ShradhaGiriblogs

The opportunity to work and garner experience working in these international companies would have definitely helped not only groom the young job seekers but also help instill a fair, transparent and ethical corporate culture in Nepal.    The closure of famous international chains Pizza Hut, KFC and Cream Bell is a testimony that no foreign influence can bring about a change in our country – worse or better. Since the time I started understanding how foreign factors can affect Nepal’s economy I fail every time to put the puzzles together. The first incident that I remember vividly is that of Sonia Gandhi not being allowed to visit Pashupatinath temple back in the 80s. I heard my parents speak about how India was furious and had stopped all basic commodities from entering Nepal by imposing a blockade. Now that I know more about the socio, geo and political equation shared between Nepal and India I still fail to comprehend why we haven’t got our act together? Somehow, we...

I met an old colleague last week who had just come back from attending a summer school in Norway. His course – peace and security. He works as a Security Personnel for one of the peace missions in Nepal funded by the USAID. I invited him for lunch obviously his treat for bagging awesome jobs one after another, a full course treat long overdue. He talked endlessly fueled by my questions about the course, the teaching methods in Norway and the instructors charm, the school environment, Oslo. Everything sounded exciting and he encouraging me to apply for one of these courses too. I used to be one of him working for development projects. But that’s an old fact now.   He continues to talk about the course and how he feels motivated to learn more and study further. He talked about how the children in Oslo wear all kinds of gears ranging from helmet to knee guards while riding bicycles. These happy children playing and riding bikes in the parks reminded him how he had himself negle...

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 De...

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, te...

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 marginalization. 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 in...

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 • Sa...

Who better to protect communities from floods than community members themselves?  "At 3am I heard my neighbour scream. I ran to his house and saw his whole family standing in a foot of water. We realised we were being flooded. The water level rose quickly. We didn't have time to collect anything, we just ran for our lives," recalls Shakil Ahmad Khan of the floods that engulfed his village in 2063 BS. Back then the lack of an early warning system in Kamdi VDC of Banke district almost cost Shakil's family and their neighbours their lives. Things have changed in Shakil's community since. With Practical Action's Community Based Flood Early Warning System (CBFEWS) in place, communities in Banke, Bardia, Chitwan and Nawalparasi districts, threatened every monsoon by the Kosi, Narayani and Karnali river systems, receive warnings at least three to four hours prior to potential floods. The mechanism of CBFEWS is fairly simple. Disaster Management Com...

It is estimated that around 3.5 million Nepalis are at risk of moderate to severe food insecurity. Food security has a direct effect on health, nutrition and overall productivity of human beings, women and children in particular. Although there are numerous government, non-government and private agencies helping poor farmers achieve food security, a majority of the poor farmers do not own land. In order to secure food for the poor, one of the best ways would be to adopt the leasehold approach. This approach may not address every aspect in the effort to secure food for the poor, but leasing land can work as one of the sustainable approaches. The lease land approach works best for landless farmers and those who own land but it is not arable, especially in the Tarai. A humanitarian approach works to address the immediate needs of the poor at times of natural disasters and famine. However, if practiced for a long period, it makes the community dependent on external supp...

One sour apple spoils the whole basket—Recently the city police have started stopping and checking drivers of two wheelers and four wheelers for drinking and driving. Although the measures taken by the police are in everyone’s interest, the government has failed to put a limitation on the average unit of alcohol an individual can drink and drive lawfully. But the truth is there are some who abuse alcohol depriving other law abiding citizens the liberty to enjoy a glass of good spirit once in a while.  Nepalis enjoy a drink every now and then. Like every culture, our culture is no different. In Nepal’s context, most of us are exposed to alcohol from a very young age. For example, in Newari culture, home brewed alcohol is used as a pure form of drink in any auspicious occasion. Home brewed alcohol is also a part of pure gifts which includes egg and other Newari dishes. There are no age and gender limitations to drink alcohol in many ethnic Nepali castes. Although al...