assessment and monitoring in nepal INGOs: a sample made by SWC

In spite of the political crises, it seems that the SWC – Social Welfare Council (newly reformed) is operating in evaluation and monitoring INGO projects.

We went to the villages of Kavre where the projects of CCS Italia are collapsing and the people received a visit from SWC officers. People explained them that since 2003 they are cooperating with CCS Italy throughput a sponsorship program directed to help children, family and community.

They told them that since two years all has been severely reduced as local operators described in past posts.

They told them that the still give pictures and photos of their children but no more help is given to them.

They told them that an Italian sponsors give to CCS Italy around Rs. 18.000 (yearly) and CCS Italy officers proposed to 42 local SMCs (School Management Committees) agreements which stated only Rs. 4.500 (yearly) for each children.

They told them that the nepali officers of CCS Italy which proposed this shame gain around Rs. 100.000 each month.

So people hope that this words will be written in the reports of SWC, not as last year when the same critics were shelved.

We spoke with people and they decided to stop this kind of robbery. If the CCS officers still use the money of our children to get high salry and benefits they could give to Italian sponsors their picture. We stop to give those of our children, If nothing is going to change in Kathmandu and Italy we organize a julus (people demonstration) to CCS office to ask for changing the thieves. We ask the Italian sponsors to press the CCS Italy HQ in order to utilize the fund they collect for our children as before, it means for the benefits of children, schools and community.

From Thulo Parsel, Mani Lama

Working in the jails

It was a very good experiences and a nice project we did in 2006-2007 in the Central Jail (Female section) in Kathmandu. We provided sewing machines to more than 40 prisoner women, technical training, management training and legal assistance. We supplied them with all materials useful to produce garments for their family and children. The second step was to tailor boto (the tradition child dress) which we distributed in the Bal Bikas (Early Childhood Dev. Centers) we created in Timal (Kavre) enrolling more than 800 children. All children got a sort of uniform which was a good help for the family.
The last step should be to start production for the local market directed to foreign tourist wih the idea to channel garments to international fair trade market. The Women Tailor Group after one year of working and training were able to produce some nice garments from which we had selling agreements with local shops.
All was stopped by the donor (CCS Italia INGO) with no reasons in 2007. Even the brand we studied was put in a corner as well the works and hopes of the women involved.
This project was a namuna (sample) which could be extended, as our intention, to other jails in Nepal, and we did it in coordination with Jail authorities. The objective were to assure a little income to the prisoners, give them job opportunities out of the jail and a something to do during detention in order to avoid violence and bad attitudes.
To create opportunities and hope (it was the brand for the Inmates Cooperative) is the only way to help prisoners during detention and to help them to be reintroduced in normal life.
A recent survey showed that the situation in Nepali jails is deteriorating form many point of view and few activities are running to help the prisoners which are detained in over crowded structures.
This research shows that 38% of the prisoners it had surveyed had access to drugs even behind the bars in different parts of the country including the Central Jail, Bhadra Bandi Griha, Bhadra Mahila Bandi Griha, Dillibazaar Jail, Nakkhu Prison, Biratnagar Prison, Pokhara Prison and Birgunj Prison
Total of 351 prisoners living in the eight jails were surveyed and 15 per cent of the respondents were women.
Of the people who use drugs in the jails, 20 per cent said they use marijuana, 20 per cent brown sugar, 10 per cent injections and the rest 50 per cent said they use many kinds of drugs.
The survey stated that 50 per cent of the Injecting Drug Users (IDUs) in the jails share same needle. Half of the IDUs in jails had visited treatment and rehabilitation centres and hospitals at least once while the another half had never gone to either a hospital or any drop-in centre.
Legal assistance, income generating activities might be the way to give a reasons of life to these people.

namaste from ccs nepal web site

The blog of CCS Nepal has been closed as their message below. We are a group of people working since many years in Nepal (and Cambodia) both Nepali and foregneirs. Most of us worked with CCS Nepal or are still  consultants. We created a group called Community & Development Nepal to share in this blog our experiences and practices on Cooperation & Development.

Dear Friends

Many people from Nepal, Italy and abroad visited our blog  in these months but now we are going to close it.

A formal and written request has been made by Mrs. Chanda Rai, Country Director of CCS Italy INGO. The new people of Italy HQ and the Kathmandu Office dont like our critics directed to a better implementation of the projects we started in 2003, we apologize for this. In the last days it seems our critics have been able to change some plans of CCS Italia and, fortunately, to work again with community instead put money in official baskets. We cannot say more but only best wishes to all

Drops of Nepal: images of people, places & projects

We post a documentary on our activities, with  images of people and places of Kathmandu, Kavre, Timal, Chitwan. Projects  on health and education for Tamang and Chepang children. The film has been shooted by Italian volunteers.

