Proud to be ODF
If you’re squeamish about poo, look away now! Open defecation is not something people in the developed world have to think about. But for many of the poorest people living in developing countries, open defecation is not an unusual sight – 1.1 billion people defecate in the open.
The health implications are huge. More than 2 million children die each year from diarrhoea and millions more suffer poor health as a result of poor sanitation.
Over the last three years, Practical Action has been working with communities in Nepal addressing problems to improve sanitation and health. An important part of this project has been to help communities become Open Defecation Free (ODF).
Nepal’s Sanitation Plan has a comprehensive list of points, to be met by a community, to achieve ODF status:
• Proper use of toilets with access to water;
• Hand washing with soap or cleaning agent at critical times(before eating, feeding children, cooking and serving food, after use of toilet
• Safe handling and treatment of drinking water
• Maintenance of personal hygiene (regular nail cutting, bathing, cloth washing, tooth brushing);
• Proper solid and liquid waste management (Availability of bins/pits to collect/dispose solid waste) in and out of the home;
• All households should have toilet and hand washing facilities such as soap, washing platform;
• Availability of brush or brooms or cleaning agent, etc. at the toilet;
• Covering food and water;
• Regular cleaning of rooms, yards, and household compound;
• Availability of managed animal shed and covered waste water pit
• Availability of improved cooking stove/bio‐gas and improved kitchen management;
• All public institutions should have users‐friendly clean, hygienic toilets with hand washing and proper waste management facilities;
• Social map showing toilet; and community committee message/slogan for healthy community
I recently joined a group comprising media persons and other stake holders including local government officials to Sharadanagar, an emerging Village Development Committee to see if Sharadanagar met the criteria to be declared an ODF community or not.
As soon as we reached the venue I jumped off the bus and started scouring Sharadanagar hoping to find waste. But I had never seen such a clean community. All the houses were clean, small or big, thatched or brick. Each and every house had a toilet, not just a toilet but every house had a clean kitchen with kitchen racks and clean dishwashing areas. I had no idea what it takes for a community to be declared an ODF until I saw the list which each and every visitor was keen on checking.
The list is pretty long but at the end of the tour the visitors agreed that Sharadanagar indeed meets all the criteria. I certainly agreed and I know that in no time Sharadanagar will be declared ODF. This is a huge step forward and a source of pride to the whole community.
2 Comments » | Add your commentProviding better health services for waste workers
Large numbers of people in the developing world rely on other people’s waste to make a living. In the Kathmandu valley of Nepal nearly 15,000 people work as waste pickers and 800 more deal in scrap. These are the poorest of the poor, many are women and they suffer discrimination through social exclusion, religious segregation and political marginalisation. Often they have started this work as children and their lack of education, poor health care and low status leaves them vulnerable with few opportunities to improve their lives.
One of Practical Action’s projects in this area aims to improve the living conditions of these workers and to secure them better social protection. One of the initiatives of this project was a health camp in Sundarighat in the Lalitpur District of Nepal, to raise awareness of health and hygiene issues and to provide general health check-ups.
There was a worrying start to the event for Dr. Bishnu Acharya and his assisting staff nurse as initially very few workers came along and those that did were reluctant to share their health problems. One of the health team noticed a group of women chatting by themselves, so she joined their group and started sharing her own experience of pregnancy. Slowly the women opened up and began to tell their own stories and soon they were persuaded to agree to an antenatal check-up and were given information on nutrition and hygiene.
From then on, everything went smoothly and more and more workers arrived. Many of the women also wanted the doctor to check their children and were enquiring about vaccinations. Each person was helped to complete a health questionnaire and it was a relief to learn that none of the waste workers suffered from major illnesses. The most common health problem encountered was worms. Dr. Acharya emphasised the need of deworming each and every patient. A couple of women had high blood pressure and were advised to consume less salt and fried foods.
