Partnership Building Conference

Twenty Seven years back, in the geo political region of Namsaling VDC, few individuals shared a dream of establishing an NGO with the aim of developing local capabilities in planning and ensuring sustainable development, which gave birth to Namsaling Community Development Centre (NCDC). NCDC then, was only confined to the Namsaling VDC, and now is one of the most successful NGOs in Eastern Nepal. With its working area over dozens of districts now, it is marching towards flourishing all over the country.

The present view of NCDC Resource Centre in Ilam, Nepal (Sapkota/NCDC)

In its long journey of developmental activities, NCDC has worked at all micro and macro level. From works targeting to the grassroots to some policy level activities, NCDC has done it all. One thing that never changed is, the partnership strategy.Without the necessary support from its local, national as well as international partners, things today would have been different and NCDC would not be what it is today.

Local people in Bhojpur partcipates in the program. (Sapkota/NCDC)

Remembering the contribution made by various individuals, national and international organizations and to further reinforce the relationship through enhanced communication, a ‘Partnership building Conference’ was held in Kathmandu recently. The other objective of this program was to inform partners about NCDC’s progress and works as well as discuss upon new strategies and opportunities.

Partnership Building Conference at Hotel Himalaya, Kathmandu (Bhattrai/NCDC)

With around 40 participants representing different ministries, line agencies, NGOs, Norwegian Embassy, and INGOs, this conference gave an opportunity to sit across the table and discuss ideas and development strategies for NCDC. Some very constructive and practical recommendations and suggestions had come from the partners as new strategies for further growth.

Mr. Yogendra Man Shrestha, Agriculture expert,NCDC making presentations regarding work and progress of NCDC

Although it was only an hour of discussion, but was successful in terms of productive discussions and meaningful participation. It was an opportunity and a proud moment for NCDC to be amidst its partners and to talk about its success and experiences.

Keep reading for more updates.

Green City Strategic Planning Workshop

With the successful ban over the use of polythene bags in Ilam municipality, the mission of establishing Ilam as a green city got into action. The approval of the 15th City Council to develop Ilam as a green city and subsequent commitment of the government further accelerated the process.

Participants gather in the NCDC Resource Centre for the workshop.(Chapagain/NCDC)

For the same, Ilam municipality, SEAM-N and NCDC jointly organized a two days workshop-the Green City Workshop on 2-3rd of November in NCDC Resource Centre, Ilam. This workshop was the first of its kind in Nepal. With the objective of developing a strategic plan for future implementation, this two day workshop called participation from all sectors of development like health, education, civil society, media, representatives of ministries, political parties representatives, line agencies, local and national NGOs, INGOs and even more. Jointly inaugurated by, The Ambassador of America to Nepal, Mr. Scott. H. Delisi and the Chairman of the Constituent Assembly of Nepal, Mr. Subash Chandra Nembhang, this workshop was highly successful in generating active participation from different stakeholders as well as other national and international bodies.

Mr. Ambassador of America, CEO (Ilam municipality) and Chairman of Constituent Assembly, in the opening session of the workshop (Chapagain/NCDC)

The Green City agenda was basically divided into ten different thematic areas. These areas included Health, Education, Energy, Environment, Socio-Cultural aspect, Transportation and communication, Urban Design, Governance, Economy and Agriculture. This workshop was a participatory one that involved lots of brainstorming, discussion, debate and group works. The participants of all sectors were divided into different groups and were given related themes to discuss to work upon. All the discussions were centered on the aforementioned thematic areas in context of Ilam municipality. The first day of workshop involved group work, facilitated by Dr. Barry Bialek( NCDF, Canada), where the participants were divided into 10 thematic groups and were asked to develop a 100 years plan for Ilam. The group exercise was followed by presentations of the findings.

Presentation being made after the group exercise.(Chapagain/NCDC)

Similarly the day two was also marked by the group exercise where the same thematic groups developed a comprehensive plan, along with indicators for the period of 5 years. This was also followed by presentations.