Trainings, reports and workshops development

In a recent article it has been pointed out the paradox of local level governance in Nepal is that much money and effort have been poured into it over the decades but with no visible improvement.
In 1996 UNDP and DANIDA pushed on the government to introduce the Local Self-Governance Act 1999 which failed to include the vital provisions regarding the user groups which showed good performances in managing the forestry community development which has been fully domestically managed by local community.
With no provisions regarding the formation of local groups, the enormous fund to decentralization has been managed by, as the article points, local bodies were invariably composed of the hand-picked favourites of the village elites.
As a result, the billions of rupees that went through the DDCs (District Dev. Office) and VDCs (Village Dev. Office) in various tied and untied grants over the years made little dent on the problems of poverty and deprivation that continue to remain rampant in Nepal’s villages. The same seems happened for other local authorities as DHO (health) and DEO (education).
The misuse of huge funds and the needs of a serious reforms of local body, most of them not working or bad working due to that lack of elected officials and good mnagement should suggest to international donors to go directly to the primary stakeholders: it means community through local user groups (for specific projects), community schools, etc.
This work should be a priority for INGOs and NGOs which must operate gross route level as their guiding principles should require. Unfortunately this is not happening for some of them. It is the case of Centro Cooperazione Sviluppo INGO (CCS Italia) which during the last two years left good community tied projects in Kavre moving towards funding the local DEO (district education office) and DHO (district health office). This negative attitude seems directed to void the role and capacity of the local NGO working in Kavre since many years. The reasons could be the strong critics  the local NGO moved regarding the ineffective use of Italian fund and donation made by the officers of the INGO and their incapacity to operate directly with the community. Maybe also their laziness and high salaries.
The same misadventure which is running, in a great scale, DANIDA. They decided to support a 10 million rupies project (19 months) project entitled “Promoting Local Governance for Effective Service Delivery” in six selected districts.
It was said to be “supply-side” governance strengthening initiative and comprised workshops for government officials, local politicians, NGO/CBO officials, and “service receivers”. The project developed training manuals, formed coordination committees and “good governance pressure groups”, and held public hearings with government officials including the CDOs in attendance.
It seems the same trend followed by Centro Cooperazione Sviluppo (CCS Italy) in which instead to work in the community, it is easier to work through local bureaucrats. It is the training and workshop development which is the main activity wide spreading among INGOs and institutional donors.
This kind of “projects” doesn’t need many activities, fieldwork, and accountability of service given.
The single most important contribution that the government and donors could make to promote good governance and development in the villages is to empower the stakeholders and assuring effective service delivery and the only way is to go in the villages working with people. 

Guna Dhakal- Social Worker-Kathmandu

The strange story of a training center

We received

Dear Friends
I came in 2005 in Nepal to visit CCS Nepal projects places and I was really happy to see how they worked for the benefits of children and community we sponsored from Italy.
Now on the web I read about a strange story related to the Training Center built in Thulo Parsel. It seems that what has been written in the house magazine of Centro Cooperazione Sviluppo ONLUS (Progetto Solidarietà –http://www.ccsit.org/archives/docs/pages/jchia47b-PS2007-3.pdf) , it is not true.

They wrote to italian sponsors of the association they built the Center so “Finalmente la comunità di Thulo Parsel può contare su uno spazio polifunzionale costruito dal CCS Italia”. In September 2007 (translation: Finally the community of Thulo Parsel has a multi -function space built by CCS Italy)

They wrote the Center has been paid by CCS Italy INGO but on the web it seems it has been paid by a local farmer. So I like to ask you what it is true and why they wrote so to  italian sponsors of the organization.
With friendly regards

Claudio Parodi-Italy

 

Dear Friend
in 2006 CCS Italy decided to built the Training Center in Thulo Parsel, in order to train teachers and people directly in the community. CCS Nepal, signed an agreement with a local farmer, it stated: CCS Nepal have free use of the land for 15 years and after that time (if no further agreement will be signed)  the building will be property of the land owner.
In may 2007 CCS Nepal (and community) finished the building and it started to be used by teachers and people but at the end of 2007 Centro Cooperazione Sviluppo INGO changed idea with no reasonable explanations. So they ask the farmer to give back the cost of the building. All people were surprised and  shocked by this negative approach. The farmer decided to avoid problems and gave back around 9 lacks (euro 9.000) spent for the construction with some problems due to the high amount.
It is quite surprisingly to hear by you that Centro Cooperazione Sviluppo ONLUS which not paid the Center market it to italian sponsors. But as you could see in other posts, since 2007 the new officers of the INGO have not a correct attitude towards community and people involved in the Timal projects and most of them has been stopped or reduced.  
In 2006 CCS Nepal decided as primary activities for 2007 to enforce quality education in the ECDs, primary and secondary schools supported in Timal area. So they need a place where to held trainings and courses avoiding to stop the regular lessons in the schools. Of course the building could be used by community or other organizations working in the area.

