Well-Being For All

Terry's Travel Log (Blog) Vlll - "The Hill Country", Nepal

The road through the mountains that the locals call "The Hill Country" is unbelievable: Astounding beauty at every corner. And there are a LOT of corners. The road follows the river valleys. It is carved out of the side of the mountain. It is raining hard here these days and there were several land slides. It is fascinating how there will be several spillways for rain run-off that are empty and then round a corner and the water will be pounding down the slope and under the road (hopefully). Road crews cluster along the narrow, shoulder-less road working to shore up washed out sections below the road surface. Even with that and the many missing blocks of concrete that were once placed on all outside corners that have been knocked away by past accidents, the danger seems to phase no one ... except maybe me!

We moved south from the city of Pokhara today and onto the Terai Plain that runs along the south of the country. It stretches out flat below the Himalaya Mountains and the "hills" and stretches to the Indian border. The plain ranges from about 30 meters (1,000 feet) to about 10 meters (300 feet) above sea level, sloping down gently across India to the Bay of Bengal near Bangladesh. Kathmandu lies in a valley only about 50 kilometers to the north yet it is about 100 meters higher (3,000 feet) and thus quite cold this time of year with temperatures rising into the 2 digit range of 10 or 11 degrees Celsius on a good day. Nights are cold. The Terai is a bit warmer but only by a few degrees. Sweater and scarf weather for certain.

I wanted to visit some former partners and projects supported by World Accord from the late '80's up to the mid 90's. I visited here a few times in the days of the projects but not for several years now and I am interested to know what has happened to the projects: the Youth Club organizations we helped and the people that were part of the various projects. We talk about sustainability and long term development as a desirable approach to transformative change for communities. There is a time for AID immediately after a disaster but our style of development is supposed to last longer, be more sustainable, more cost effective, better for the family and community, offer greater hope for the people and promote the concept we call "well being for all".

World Accord's first few projects in Nepal were in an "aid" model. Small local Youth Clubs would apply for funding from World Accord through our partner organization South Asia Partnership (SAP) Nepal. SAP is a network of local autonomous development agencies of various countries throughout Asia. In the early days, every project was signed by the Queen before it was legal to proceed. That is the same Queen that was murdered along with the entire Royal Family just a few years ago after the King handed power over to an elected Parliament that soon proved quite dysfunctional.

In that environment, SAP asked World Accord to help them in a new Long Term Partnership Program (LTPP) to replace the short term AID related projects with something more meaningful and the LTPP was born. It was 1992.

The Narayangarh Youth Club was formed in 1978. It acted like a social welfare agency helping disadvantaged families with short term aid. When they met SAP Nepal, they were also introduced first to Canadian Lutheran World Relief (CLWR) who funded a chicken project and then to World Accord. CLWR and World Accord have worked together in projects in Asia for years. (Today, a consortium of Canadian NGO's including CLWR are working together and sharing resources for greater impact in the devastated earthquake zone in northern Pakistan.) I digress! Back to Nepal. In 1992, the Narayangarh Youth Club joined as a partner with World Accord under the direction of SAP Nepal in the LTPP Program.

Training and workshops characterized the early months of the project. Then the club began to implement its own projects with direct funding support from World Accord. In their own words, using a Power Point presentation on a laptop computer projected with a video projector, the youth club traced their success and sustainability as a moving force in their community. The training made them strong and effective. They helped members lower poverty and improve quality of life. Some of their members have used their training to get employment with other international development agencies and the United Nations.

World Accord's support to this club ended nine years ago. As I sat in this three story concrete building that house the Club offices, training centre, youth drop in centre, the community cooperative, and a restaurant and shop to help the club remain sustainable, I thought, "This is good! VERY good! This is what we hoped for back in 1992. How could it be better than this?" WOW! Was I ever wrong that time! The next blog posting will tell you what just happened to me.

From the Terai Plain in south central Nepal, on the bank of a big silt-laden river, in the rapidly growing town of Narayangarh, Nepal

Terry Fielder

posted by World Accord Staff @ 12:29 PM 0 comments links to this post   

Map of Nepal

Anyone who wants to see approximately where Terry is click
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/nepal_pol90.jpg

posted by World Accord Staff @ 10:38 AM 0 comments links to this post   

Terry's Travel Log (Blog) Vll - Peace and Development, Nepal

There is too much happening here to just write one update. For about seven years now, World Accord supported a Program named SCOP, SCOP II and SCOP III. SCOP stands for Strengthening Civil Society Organization Program. It was designed to provide training to local area Youth Clubs all over the country. SAP Nepal, World Accord's partner, is a national organization with projects and trained leaders in almost every district in the country.

The Civil War raged for about 10 years. Most development stopped as the security situation deteriorated. There was a strong argument for World Accord to cancel funding to the program or at least suspend funding until the war calmed down. It is safer to stop. Monitoring for World Accord staff was not possible with any guarantee of personal safety. Without monitoring, projects are prone to stall or fail or be subject to corruption and loss of funding. Backing out was the "safe" thing to do .... especially for "risk adverse" agencies and governments. World Accord did not withdraw. Nor did we suspend our funding. Here is why.

The Youth Club from this village of Dhikurpokari near Pohkara is a good example. Life in the village was hard. There were few opportunities or choice for the youth. (Editor's Note: Youth Clubs in Nepal are similar to service clubs in Canada but participants are youth - younger than 40. So of course Terry bought a lifetime membership.) SAP Nepal with World Accord funding offered training to the Youth Club leadership through the SCOP program and they decided to give it a try. Training consisted of workshops and travel to other areas for exposure visits to see what other Clubs were doing. The inspired youth followed the examples of activities they liked. They started a community plant nursery. They hosted a local Agricultural Fair to promote the nursery concept and motivate the local farm families. It worked! Club membership grew.

As they surveyed their community, some of the club members did not like how their culture treated single mothers. It is a tradition there that only married women can wear red. One of the rejections a woman faces is how the community expects her not to wear red if she is a widow. As if she has not lost enough already. To help change local custom and tradition, the youth club wrote and organized street theatre to raise the issue and challenge this discrimination against widowed women. Women formerly stigmatized stood and told us of how they were able to regain dignity and work more successfully for their children after the loss of their husband.

I have a whole page of notes on activities and outcomes achieved by the few trained and motivated leaders. One young woman went for training and is now teaching the community about environmentally sustainable organic agriculture. The success of every family in their increased agricultural production and increased net profit is largely due to the establishment of a cooperative farmers marketing centre. They cleared away the wild crop of Ganja (Marijuana) growing around the village. Their street theatre was expanded to inform everyone about HIV and AIDS. The list is long.

Remember, the Civil War was raging in the country during this time. Impatient young people and even children joined the armed groups fighting for a better future for Nepal. But this Youth Club lost none to the war effort. Peace is a desired goal of development. It is part of the "Well Being for all" in World Accord's Mission Statement. Withdraw from a program during civil strife? No way! The World hunger Fund of the Community of Christ, individual donors and the Board of World Accord all chose to give the Nepali youth a chance and they are making the most of it!

Many tourists come every year to Nepal to trek (or hike) in the mountains or even climb Mount Everest. The majesty of the mountains is awe inspiring. But this youth group is just as inspiring!

From an inspired pilgrim in the shadow of the highest mountains in the world,

Terry Fielder
executive director
World Accord

posted by World Accord Staff @ 8:04 AM 0 comments links to this post