Along with the group exercises, this workshop also was successful in generating strong commitments from various government and non government organizations with regard to providing support to this initiative.

Dr. Barry Bialek, NCDF consults with The Ambassador of America to Nepal.(Chapagain/NCDC)

As a result, this workshop generated lots of activities and plans for Ilam to achieve its green city mission. As an outcome of this workshop, a detailed plan has been prepared and submitted to the concerned bodies for implementation.

Regional Interaction Program on River Conservation

Along with so many other projects that NCDC has been engaged in, EMIS (Environment Movement in South) – River Rehabilitation Projects is one of them that is being carried out with the major objectives of increasing government and non government organizations involvement in the river conservation. This DF (Development Fund, Norway) supported project’s overall goal is ‘Improved river management system in Nepal’.
On Sunday, Pravesh Prasad Chapagain, the project coordinator along with other NCDC team members left for Dharan to attend the regional interaction program on river conservation. Khem Raj Nepal, the national advisor for NCDC, Narayan Thapa , Under Secretary of the Ministry of Local Development (MLD) also participated in the program. With the objective of gathering and collaborating with different NGOs and local authorities to work for river conservation, this program drew participation of around forty representatives from various government and non government bodies.

Representatives from various government and non government organizations participating in the program (Chapagain/NCDC)

Presentations by NCDC, Ilam Municipality Office and MLD regarding river conservation, pollution control, and existing laws and policies for river conservation was followed by in depth discussion on these issues. The participants agreed upon the preparation of guideline for river conservation where the municipality office will be investing financial resources on hard projects of construction and the NGOs will be doing the other facilitation part.

Mr. Yogendra Shrestha, agriculture expert, NCDC presenting on river conservation (Chapagain/NCDC)

The program was quite a success as the entire participant NGOs agreed upon being the part of River Conservation Network. This Network will be leading different activities along with an exposure visit and workshop at Ilam. With the successful concept of ‘plastic free municipality’ , the recent ‘green city concept’, and the successful implementation of Participatory Mai Khola Reclamation Project, NCDC, Ilam is already in the process of being recognized as a model city which can also be replicated elsewhere.
Keep reading for many other river conservation activities and NCDC projects.

General Assembly of Shree Chimaal Grahmin Vidhyut Sahakari Sanstha Limited’ (90 kW MHP), Taplejung

Besides the technical facilitation part that NCDC provides to its Micro Hydro Projects (MHPs), it also facilitates in social mobilization and other social aspects. Recently, Buddhi Thapa (Social Mobilizer) and Nikki Sapkota (Gender Equity and Social Inclusion officer) travelled all the way to Taplejung district to attend the second General Assembly of a 90 kW project, ‘Shree Chimaal Grahmin Vidhyut Sahakari Sanstha Limited’. This project is expected to serve 207 households of Fungling, Chagey and Hangpang VDCs.

Representatives from different sectors

The participants in the program were the shareholders and beneficiaries, political party’s representatives, representatives from co-operatives, media, DDC Engineer, local leaders and the NCDC staffs . Mr.Lalit kumar Limbu, the Field Coordinator (FC) for Taplejung district for NCDC, was also present in the program. The main objectives of the program was dissemination of information regarding the financial status of the project, formation of new User’s committee and different sub committees to complete work within the timeframe.

The project beneficiaries in the program

Mr. Thapa also briefed the User’s committee and other stakeholders regarding the different process they need to undergo during the project cycle. He also provided some recommendations for accountable and transparent working environment. Mr. Limbu and Thapa also got engaged with the User’s committee in the preparation of a draft action plan.

Sapkota and Thapa also got engaged with advocacy and facilitated in the formation of more inclusive Users committee and sub-committees. The committees previously formed didn’t have sufficient representation and participation of women and other disadvantaged caste group in the committees, and this time with the intervention of the NCDC team, a more inclusive committee was formed with more female, dalit and janajati’s participation. The NCDC team also supported at the policy level by advocating more inclusive policies for the poor by categorizing the beneficiaries through well being ranking and charging less amount of money or no money for the poor households who cannot afford to pay. Plans are made also to link these households with NGOs supports.