Sanitation in the villages

The Third South Asian Conference on Sanitation (SACOSAN III) concluded in New Delhi today with the participating countries recognising people’s access to drinking water as a basic right.
The key principles included the promotion of wider participation of all the stakeholders, effective advocacy, change of people’s behaviour, partnership with the stakeholders, allocation of budget in all levels, strengthening of community efforts, improvement in working conditions for sanitary personnel, and development of appropriate technologies and methodologies.
The New Delhi declaration has also promised to promote collaboration among the SAARC countries with the help of appropriate mechanism, said the minister.
The United Nations has designated 2008 as International Year of Sanitation.

We publish the Report 2006 about our Health Project (in cooperation with Dhulikel Hospital) in Timal (Kavre District) where we started water analysis in some schools and appropriate activities (pipeline rebuilding, water tanks, distribution of deworming tablets, general sanitation) to tackle children water born diseases. Video report Health and sanitation project 2006.

In 2009. Dhulikel Hospital believed that there are no more condition to work with  CCS Italia ONLUS due, in our opinion, to the incapacity of the CCS Italia staff to deliver services to beneficiaries and to manage the project as before.

nutrion with DEO Kavre

As in our integrated project on education, from 2005 we provided integration daily meals to around 880 children enrolled in Bal Bikas Kendra (ECDs) we created in 5 VDCs in Timal area (Kavre District).

We provided them a daily allowance of Nrs. 2.5 each children managed by the School Management Committees charged of the ECDs. In the past post, it is underligned as daily meals for children helps enrollment and attendance to the ECDs as well it is a support for poor family.

Actually we had the idea to create Ama (mothers) Groups charged to produce and cook pito (high nutrient flour) and to distribute it to the children. Unluckly Centro Cooperazione Sviluppo ONLUS severely reduced the amount stated for this project from Rs. 2.5 each children daily to only Rs. 1. With this amount is very hard to give any good food to the children.

We received

Dear Friends

I am a teacher of Narayansthan and i was really involved in your projects in my VDC, they were very useful for children, family and schools. I know and I read on your website that quite all acyivities are collapsing due the mismanagement of Centro Cooperazione Sviluppo INGO. This is very sad and  we are very worried too because several teachers before supported by CCS Italy INGO were laied-off.

I really don’t understand which is their ideas and their future programs. They are destroying years of work and also all well has been done by your NGO which is formed and directed by people of the community. They speak about partnership at community level but in the Coordination Nutrition Committee of DEO (District Education Office) of Kavre they obliged you to leave the seat for a member of CCS Italy, one of the well-paid officer of Kathmandu which has not knowledge of our Timal.

This is really a pity which I hope the italian sponsors of our children will let to Know.

Friendly regards

Binod Kumar

Mid Day Meals programmes in ECDs

We received

 Dear Friends

It is really upsetting to read In previuos posts that due to the high running costs of the italian INGO financing education and nutrition programmes in Kavre District, they decided to reduce daily meal integrations for children in Bal Bikas Kendra (ECDs).

It is proved by several studies and experiences that Mid Day Meals programmes is exert a positive influence on enrolment and attendance in schools. In India several states manage such activities since 1980s, becoming national as the decision of Indian Government in 2004.

You should advice this people of italian INGO to read the National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education, 2006 which could give them some teachings how to run educational and nutrition programmes in a effective way for children and people . Below the link, Friendly wishes,

Nagendra Amatya-Kathmandu

 

 http://education.nic.in/mdm/FINAL_Guidelines_MDM_19_sept.pdf) 

letter to Social Welfare Council

We received

Dear Friends
The worries expressed by the people from the villages where we began the projects in 2003  confirms the letter delivered  to SWC (Social Welfare Council) last september in which I denounced Centro Cooperazione Sviluppo (CCS) INGO for not implementing the agreements related to education, health and community development in Kavre.
From then it seems that Centro Cooperazione Sviluppo INGO is going  to cancel all projects in Kavre, only leaving some formal activities (training, coordination) throughout the local DEO.
In fact they are replacing Kavre sponsored children with new ones located in Kathmandu.
Of course it easier for these people to work few meters from the office than to go in remote and disadvantaged area as Timal (Kavre) it is.
But it is absolutely incorrect to use money which  Italian sponsors donated for Kavre children to other programs.
I stated this wrong attitude in my letter (see below) as well as the huge increasing of office and staff expenditures which are badly affecting the activities for the beneficiaries.
It sounds also quite amusing that the new officers of CCS Centro Cooperazione Sviluppo INGO have been able to buy private cars only after seven months of working in the organization. In short, I believe, that in little less than one years and half they have destroyed four years work, confidence, projects and hopes for the communities of Kavre for their incapacity and wasting of people money. Below the letter I sent to SWC.

