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Project in Nepal
Community Development Program in Okhaldhunga district Okhaldhunga is a district in Nepali eastern hilly area which locates in a remote place which takes a day by car and two days by walk from the capital Katmandu. Since 1999, SHAPLA NEER started the supporting activities for improvement of the living of the poor farmers in four villages in the district. This is a partnership program with CSD (Centre for self-Help Development), a local renowned NGO. Because Okhaldhunga has many sharp sloping lands and few water sources, the village people can scarcely engage in the rice-farming and are forced to eat cereals such as barnyard glasses and millets. As the cash income is in absolute shortage, men are earning their living expenses either by working away from home or working as the porters who carry goods from cities in plain area to the bazaars in mountainous area. It is the typical poverty area where a literacy rate is low and a mortality rate of infants is high. Since Nepali government is constructing roadways in this area now, it is expected that the works of the porters will decrease sharply after opening of the roadways, which may cause the serious change in a livelihood of the village people. This program is to target the village people in such a serious situation to improve their living by themselves. There still remains traditional mutual help institutions in the area where people help each other on the occasions of ceremonies and festivals. This project aims to activate the mutual help activities among people by using such voluntary institutions while providing the occasions of education and trainings which lead to the public health and income increase, and the basic services essential to the life improvement. Our partner NGO, CSD, is a local middle-sized NGO which has an established reputation over a participatory community development program targeted to petty farmers in the western hilly areas and a "self help banking program" in the southern plain areas. Support for Community Based Organization working for the poor in Kathmandu Urbanization has made rapid progress in Nepal too and there are many people who flow from the devastated farms into Katmandu Basin where the capital Katmandu locates, seeking for jobs. Now the traditional community of Newar tribe who are the aborigines of old cities of Kathmandu faces a crisis of disruption by the rapid change of life style and the influx of the residents outside. SOUP (Society for Urban Poor) is a local small NGO which is engaged in various projects with the aim of regeneration of the traditional community of Newar and the life improvement of people. In 1999, SHAPLA NEER started supporting SOUP for establishing effective management and fund raising system so that they will be self independent community based organization. Bardiya Community Development Program In Bardiya County, the Tarai plains in the west of Nepal, our project is to support Kamaiya to create a way of making their lives improved. Kamaiya is an agricultural labor of, Taru, the aborigines in the Tarai plains. Taru has been deprived of their lands since the new settlers around 40 years ago, then hired as labors, called Kamaiya, for fields of the new land owners. Though Kamaiya work under a certain contract with their land owners, they have to work like a slave who get only food; while receiving little cash income, they owe debts on their owners. Kamaiya's children also have to work as their parents are not able to pay back their debts. General view of Kamaiya in Nepalese society is that they should be enlightened for improving their life due to the ignorant and no social power. However, the reason they tend to be exploited is not always because of their ignorance. Kamaiya has their own knowledge and skills. According to SHAPLA NEER's research, some of Kamaiya could successfully escaped from land owners, bought lands and settled down in other plcae. Their community is relatively well organized. On the other hand, their living environment is not in good condition, and their children have less educational opportunity.
This project for Kamaiya started from the promotion of re-settling Kamaiya
through partnership with a local NGO, SPACE (Society for Participatory
Cultural Education). SPACE, established on 1979, has its own programs
in the Tarai plains, besides the joint-project with SHAPLA NEER: literacy
class, income improvement, hygiene and environment preservation. SHAPLA
NEER has considered this project should be developed on Kamaiya's own
initiative, not on a "specialist's" from the outside. Therefore,
Kamaiya conducted own research for development of their community with
the assistance of SPACE. On the reflection of this research, SHAPLA NEER
has implemented a literacy school for adults, an income improvement loan,
a hygiene project since 1999.
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