Mr. Thapa facilitates the program (limbu/ncdc)

For these activities to be carried out, Mr. Limbu (FC) will be constantly monitoring the project and reporting Sapkota about the progress. With the new appointment of GESI officer, the mini grid projects are expected to be more socially inclusive with maximum participation of women, dalits, janajatis and other socially disadvantaged groups.

Action Research on Standardiation of ICS

Today completed NCDC’s action research on standardization of mud ICS( Improved Cooking Stoves).

Three models of ICS at the resource centre

From Saturday onwards, biomass engineers Uday Bikram Thapa and Guna Raj Khanal along with four field technical coordinators were busy doing research in the NCDC resource centre. Three models of ICS were tested for twenty seven times by changing three major parameters. These parameters were the height of the chimney, the baffle angle and the size of the fire gate.

FTCs testing differnt models of ICS with changing parameters

According to Thapa, this study will be of great help in understanding the efficiency of ICS of different models. He also said that they will come up with a report after analyzing each of the model’s efficiency with different parameters and recommend the most efficient ICS for replication.

Testing and Commissioning- Deumai Khola MHP

Though the NCDC resource center office in Ilam is the home base for over fifty NCDC staffers, on any given day, most of those staffers are not to be found sitting at their desks or behind computer screens in the office.

Where are they?

“The field” is the term used for the regular trips NCDC engineers and monitoring personnel make out to check on project sites. The “field” might refer to something as close as 15 minutes away from the office by jeep, within the municipality itself, or as far away as a week or two hiking. NCDC assists with and monitors projects in many eastern districts, and getting out to the field to work with locals in an organic, grassroots manner, is perhaps one of the most important parts of working at NCDC.

The model NCDC uses for many of its field projects is unique: it relies on local communities to have a genuine, demonstrable stake in the project. NCDC provides the technical expertise and assistance with implementation, but the project belongs, in every sense, to the community.

As part of NCDC’s work with the Alternative Energy Promotion Centre (AEPC) and the subset of it, the Energy Sector Assistance Programme (ESAP), micro-hydro projects in local communities make up a large portion of NCDC’s field work. Through ESAP, NCDC as a regional service centre ,is working to promote three major sources of alternate energy: micro-hydro, biomass and solar power.

Last week in the village of Ekathappa, NCDC field coordinator Kumar Shrestha and Gender Equity and Social Inclusion Officer Nikki Sapkota were able to be present for the final testing and implementation of the community’s new micro-hydro project.

Building these kinds of “demand-based” systems requires an immense mobilization on the community’s part: they are responsible for putting forward the income and the labor to make the power system happen. NCDC provides additional invaluable technical assistance.

Children enjoying after the testing in the powerhouse (Sathian/NCDC)

The systems are made up of several components: a dam across the local river or major water source is constructed, and a canal must also be constructed along the side of the river.Somewhere along the canal an additional dirt trap is installed so that the water can be filtered before reaching the power system. Then a tank is constructed near the powerhouse and a large metal or plastic pipe connects the tank to the powerhouse. Within the powerhouse, a small turbine runs; the water heats the turbine and generates electricity.

The canal (Sathian/NCDC)

Micro-hydro means producing up to 100 kilowatts of power. In the case of Ekathappa, the project provides enough electricity for five local wards. During the evenings, from 7 PM to 7 AM, the electricity can be used for individuals’ homes. But during the daytime, it provides a valuable industrial function: the power can be used to power mills, schools, dairy production, shops – all of a sudden these rural, otherwise inaccessible communities have the ability to build their own economies and become self-sustainable beyond just agricultural means.

Keep reading for more information on the many other micro-hydro projects NCDC is involved in.

NCDC staff meeting

About 80% of NCDC is at the resource office today for a staff meeting