Practical Action’s team has put together a check list of what should be provided when running such health days:
1. A comprehensive list of available over the counter medicines
2. Plenty of deworming medicine
3. Vitamin supplements (especially Vitamin B complex) as many of the expectant mothers lack a balanced diet
4. Rehydration salts
5. Contraceptive advice and condoms
6. All free government vaccinations, including polio, for newborns and children
The success of the day ensured that it will be repeated and on the next occasion it will be organised in collaboration with government local health staff. Information to be provided will include a health and hygiene video and government illustrated booklets on safe sex and contraception and basic health issues.
The medical staff learned a great deal about communicating with people who have little experience of health services. They are now better able to put people at ease so as to extract the patient’s medical history, which is vital for a correct diagnosis and treatment.
1 Comment » | Add your commentNepalese couple defied the odds
Nirmala Bogati and her husband Shyam Bogati are a sought after couple in their village. Both Nirmala and Shyam are dairy farmers from Chitwan District and are confident that they can earn better in their own village than their neighbours who often resort to foreign employment.
Recently, Nirmala and Shyam shared their story of success to Radio Audio’s Khulduli.com programme. Through khulduli.com their stories were broadcasted to 35 districts in Nepal. This is a story of a regular couple who defied odds and ditched foreign employment to work on their farm instead.
Shyam states, “I had been raising cows and selling milk for the past 15 years. I lost four cows in a month and that is when we hit the lowest point in our lives. I thought of going to a foreign country but luckily our future had something better in store for us.”
Nirmala heard about the MASF-Dairy component Project providing series of training sessions on livestock management, shed management, techniques to increase milk production, feed and fodders, mineral blocks as well as practical knowledge on overall dairy value in Nepal. She immediately shared the information with her husband and decided Nirmala would attend the training classes.
“As soon as I attended the classes I was confident I could improve our living standard. My husband and I started growing quality grass for our livestock, we kept our livestock clean, we sought timely medical care, and we provided the livestock with the mineral blocks which helps in digestion and provides essential nutrients. And in time the milk production increased and our income too. In a year we have added two cows which totals to four milking cows. We sell NPR 200,000 worth milk and our net profit is NPR 120,000. Our monthly income is around NPR 20,000,” said Nirmala.
Through the radio programme both Nirmala and Shyam share the importance of home grown opportunities. They also state that they are earning much more and are happy that the whole family is together. Nirmala and Shyam encourage those seeking foreign jobs to work and seek opportunities in Nepal and Shyam hands out his mobile number to those seeking information on good practices of dairy farming.
You can listen to their story at http://www.aradioaudio.com/index.php?pageName=taaza&nid=255
Nirmala and Shyam have shown that if there is a will there is a way out.
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Energy crisis in Nepal
A recent study by Practical Action indicates that about 61 per cent households in Nepal do not have access to minimum energy required for lighting. Addressing Nepal’s energy problems requires an increase in access to modern form of energy.
Devi has three children to look after. All day long she has many chores to complete – cook and clean. By the time she finishes her daily chores its already dark. She does not have kerosene left to light her room and she cannot afford it either. She wants to comb her hair, wash her face, and change into something comfortable for a good nights sleep but she cant because she cannot see a thing; forget finding anything. You and I can still do many things after dark but Devi’s day ends once the sun sets.
The only source of lighting left is the kitchen fire, once the fire is out there is not even a single source of light left in the house. You and I have access to many kinds of energy to light our homes as we have the resources but Devi does not.
Devi has to walk an hour to get to the nearest motor able road access and wait for a taxi (which may or may not come) to take her to the nearest market which is an hour drive. But she also needs money to buy kerosene and money is scarce. With little money she has she purchases basic necessity such as salt, sugar and cooking oil. Devi’s life is hard. Can you imagine living like her in the dark after the sun sets?
Recently, Practical Action installed a 400 watt vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) in her village of six households. All six households now have access to clean energy.
