Plan Nepal Annual Progress Report 2009

A YEAR IN

NEPAL SUMMARY REPORT

09

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GOOD REASONS why Plan works in Nepal

BARBADOS

Children enjoy a meal through a project for displaced persons

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FRENCH GUIANA

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• Improving women and children’s health oF ran

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• Helping poor families to increase their incomes • Promoting child protection and getting children involved in community development

BANGLADESH

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• Improving standards of education

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children to live in a healthy environment with safe drinking water and sanitation facilities

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– Prem Shukla, Plan’s Country Director

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Economy: Agriculture accounts for about 40% of Nepal’s GDP, services

comprise 41% and industry 22%. Agriculture employs 76% of the workforce, services 18% and manufacturing/craft-based industry 6%. Agricultural produce — mostly grown in the Terai region bordering India — includes tea, rice, corn, wheat, sugarcane, root crops, milk, and water buffalo meat. Industry mainly involves the processing of agricultural produce, including jute, sugarcane, tobacco, and

grain. Its workforce of about 10 million suffers from a BUR MAshortage of skilled severe labor. The spectacular landscape and diverse, exotic cultures of Nepal represent considerable potential for tourism, but growth in this hospitality industry has been stifled by recent political events. dy arwa Ayey

ari Climate: Nepal has Taqufive climatic zones, broadly ARAGUAY corresponding to the IVIA altitudes.G The tropical odava untry Office and subtropical ri zones lie ogramme Unit below 1,200 metres the temperate zone 1,200 to 2,400 metres the cold zone

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Language: Nepali (official).

Over 30 languages and dozens of dialects are a Cruz spoken

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Population: 28.2 million

2,400 to 3,600 metres the subarctic zone 3,600 to 4,400 metres, and the Arctic zone above 4,400 metres.

Nepal experiences five seasons: summer, monsoon, autumn, winter and spring.

The Himalayas block cold winds from Central Asia Grande in the winter and forms the northern limit of the monsoon wind patterns..

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Capital: Kathmandu

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NEPAL FACTS

“We focus on children who are vulnerable and at risk, addressing social issues such as gender, social exclusion and children’s rights, and supporting community-led development”

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Our priorities in Nepal

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• A decade of violent conflict with Maoistg rebels has Yan gtz services damaged basic healthZaand education Zi e

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GUYANA

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• Child marriage, trafficking, and child labour are widespread and many children are discriminated against because ofSalw their een Nugender, caste or ethnicity

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Children contribute to the Caja Majica magazine

A YEAR IN

NEPAL SUMMARY REPORT

09

FOCUS ON: WATER AND SANITATION Only a third of Nepal’s rural population has sanitation facilities, and many rural communities lack clean water. Water-borne diseases like diarrhoea are a major cause of illness and death in under-fives.

Plan aims to ensure that families have safe drinking water and sanitation facilities all year round, and live in healthy conditions.

We raise awareness about sanitation, and promote hand washing, food hygiene and waste management. We support communities to set up and maintain water pipes, wells and rainwater harvesting, and waste management and sanitation facilities.

HOW CLEAN WATER CAN CHANGE LIVES

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Students discuss growing up during a learning to live workshop

The Bigger Picture

Plan is working with children, families and whole communities to address the problems that Nepal faces. This report can only tell a small part of that story. As a further insight, last year we also: • Constructed 1,500 classrooms in 377 schools, benefiting 60,320 children • Improved mother and child health by training 525 groups of pregnant women on birth preparation, breastfeeding, and caring for newborns • Strengthened children’s voices by supporting 1,087 children’s clubs with 45,099 members, who promote children’s rights, and fight against school drop-out, early marriage, and trafficking • Helped 105,411 people through savings, loans and credit schemes, allowing them to start small businesses, support their children’s education, and save for emergencies.

Your support as a sponsor is crucial to achieving these positive results. So on behalf of the communities, partner organisations, and most of all the children we work with – thank you!

he village of Chilaune, not far from Kathmandu, is home to 241 people. Until recently, Chilaune did not have an adequate supply of clean water. Women and girls used to walk for five or six hours to fetch water, usually at night because they worked during the day.

Forty-three-year-old Babita remembers those difficult times: “We women and girls were unhappy due to the hardships caused by our poor water supply. It was drudgery for us. We spent long hours fetching water, and we felt unsafe walking at night.”

Water shortages affected all areas of community life. Hushneja, 62, says: “During dry months the well dried completely which made things worse.

My son and his wife left Chilaune because of water problems. We also wanted to leave as life was extremely difficult, but we had nowhere to go.”

Now, thanks to a new Plan project, each of Chilaune’s 39 households has a rainwater harvesting system which provides a reliable supply of clean water. The scarcity of water sources means a piped water supply isn’t feasible for Chilaune, but rainwater harvesting is low-cost, simple and easy to operate and maintain. Each family harvests rainwater from their roof through a gutter and down pipe into a 6,500-litre container.

Getting everyone involved The new system has been enthusiastically adopted by the community, although this took time. “At first, some people were unwilling to drink rainwater from their roof. But after visiting communities which harvested rainwater, they became excited about the project,” explains one villager.

“It is very satisfying to see remarkable changes in the lives of women who had a very difficult time” To learn more about Plan’s work in Nepal visit plan.org.au/ourwork/asia/nepal

Produced for Nepal by the Australian National Office.

Each family contributed labour and 1,235 rupees (about £11) in cash. Plan provided the rest of the funding, and trained villagers to operate and maintain the system. Houses were also improved, as most had thatched roofs unsuitable for rainwater collection. Each household was given corrugated galvanised iron sheets to make a new roof.

“Our happiness is doubled because now we have water at our doorstep and our houses have better roofs as well,” says Hushneja. The whole village now looks bright and dazzling with its new iron roofs and rainwater containers painted white. But the biggest change has been in villagers’ lives, for women and children in particular, who no longer have to journey miles each day to fetch water. As villager Sushila says: “It is very satisfying to see remarkable changes in the lives of women who had a very difficult time.”

Children, and girls in particular, have more time for school now. According to teacher Maya Paudel: “In the past, many children missed classes because they stayed at home to help their mothers fetch water, and this hampered their studies. Now, students attend classes regularly and are doing better in their examinations.”

The project has also improved the village’s sanitation and hygiene. “Before, there were heaps of human faeces along the roads in Chilaune,” says villager Asha. “But after visiting communities where there is no open defecation, people started building toilets, and now every household has one. Our village is much cleaner.”

Sushila sums up the project’s impact: “Having a rainwater collection unit in every house has made our lives much easier.”

This project shows how communities can work together to improve their lives, and provide a better environment for their children to grow up in.

Some names have been changed for child protection and privacy purposes.

“Now, students attend classes regularly and are doing better in their examinations”

plan.org.au