To The Members Secretary of
Social Welfare Council
Lainchor
Kathmandu

Dear Sirs
As you know I was the former Country Director (since January 2007) of CCS (Centro Cooperazione Sviluppo) Italy INGO and I signed with SWC and CCS Cooperation & Development  Nepal (local and implementing NGO) three agreements regarding education, health and electrification for the benefits of the deprived and  isolated community and children in Timal area (Kavre District).
In the last days I went in the community where the projects should be implemented and I found among people, teachers and children deeply concern about the state of the projects. During my visit in the community, stakeholders told me that the project (especially education) has been severely cut and other (health and electrification) are reduced to merely trainings and reports.
They submitted to me a list of programs cancelled (as appears to compare the report presented in October 2006  by CCS Italy (under my direction) to SWC (attached).
-food integration for around 800 children enrolled in Bal Bikas Kendra (ECDs) founded by Cooperation & Development  Nepal NGO-
-rent of Bal Bikas Kendra (ECDs) before supported and founded by Cooperation & Development  Nepal NGO-
-coaching classes for secondary schools-
-text books for sponsored children sponsored by CCS in six and seven classes in seven secondary schools-
-distribution to all children in primary schools of copy books, pens, pencils and other didactical materials twice at year for around 5000 children sponsored by Cooperation & Development  Nepal NGO-
-teachers salary for 14 teachers in secondary schools
– high secondary school (10+2) built by Cooperation & Development  Nepal NGO and community (in 2006) support–
Moreover even the buffalo project directed to the poorest families in the community has been severely reduced.
We heard about plan to further reduce the support of Timal  children for 2009 as well as not start new schools or ECDs building as well all the health programs.
Furthermore, the stakeholders informed me that CCS Nepal has been excluded by any process-making decisions in clear opposition to nepali rule and SWC norms which stated the local NGO should be the implementing agency and should be empowered being formed by local people.

When community protested against reduction of activities, the CCS Italy officers replied they will stop all programs in Timal area and actually they contacted  political representatives to find out any location and  NGOs (good for them) to replace CCS Nepal. It seems clearly the worst way to find out partners, places, and beneficiaries for  new projects. You must consider CCS Nepal is deep rooted in the projects community and thanks to it all projects were proposed and initiated and fund collected. They worked very hard during the conflict to implement them. This happened thanks to transparency, community rooted activities and capacity.
As you know CCS Italy INGO fund come from children sponsorship made by Italian  people who likes to sustain their education, health and life. At the end of 2007 (as document attached) the children sponsored were 3558. Around 3100 are located in Thimal and they should receive the greatest amount of donations. As the official CCS Head Quarter budget attached (on www.ccsit.org) it appears that 45,5% of the amount donated by sponsor it has been used in Italy for administrative costs (in 2006 only 32%)
In Nepal arrived euro 356.338 only euro 30.000 less than  2006 budget (as document attached and auditing given to SWC) due to the higher HQ management costs. From this amount  only 217.550 have been used for projects not only in Thimal but also in Chitwan (around 400 children sponsored, and in Kathmandu (where is easily to work for the new recruited CCS Italy officers.
CCS Italy so stated that euro 150.000 (near the half of all amount sent in Nepal) has been used to pay officers, office and other facilities.
Stakeholders informed me that new appointed officers receive the following monthly salaries:
-Chanda Rai, country director monthly salary        nrs.150.000
-Buddhi Man Shestra education manager,              nrs. 90.000;
-Lachi Singh, health manager                                 nrs. 90.000;
-Vishnu Shestra accountant,                                  nrs 90.000;
-Rajesh Shestra accountant,                                   nrs. 90.000;
-deputy country director                                        nrs 250.000 (exp)
(This amounts are far higher than the salary given to the new appointed Nepali President of Republic and Prime Minister).
Other officers (16) receive salary ranging from Nrs. 40.000 to 20.000.
All this top officers has been provided by a lab top (which cost the amount of children food integration for six months of 800 children cut by them) and cars, health schemes, phones, and other  facilities.
As you know as the Report presented to SWC in 2006, the number of employed of CCS Italy INGO were six, and they managed more activities than now. Because the intention was to enforce the capacity of local NGO and  excluded people (Tamang) from the projects area.
It must be noted and evaluate by SWC that the projects running and signed have not been implemented because the amount stated has not been used for the benefits of Nepali children and people and not given to the implementing local NGO as nepali law, agreements articles and SWC rules stated.
With best regards

Dr. Enrico Crespi
Budhanilkanta
Kathmandu

05 September 2008