“My life is so much better now that we have clean energy for lighting in our homes. We could barely afford the trip to buy kerosene,” s aysDevi.
The newly installed wind turbine supplies energy equivalent to 2 light bulbs for each 6 households in Devi’s village. She is happy with the change and say “We can also charge our mobile phones and watch TV.”
Devi’s niece now has light to study and complete her homework.
This is a power station operator showing us how he controls the flow of power to each household. The wind turbine is integrated with 260 watt peak of solar energy system.
“I am so happy now,” says Devi. “I can do so much even after the sun sets. I don’t have to hurry and finish my chores and we don’t eat dinner at 5pm anymore. We have the luxury of eating when we want. Time is no more a restriction, all thanks to the wind energy.”
Most of the rural hilly villages in Nepal are not connected to the national grid. Go to www.practicalaction.org and see how you can donate and change the lives of women like Devi.
Watch more success stories from rural Nepal at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fgg3s3m-7sQ
7 Comments » | Add your commentBir Bahadur Mouni – let me share his story
I have just received the annual report from Practical Action’s work in Nepal. It’s full of great facts, photos and some stories.
But for now I want to share the story of Bir, because I think it’s great and because it shows I think how hard people have sometimes to try before they succeed.
Bir’s home is in Nepal but he moved to India in search of a better job. He is still a young man and I imagine when he left it was with high hopes and dreams of a better future. He was there 9 years but even so returned home empty handed.
He says “having no opportunity and alternatives at home I migrated to India along with my neighbours. Despite working every day I failed to earn enough “
Back at home he once again tried every way to eke out a living from his small farm. He couldn’t get any other work.
After 8 months he started to work with Practical Action. He learnt about better forms of agriculture, compost making, nursery management and how to grow crops that could be sold.
After the training he wanted to test his skills so planted ginger, he was careful having so little he didn’t want to risk his money but “Fortunately my ginger turned out excellent and I sold 950KG of ginger for Nepalese rupee 28,000 (£244) in the market. I had never ever earned this much money at once.”
Bir has changed his life. He is now sharing his knowledge and currently helping 60 farmers also benefit from the learning and experience he has.
What I loved about this case study was the reality of the situation, the fact that Bir was helped but actually more importantly that he has gone on to help others – this pass it on approach is central to Practical Action. And the final part of the story where the person Bir has been talking to says that Bir now exudes confidence.
Someone who maybe came back from India with a feeling of failure is now a confident leader in his community able to help others.
Practical Action, Nepal annual report
No Comments » | Add your commentLeasing land for food
2011 Blog Action Day on 16 October – World Food Day – is, naturally, themed around food
The hill and mountain districts of far and mid-western Nepal have been hit by persistent food insecurity. The agricultural produce is not sufficient for household consumption in many areas of the country due to high dependency on subsistence agriculture, very small land holdings, inequality in land holdings, low productivity, limited agricultural infrastructure, use of traditional tools and lack of appropriate technologies.
In my recent visit to one of the Practical Action’s project sites in mid-west Nepal I saw a ray of hope where people were continuing the land leasing approach for food production introduced by Practical Action.
A women land leasing group (Jhumka Land Leasing Group) sharing their experiences in mid-west Nepal
Practical Action, with support of the European Union, implemented a food security project in this area, focusing on a land leasing approach targeting smallholder farmers who owns less than 0.05 hectare of land or are landless.
The project has supported the group of small land-holding or landless farmers in accessing the land through a land leasing approach. The project has also people in accessing various appropriate agricultural technologies, extension services, agri-infrastructures and linking with markets.
A survey indicated that the proportion of project households having food sufficiency for less than three months has been decreased to 6.7% from 58.3%. The study also revealed that the food sufficiency for three to six months, six to nine months and more than nine months have been increased to 41, 33.8 and 18.5% from 28, 10.7 and 2.9 per cent respectively.
