and other local people who were already working in small projects for improving education in the area.

  The volunteers started to sponsor around 300 children in Kali Devi, Shree Mangkal, Bal Bikas), all primary schools located in the VDC of Thulo Parsel (Timal, Kavre District). Now we are working in six VDCs in Timal: Bolde, Sarsyurkarka, Meche,. Narayansthan, Chapakori.

 The idea was to support children and family giving them educational materials, aid in emergency and, in the same time, to help schools providing teachers and didactic tools. It seems a little project but the italians found an italian ONLUS and the number of sponsored children steeply increased as well the project which was extended to create ECDs, and to create an health system.

Now under the program there are more than 3000 children. Enrico became Country Director of the italian ONLUS and we formed CCS Cooperation and Development Nepal local NGO, all people were Tamangs from the area of the project.

We had a goal not to duplicate projects and activities of other INGO but to have a new approach and new practices.

From the beginning we worked in strict relation with the community, we had several meetings in the schools to explain the project and the future, when we built the first school the community participated with at least 30% of volunteer work or money. Then we built other 4 schools with the same approach.

The fund were directly remitted in the school bank accounts to pay teachers, to built infrastructures (rooms, wall, etc,) to buy didactical tools, etc. This happen even we reach 35 schools supported with more than 115 teachers supported by us.

Each year, in baishak, when the schools reopened we had community auditing where the SMC members explained to all people how they spent the fund given during the year to the school. All new projects and activities has been debated in the villages of the project from the beginning. We worked there during the conflict thanks to this approach and transparecy.

In the middle of 2003 we started building the first school: Bal Bikas pimary in Thulo Parsel. (work concluded in the first half of 2004).