The smallholding farmers, who I met recently, were very happy and were continuously practicing the plastic house technology and micro irrigation technology in their leased land. They were receiving support from the local agro-vets and local resource people developed by the project. It is encouraging that from the selling of the vegetables and other agricultural produces, they were able to buy some pieces of land on their own where they can grow more produce to fulfill their food need.
With this evidence, I think the land leasing approach can be a sustainable approach that can be replicated elsewhere while working with the smallholders or landless farmers to secure or improve their food security conditions.
5 Comments » | Add your commentInternational Day for Disaster Reduction – it’s all about children
October 13th is International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction and this year the focus in on children and young people.
Last year I visited Nepal where I met an amazing young student who was on the committee for disaster management in her village. She told me that learning what do if a flood occurred made her less afraid. What really impressed me was that students were considered an important part of the committee and that their contribution was valued. They helped educate other students in school as well as spreading the messages in their community. Children power at its best! It made me think that we could really learn something from that here in the UK. As far as I am aware the committees that run Neighbourhood watch schemes do not inactively encourage participation from young people, perhaps they would be more effective if they did.
To find out moreabout the day and how you can get involved go to the United Nations website.
No Comments » | Add your commentEarthquake in Nepal
I was about to leave a social function at 6:30pm yesterday (Sunday), when the ground started trembling. I realised that it was an earthquake, so I guided all in the room to kneel down near the door and cupboards.
Once we felt that it was all over, we all ran outside. I started ringing my wife at home, but the mobile was not working so I rushed home. When I reached home, my wife told me she ran out in an open area as soon as she noticed that it was a quake. However, my kids were very smart. They did not come out of the house but instead covered their head and stayed calm under a big table until the tremor was gone. This was what they were taught in their school.
It was an earthquake measuring 6.9 Richter scale with the epicentre somewhere in the east near the Nepal and India border. The news reported that 21 people were severely injured, 68 people injured and over 200 houses were damaged in eight districts. The tremor was felt across 20 districts of Nepal. Three people were killed in Kathmandu after a wall of the British Embassy collapsed over a car and motorbike.
Nepal has been ranked as the 11th most earthquake-prone country in the world. In terms of human casualty risk, Kathmandu is billed as the most risk-prone area in the world.
The Practical Action Nepal Office is working to reduce disaster risk, but it is mostly in the field of community based disaster risk reduction and mainly floods and landslides. Practical Action has worked with communities in Peru to build earthquake-resistant houses. Now it is high time to get engaged in earthquake preparedness in Nepal as well, which could come up in our next strategy.
1 Comment » | Add your commentSchumacher at Oxford and engineering at Bradford
In mid-September, Oxford University held their annual alumni weekend, where a Schumacher centenary lecture was one of the events on the programme. This was held at Rhodes House, where Schumacher was enrolled as a Rhodes Scholar in 1930. Speaking to a packed house, Dr Donald Markwell, Warden of Rhodes House outlined details of Schumacher’s time at Oxford and his subsequent career, concluding that the Foundation had chosen very well when they selected him as a Scholar.
Schumacher’s daughter, Barbara Wood, author of his biography ‘Alias Papa‘, talked about her father and some of the influences that formed his philosophy and shaped his work.
Other speakers were Practical Action’s Simon Trace, who described how Practical Action is putting Schumacher’s ideas into practice in the developing world. The final speaker was Ann Pettifor of Advocacy International, who talked about the world’s current economic woes and the need to revisit the principles expounded in ‘Small is Beautiful’ to tackle our current crises both financial and environmental.
A lively crowd of science buffs came together on 14th September to discuss how engineers can help tackle poverty in the developing world. This event formed part of the British Science Festival which this year took place in Bradford and was one of a series of events that Practical Action is organising to celebrate the centenary year of our founder, E F Schumacher.
Taking as their starting point Schumacher’s ideas in ‘Small in Beautiful’ published nearly 40 years ago, Simon
Trace of Practical Action and Sacha Grodzinski of Engineers without Borders (EWB), led a lively discussion of technology options for poor communities in the developing world.
Technologies debated included biogas for cooking, animal vaccination programmes and the transport of crops across the mountains of Nepal. The audience were full of ideas and technical wizardry to solve these tricky problems, during a game of technology bingo.
Simon Trace introduced the audience to a range of Practical Action’s work and they were particulaly intrigued by the recipe for lollipops for cows and growing pumpkins on sandbars in Bangladesh.
Sacha Grodzinski then described how EWB harnesses the expertise of engineers from the UK to assist with projects in the developing world. Their programmes enable engineers to volunteer in projects in the developing world which take in account the a sustainable use of natural resources and minimise impact to the local environment by adapting existing low risk technology and using modern engineering methods.
Animated discussions were ongoing as the crowd departed for their next event at this exciting exploration of science and its impact on the world.
No Comments » | Add your commentText symrabies to 4321
“Check this out”, Deepak, Nepal’s Head of the Markets and Livelihoods Programme called over to me. When I came over, he had his phone in his hand, texting ‘pai symrabies’ to 4321. Immediately he got a text back: ‘Aggressive, drooling, choking sound, sensitive to noise and movements, lack of appetite and excessive sleeping. SMS “treatrabies” to 4321 for treatment options’.
Of course we texted ‘treatrabies’, and we got this message back: ‘Isolate animal. Do not touch or come in contact with Saliva. Call vet or para vet. SMS “vet” and your location number. E.g. “vet1” if you are in Dullu’.
The next text had a couple of names, addresses and phone numbers.
This text messaging service is part of a new project in Nepal called Access to Information (A2I). You can see that it’s new because Deepak’s demonstration is not completely ready. Shortly the service will have its own dedicated number and once that’s set up, you won’t have to put ‘pai’ in front of your requests. That just stands for ‘Practical Action Information’ and is required because 4321 is Focus One’s number. Focus One is the company behind text message horoscopes and dating compatibility tests in Nepal. Who better to partner with to deliver a virtual encyclopedia of information for agriculture, livestock-rearing, and foraging of non-timber forest products to the poor!?
Each text costs 3 Nepali Rupees, that’s about 2 pence. Of that, 2 rupees go to NTC, the national mobile network. Half a rupee goes to Focus One, and half a rupee comes back to Practical Action. The reason for that half rupee coming back to us is that we hope the demand for the service will grow enough to pay for a permanent person to keep the system up to date. So this model is built for sustainability.
And it’s built for scale. The service works anywhere in the country.
Practical Action Nepal is drawing on its network of experts in agriculture in the government and private sector to feed the system with up-to-date information about market prices, disease outbreaks, local weather forecasts and much more.
A lot of this information is already out there, publicly available, but the problem is that poor people out in the hills and mountains, who could really make use of it, can’t get hold of it. Like everything Practical Action does, the need came before the idea. Practical Action Nepal has drawn on a wealth of analysis conducted with the participation of poor farmers to find out what their biggest problems are. Lack of basic information is one of the biggest issues.
All well and good, but what happens if you don’t have a phone. Good question. Although Nepal’s phone ownership has been growing nearly exponentially in the last few years, it’s still fairly low compared to other countries, including those in Africa. Furthermore the distribution of phones is heavily weighted towards the urban population, and in rural areas towards those in the service sector. That’s why for A2I, this mobile text messaging service and its sister Voice Messaging (VM) service are not intended to reach the last mile.
(The last mile is part of Practical Action’s development-speak. It means that last distance (spatial, economic, social…) between those doing ok in difficult situations, and those that aren’t. Reaching those that aren’t – that last mile – is what Practical Action is all about.)
A2I’s text messaging and VM services are designed for local animal health workers, agricultural service providers and community forest chairpersons to access useful information. In many places these are the only people reaching the last mile and providing them with advice. A2I’s services are designed to help them provide the last mile with much, much better, up-to-date, advice.
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